Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[littleredwagon]

She's gonna be a mama

 

[LaurelC]

Got the backyard "chickenproofed" enough that I let the girls out to free range "unsupervised" while I hung out in the house. First thing they did was tease the dogs. And this langshan mutt that I have just wants to be in all of my photos.

 

[annjamaican]

Has anyone else in western WA noticed that their hens have stopped laying? I haven't seen an egg in almost a month.

 

[QuiltinGramma]

annjamaican---Out of my 6 hens, I only got 3 eggs yesterday. I usually get 6 most days. Don't know what I'll get today.
My girls are about 8 months old.

 

[junebuggena]

My flocks' production has dropped over the last couple weeks. My oldest is about 9 months old. Out of 11, I'm getting about 4 to 6 a day.

 

[annjamaican]

Good going! I have one black australorp, a little over a year old who has laid every single day and a couple barred rocks who were just staring out plus several chicks from the spring. The black australorp might have stopped a few weeks before the barred rocks but now, nobody is giving me anything.

 

[Elaine Wright]

I'm still getting 3 to 5 a day from 6 that are laying. We remodeled the coop yesterday and the eggs were all over the coop today - only 1 in the nesting boxes. We moved the boxes and culled a cross beak rooster in one day. It will be interesting to see if it affects their laying.

 

[Cockatrice6420]

Has anyone else in western WA noticed that their hens have stopped laying? I haven't seen an egg in almost a month.

It may be molting, I've had one hen just come back to laying today after nearly two months vacation. Others aren't molting as bad but have slowed their lay. Chickens also need about 13 hours of light to keep egg production stimulated, egg laying ducks too. I hope that helps.

 

[CarolynF]

Hi Everyone from WA,
Its been a few yrs since I was on here. I had to give up my flock during a few rough pregnancies, a miscarriage & a beautiful almost 2yr old (this week) that came early. I think we are ready for a small flock. My oldest daughter is 11yrs & did 4-H with her dog this yr. She wants to add 4-H chickens too for this yr. Wondering if there are any 4-H groups around or near Bonney Lake for chickens? Our dog leader has suggested I become a leader for chickens in our group but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to be a leader of something I know very little about. Hoping to find a local group.
We'll be building a coop in a few weeks. Last time we turned part of a wood shed into a coop but the roof leaked & that didn't help the cleaning & upkeep when it was leaking. We'll build it slowly so that its done right.

Shannon

Hi Shannon,
Glad you're back and happy things are looking up! There are several people in the Enumclaw, Buckley, Bonney Lake area to get birds from. @Hinotori isn't too far away either. We just need to get the word out for you. I have 2 granddaughters in Buckley just about your oldest daughter's age. One just started 7th grade, the other, 4th grade. A few posts back I mentioned Megan Schodron's Orpingtons, she's in Buckley.

Got the backyard "chickenproofed" enough that I let the girls out to free range "unsupervised" while I hung out in the house. First thing they did was tease the dogs. And this langshan mutt that I have just wants to be in all of my photos.

It's all come together, Congrats! There for a while I thought you were going to have to give up. Glad it all worked out!

Has anyone else in western WA noticed that their hens have stopped laying? I haven't seen an egg in almost a month.

With the shorter days and molt season, egg production has dropped off form almost everyone. If you're interested in using lights to encourage laying, just give them light for 14 hours per day.

 

[ochochicas]

The decrease in daylight combined with cooler weather will cause a lot of breeds to molt or just take a break from laying. In my opinion it is good to give them a break. I don't use any artificial lights, but some people do to increase egg production.