Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Babybockbock]

I see nothing about the combs or the coloring that would indicate cockerel for either of them.

Thank you!

Both look like pullets to me as well.  Mine are younger and the cockerels are showing much more red in their comb/wattles than these chicks.  

This is getting me hopefull, they both were slow to fether, one has very thick legs and stands up tall allot and does have red in the face...but im not 100%

[COLOR=333333]T[/COLOR]hose are very pretty birds. I haven't seen blue (?) Orpingtons before. Where did you get them? 

The family of crows living by our house has been raising a couple young of their own, and I gather the two have reached teenagehood because they are up all hours now screeching. It sounds very much like "MOM MOM FOOD MOM MOM."

Thank you! I got them from a breeder in Bellingham.

 

[tyjorg]

What do you think? Breed? Sex?

 

[junebuggena]

What do you think? Breed? Sex?

Buff Orpingtons. The last one is a cockerel.

 

[tyjorg]

Thanks. The two different colors are different, which is odd. their are two light red and two dark red.

 

[junebuggena]

Thanks. The two different colors are different, which is odd. their are two light red and two dark red.

The darker shade of buff is a male indicator. Females are more uniform in coloring.

 

[tyjorg]

Wow, thats good to know. Someone gave me these. Good looking birds.

 

[Leigti]

Wow, thats good to know. Someone gave me these. Good looking birds.

They are pretty. I got a buff Plymouth rock. I think they are going to come out looking a little bit like those.

 

[Leigti]

Well, my chicken coop has been up for less than two months and I already think I need to add to the run. I don't know why I didn't make it bigger in the first place, so stupid of me. Oh well, I never claimed to be Einstein The new run will be 20 x 10'. I wish I could post pictures but it won't let me do it anymore. Something about when the app changed it decided it wasn't going to allow me to post anymore pictures. Darn it.

 

[Duck Drover]

Thank you!
This is getting me hopefull, they both were slow to fether, one has very thick legs and stands up tall allot and does have red in the face...but im not 100%
Thank you! I got them from a breeder in Bellingham.

The slowest to feather are usually the boys. I have had some go through an awkward naked butt stage while the rest are feathering in nicely and they have been roosters. The thicker legs is also a good indication of a rooster. We have had some look like pullets until their longer streamer feathers came in on the hackle and saddle areas so comb size and color is not always the best way of sexing the English Orpingtons. I have likewise had pullets with larger red combs and wattles that I thought would be roosters but I was wrong. They can seem obvious and then fool you so I grow them out more and more each year before parting with the roosters and selling the pullets. I have been tempted to sell the whole flock but I do like how beautiful and docile they are so I have not done it yet.

 

[Duck Drover]

So, our small animal codes were entirely rewritten last year. We had asked the city council to include the words chicken and duck in the code for clarification since that one line was omitted when the city basically adopted the county codes word for word exceot that line. There was no mention of chickens or ducks anywhere in the code so most people have gone with the county regulation, which is the same for birds. The code enforcement officer tried claiming that chickens and ducks are non-birds like dogs and cats and therefore limited to three. If you already had a dog and a cat you could only have one chicken or duck, which was absurd. We went to court and the judge ruled that chickens and ducks are birds so we won the right to keep our flock. By the time the ruling was made the code had been rewritten but our birds were grandfathered under the original code so the rewrite does not effect us, or so I thought.

Now the code enforcement officer is retaliating agsinst us by claiming that we have to reduce our flock to 5 or less according to the new code even though I have legal proof that we had our birds prior to the code change. We are legally non-conforming, which is the same as grandfathered. I may have to go to court again to get another judgement against the city, though, because our code enforcement officer is an idiot. His incompetence has cost the taxpayers enough already but his supervisor turns him loose without a leash and lets him try to bully people with his lies. He knows I can't afford a lawyer so he sees me as a potential victim. I can't believe I need to fight a battle I already won because he is so ignorant of the limits of his authority.

A city can write whatever they want into a code but that does not mean it can take away the right to own property. We know that eventually our flock will die out over time due to aging and we can not replace those birds with more than 5 when that time comes but in the meantime we do not have to give up our pet birds just because our city wants to become more urban than Seattle. We are legal as far as Animal Control is concerned because they only enforce the county codes, not city codes. Our city contracts with the King County Animal Control so they have no authority over issues related to small animals. Taxpayers are not paying our code enforcement officer to do a job that is already contracted out to the county.

I wish I knew how to get this idiot fired so the city can hire someone competent to do his job. He is on the planning committee so he thinks he is the boss of the city when he really has limited authority. As long as his supervisor lets him get away with doing whatever he wants, it will take the citizens to fight against corrupt city officials.

I really just want to move out of city limits so we only have to deal with the county but we don't have enough equity to afford acreage. We chose to live in a small town before it grew to the size it is now and now it is too urban for us but we are stuck.

My parents live in Colorado on acreage and they suggested we move out there but we would have to rent again to pay someone else's mortgage and be under the rule of a landlord. I also don't miss the snow, although maybe it is not as bad as I remember. I love how green it is here but if we are forced to live an urban lifestyle it may not be worth it. My father has Parkinson's and my mother has Alzheimer's so I have only recently attempted to have contact with them again after 20 years. My father disowned me when I married my ex but now that we are apart he has decided I am still family after all. I had wanted my mother to know her grandchildren but he would no allow her any contact with us. He still monitors all her communication but at least he is allowing her to speak to me again.

I just want to enjoy life in peace and harmony with the environment and have limited contact with evil people. I enjoy my privacy but I also enjoy interacting with people socially. I don't want to have to keep defending my basic human rights.

I am not really close with anyone here because it is just a forum for sharing ideas but I wanted to share my struggle with people who understand that having birds calms the soul and adds meaning to life. I love hatching and raising baby birds because I find it a blessing to be part of the creation of new life and I like to nurture living things. I would feel so empty if I had to give up that part of my life, particularly when I only have my younger daughter two more years before she leaves home and goes to college. I had planned to live here until she graduates, at least, but I am tired of dealing with people who want to victimize others as a power trip to feed their own inferiority complex. I want to be able to defend my rights against corruption but it is really draining me emotionally.

Anyway, thanks for listening. I don't have anyone I can talk to about my situation because I don't really talk to people in 3D. I know most people don't care enough to read through long posts so I am probably writing this more for myself in order to consider my options. I would love to rally a defense against this idiot but mostly I just want to be left alone to enjoy what I have until it is gone.