Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Gatewayto]

Now, when you 'answer' someone or respond to a certain post, we want you to click the quote button on the lower right corner..and then type in your reply underneath that post...ok ?
Then we'll know who you are responding to, and so glad your Snowflake is doing better.
Have to ask~
Did one of your kids name her ?
I had so many "Snowflake" rabbits named by my kids !

hehe

Our 1 and 3 years old actually names all of our chickens. They are turning 2 and 4 this Sept and Oct.
We also have a Snowflakes 2.

I Just did a count of our increasing growing flock..
10 -- adults chickens (laying and non-laying)
6 -- 3 and 4 months chicks
14 -- 2 weeks old chicks

Growing much faster than I can build coops for. Since we are rehoming unwanted chickens/chicks, I building different coops/boxes for them. In the process of building a 10 by 12 shed to house all of them once all chicks/chickens are peaceful to one another.

 

[pennyJo1960]

hmmm think it was good I have been out most the day

all my peeps running around having a good time all the young

peeps are using the hole that my older barred's have dug
they make them deeper are learning to roll like the big girls

So how has the day been here with 23 new posts

 

[Duck Drover]

I got my Easter Eggers from a hatchery.

One of them doesn't have muffs or a beard. I think it is the one that lays cream colored/beige eggs. The dark brown one lays brown eggs and the other one lays green.

That is the problem! The term Easter Egger is used for anything these days. The beige and brown eggs are totally unacceptable and would not happen in the true Easter Egger. The hatcheries called them Araucanas back then but they were the ones with rumps and no tufts, not the lethal gene birds. Their nickname was Easter Egger and that is an acceptable name for them but the birds being called Easter Egger now are nothing like what they should be. We used to get beautiful blue, green, and pink (not rosy beige) eggs and they were all bright pastel colors, not the muddy colors you see as the result of cross breeding. They were a popular chicken for good reasons and they bred true genetation after generation. I never once had an olive or beige egg with mine.

 

[Duck Drover]

If you like to start raising quails, I can send some fertile eggs to you for free.  They are not heavily restricted.

I would love that! My husband was not keen on tbe idea of raising quail when I brought it up but that was due to bad timing because I am off my feet for awhile and that leaves more work for him. He still needs to clean out my brooder room but I have some extra large bird cages that we used for cockatiels and diamond doves plus one we used for ringneck doves (although it is walk in size and the bar spacing is too wide for small birds) so I may be able to use them. We have a ferret cage that could work too. I think my husband might prefer to keep them outside so we just need to come up with something we can agree on. I will need to hatch them and brood them first so that will give me time to convince him to give quail a try.

 

[mandzz]

Mail order chicks are expensive, too.  After minimum order size and shipping, woes. Hoping one of the Old English Bantams will be broody (eventually) and we can try hatching some. Mixed reviews on whether they make good mothers, though. Silkies and cochins seem to be the champions, I think? But they look rather high maintenance.

Sammamish actually allows roosters (or at least doesn't forbid them specifically), but I fear the ire of our hundred-feet away neighbors.

I ended up getting some light brahmas from a guy in Lake Stevens. Our Brahma is sitting on 14 eggs.....soon we'll have to get her up though and make her poop! I live in. an unincorporated Snohomish County area. the rules are weird and inconsistent. Town says ok, county says not within 3O feet of dwelling or property lines....town is OK with but cautions against roosters. So for now, I'm keeping it simple.

 

[Duck Drover]

Giving them a higher protein feed certain won't do any harm. I don't even bother with layer. I've got roosters, broodies, and chicks of all ages in my flock. Makes things much more simple to offer one feed that is safe for all.

I do the same, plus it is the best feed for ducks of all ages. We feed Purina Flock Raiser free choice and they free range. I use crunched up dry eggshells for calcium because if we give too much calcium it would make the shells too hard for hatching. I want the birds to have strong bones but not strong shells. I fed layer once because it was on sale and the eggshells were so thick that I had to assist with hatching.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I ended up getting some light brahmas from a guy in Lake Stevens. Our Brahma is sitting on 14 eggs.....soon we'll have to get her up though and make her poop! I live in. an unincorporated Snohomish County area. the rules are weird and inconsistent. Town says ok, county says not within 3O feet of dwelling or property lines....town is OK with but cautions against roosters. So for now, I'm keeping it simple.

welcome glad you came by

that in case I missed it

 

[mandzz]

welcome glad you came by that in case I missed it

Thanks!

 

[Duck Drover]

hmmm think it was good I have been out most the day
all my peeps running around having a good time all the young

peeps are using the hole that my older barred's have dug
they make them deeper are learning to roll like the big girls  e  

So how has the day been here with 23 new posts

I spend the winter filling in holes the ducks make trying to make ponds out of puddles and the summer filling in holes the chickens make for dust baths. I have to say that although ducks have bills for shoveling, the chickens will be the first ones to reach China. I have been unpleasantly surprised at how massive their holes are in just a day. I let them dig under the coop to their heart's content since I will not fall in those and I believe the Orpingtons have dug out a basement under there.

I was in the yard today and smelled a bad egg by the coop so I had my daughter check the nest boxes and then the main coop (sometimes an egg gets pushed out of a box or a hen lays in the corner) but she could not find a rotten egg anywhere. Sure enough, she looked under the coop and found it there. One of my young hens must have put it there because my girls are pretty good at using their nest boxes.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Well bought 6 ceramic eggs today trying to encourage laying in the boxes
not the floor