Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Hinotori]

Egg sizes from left to right.
Bantam pullet egg, peewee, small, medium, large, extra large, jumbo

Technically anything under 42 grams is a peewee but that's a lot of sizes under

 

[pennyJo1960]

I think you will find that we are all happy to help any
any way we are able.. One of the easiest ways to bullet
proof is hardware cloth to keep birds save.. Doing a coop from
A crib is very creative would love to see photos

 

[mixedbreeds]

They need to be forced to eat grass, and at the end of the day give them a little feed, and don't forget to with hold ALL feed the night before slaughter....so's their crops and intestines are empty

So what will the grass do for them? Change flavor, texture or what. I have fodder I'm growing for laying hens and the Pekin Ducks have eaten a bunch of it. It's wheat, boss, lentils and mung beans grown to about 8 inches then chopped up and fed would that be good for the cornish x roots and all. I also have a problem with a broody hen she will not stop I don't have room for more birds so she is out of luck. I take her out of the nest box several times a day and put her on the roost at 10 o'clock e wry night but every morning she's back on the nest puffed up and growling. Does putting them in a wire cage up off the floor work I don't want to be mean but I have had enough of it with her. She is the same girl that hatched chicks last fall.

 

[junebuggena]

So what will the grass do for them? Change flavor, texture or what. I have fodder I'm growing for laying hens and the Pekin Ducks have eaten a bunch of it. It's wheat, boss, lentils and mung beans grown to about 8 inches then chopped up and fed would that be good for the cornish x roots and all. I also have a problem with a broody hen she will not stop I don't have room for more birds so she is out of luck. I take her out of the nest box several times a day and put her on the roost at 10 o'clock e wry night but every morning she's back on the nest puffed up and growling. Does putting them in a wire cage up off the floor work I don't want to be mean but I have had enough of it with her. She is the same girl that hatched chicks last fall.

The idea is to get them to work/forage to fill their calorie needs rather than for them to park themselves next to the feeder all day long. The more they need to move, the more energy they have to expend to get their calories, the healthier and stronger they will be. You'll reduce the risk of them dying prematurely do to heart failure, and they will have fewer mobility issues.
For your broody, just moving her off the nest will not stop her brooding. An elevated wire cage works every time. And it's not really any different than letting her sit on a nest all day long.

 

[Duck Drover]

We had that happen last week. Freaking hawk had a discerning pallet. Ignored my $3 feed store chickens and decided both my female ducks were delish..

Kiddo was livid. She had let them out to clean their pen. Went into garage to grab clean bedding and came out to Hawk banquette. My drake managed to hide but husbabd says I can't hunt hawk.

In 4 years of keeping chickens I have never had a hawk come down. Cats and raccoons even an opposum once.. So livid. Why can't they eat the cheap birds?

I hope those were not the Australian Spotted ducks?!

 

[sparton]

I wish I could say they weren't. Got my females. Lex was livid and heart broken. She had them in the backyard for a whole 5 minutes - normally they were in a dog run with a cover so predator proof. However rain made it manditory to clean and move to higher ground. Our male is holding strong and now is under constant guard. Never mind my cochins were running loose too. Silkies were the only ones still cooped

 

[kwallace19]

We lost three of four of our chicks today

I'm so bummed

 

[Duck Drover]

I wish I could say they weren't. Got my females. Lex was livid and heart broken. She had them in the backyard for a whole 5 minutes - normally they were in a dog run with a cover so predator proof. However rain made it manditory to clean and move to higher ground. Our male is holding strong and now is under constant guard. Never mind my cochins were running loose too. Silkies were the only ones still cooped

How sad! Ducks tend to be more predator savy than chickens. Ours have plenty of tree cover and so it is mostly the crows going after the eggs and ducklings that we have to deal with here. Amazing that the hawk got 2 ducks in 5 minutes!

 

[sparton]

I was at work but husband and kid both said it was crazy. Understanding were females were together and male was hanging out. Husband was in kitchen doing tidying while she handled birds.

I think the hawk was canvassing. I have never seen one near our yard before and we let even our silkies free range. Well not any more.

She came out and the awful creature had both grabbed. I think the winter was just really hard on them this year. We have had cougar spottings in town recently as well. Predators getting desperate.

 

[junebuggena]

Look who got moved out today.