Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

Now I am happy talked to Billies fabrics in Chehalis and the new belt for my Cl21 Husqvarna
also known as little green machine goes back for a new belt love that they can work on one of
my very favorite machines. She had stopped running he got her going good but noted
the belt is needing replaced but got her going to send her home till it came in

 

[Chickielady]

Yes, the surgeries were successful. I still have some nerve damage but it gets better and better so it should just be temporary. I am doing a paid arthritis study study for my knee now since it got worse while off my ankle so that could help if I don't get the placebo in the double bind study. I am getting my first injection today (any time now since I am at the office now).

I have the incubators cleaned and I am calibrating them after my daughter messed with the controls so it will be back to hatching again. I have a bunch of eggs ready to set tonight. I have a cabinet incubator we built that I need to test once I have eggs to spare (maybe quail eggs since they are cheap and we can hatch them for a wildlife rescue). I am looking forward to hatching birds again this year after such a long break but we can't keep anything we hatch so I will just be hatching to sell chicks again.

I would like to raise up a clutch of Easter Eggers again to test egg color (first test batch all lay green eggs) since we kept two daughters (one from each hen) in order to see what they hatch by breeding back to the Quechua. I have people wanting to buy hatching eggs but I hesitate in case they do not hatch for them for any reason. I don't like being blamed for other people's failures and peoole are quick to blame breeders for their inexperience. I try to screen buyers as much as possible and I offer advice for success but after dealing with a couple bad eggs a few years ago I don't want to end up being targeted again.

We did not keep any ducklings hatched by the ducks last year. We did not incubate and the person who was incubating the eggs did not hatch many successfully for some reason (assuming she was honest since I did not charge her for the eggs). We won't be keeping any this year either but I may need to raise the yellow ducklings until they feather out to make sure they are silverheads since one of them ended up being a greenhead last year, according to the buyer. When we sell straight runs I don't have to worry about sexing them at 3 days old like we did last year based on peep pitch but I could end up raising some until they are at least a week old to vent sex them since so many people would rather pay double for hens than deal with raising up drakes.

We are going to be downsizing as my daughter completes high school and goes off to college but at this point we want to keep our best birds as breeders so we have done as much downsizing as we need to do for now, other than to people who have already asked for specific birds when we do sell them. We fought so hard to protect our birds from code changes that we need to fully enjoy their grandfathered status before we part with any more.

Good to hear you are on your feet !
I have dark olive speckled with brown, and daek olive no speckles, bred back to both Silver Ameraucana and a very active Exchequer leghorn guy.... the interesting part is the OEs are Blue, and Splash...and the exchequer is B&W exchequer color of course...and the Silver Am is B&W...so can't wait to see what colors come out of this mix !

The eggs should be a blue-green....as all lay blue or olive and the leghorn's just white....interesting !

I have heard so many say Quechua are just difficult to hatch...I have not heard anyone blame the inexperienced hatcher.....I figure shipping does not help as usual.

 

[Chickielady]

I now posses enough material to hopefully build my coop and run.......the fun begins......

I have a new paddock to build...200 feet of fencing & so many T posts I know my elbows hurt just thinking about it...oh, and another machine shed for Goats and hay storage....

But will the weather ever co-operate ????????????

 

[Chickielady]

Hi everybody, This question is mainly for those in Whatcom County but anyone that has experience with it I would love to hear from you. Here's our situation. We just recently moved to just under 5 acres. Succefully moved our 12 chickens and added 20 more layer chicks! What we want to do is add blueberries to the property and sell our eggs as well. (We're in a really good location for this.) So the big hurdle is getting our property switched over to a farm/ag land classification. This of course would help us with our property tax. I know you have to earn a minimum of $1500 for at least 3 of the 5 years. What I don't know is how hard it isn't to get your property switched over to this?
Does anyone here have this experience?
Thanks in advance!

From what I understand is, you have to make at least 75% of your income, from your property...so I did not qualify....

 

[Chickielady]

Sorry, I guess I was clear as mud! We aren't changing zoning at all. Just tax status. Two different things. Yes, urban "sprawl" is a HUGE...HUGE thing in Whatcom County! I hate how they are trying to control where and how people live!

You did see my earlier post ?
To change your tax status, you must prove that 75% or about somewhat that amount, of your income, is generated from your farm.
Only a fraction of your income can be from outside work, social security or disability.

 

[Chickielady]

I will have to blow out my first egg and put it in my curio case with all my mini things.

I just put them in a cup on the windowsill.....they just dry up inside, but they all do fade in color. You can paint them afterwards, though !

 

[Chickielady]

Two fish are sitting in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "How do you drive this thing?"

 

[Chickielady]

Two fish are sitting in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "How do you drive this thing?"

Another one, this one is true !
We are getting 2 reg Boer/Nubian doelings...so I have occupied my working hours thinking of names.......I started with, oh well, here is the story:

I walked up to Einstein & told him " I have thought of an excellent name for one of the does !"
He says "what ?"
I says "Jane" and I cracked up (so proud of my funny name) and he did not think it very funny....and rolls his eyes.............so I said " well, if you can think of a better name, go for it"
So he looks me in the eye very serious and says (

) DOESIE...............

So the fight is on !
FOR A WEEK.we have thought up names..............and so far I have won...
Here's mine:

1) Jane Doe
2) Tae Kwan Doe
3) Sour Doe
4) Weird Doe
5) Wall Doe
6) Pizza Doe


and then Einstein hit me with his name this morning:


DILL

ok, I got more names, but he got the best one !!!!!!!!!!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quote: That or crack them for breakfast with two other eggs

 

[Chickielady]

Here are a few newly hatched quail resting under their Victor Ultimate Flea Trap. In this first stage brooder we have a kennel heating pad under the plastic tub to add overall warmth and the lid of the tub is mostly closed with an opening to allow ventilation without losing too much heat. If the babies need less heat we slide the lid open more to let heat escape. The quail are sleeping under the light but also exploring away from the bulb to eat and drink. I don't measure the temperatures of the brooders, I just make sure the babies are not too hot or too cold and that there are variable temperatures in the tub so they can self-regulate. I have a clear bulb in now so it is brighter than when I use the white nightlight bulbs. Because the quail are so small, I am not using the tray under the bulb, it is just the bare floor with shelf liner. I only use shelf liners for baby birds, no shavings.

Cute little popcorn babies !