Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Well figured out I had a thief in my coop was at 4 or 5 a day in eggs ordered a coop cam put a lock on our lower gate got 9 eggs today .. it is really cold here and the wind is picking up now

who was the thief ???

 

[Chickielady]

Hi guys, my name is Amy. Penny1960 invited me to the thread for WA chicken keepers. I'm in Western Washington.

Since we all know what it's like living in the land of perpetual overcast, I'm curious to hear what sort of material you have in your runs (wood chips/straw/?) to keep the mud at bay, and I'm also curious how many sqft of venting you have per chicken in your coops. I've asked on other threads, and people have been quite helpful, so I hope none of them find it insulting that I ask again here, I'm just curious to see what people who live specifically in my climate do.

Oh, and do any of you have coops on stilts? If so, any issues with them sinking in the mud?

Pea gravel in the coop runs, except the feild & orchard they are allowed in.
Compressed starw nest boxes, and Either white or red shavings in the coops which are off the ground, have a plywood floor and poop trays under the roosts. Coops get gutted out about every 4 months, and poop trays are cleaned every week.
Spotless, and NO ammonia.
Shavings taken out of the poop trays and coop floors are dumped into compost and produce an amazing garden !

 

[Leigti]

Pea gravel in the coop runs, except the feild & orchard they are allowed in.
Compressed starw nest boxes, and Either white or red shavings in the coops which are off the ground, have a plywood floor and poop trays under the roosts. Coops get gutted out about every 4 months, and poop trays are cleaned every week.
Spotless, and NO ammonia.
Shavings taken out of the poop trays and coop floors are dumped into compost and produce an amazing garden !

Your coop sounds a lot like mine. But I use PDZ on the poop board. But even with the PDC everything was frozen solid and I couldn’t even scrape it off the board. This summer I’m going to put down some linoleum or something to make it easier. Do you think I should switch to shavings on the board rather than PDC? The PTZ dries out everything so well and there’s no smell. Are use pine shavings in the rest of the coop.

 

[pennyJo1960]

who was the thief ???

One of the newest to move here they are decent folks but he bought on dozen was a tad shocked at the price 3.50 not bad more then the store just then .. fixed one of our mowers kinda but became very comfortable walking through the front drive gate these are actually on the front of the yard and the other at the back so put a lock on the gate bought a trail cam .. the lock seem t6o have gotten the message getting 9 to 12 now

 

[pennyJo1960]

See here I use white shavings only clean out totally 2 times a year then compost it
a year before use but yes my garden is beautiful

 

[mixedbreeds]

So someone living next to you was walking into your coop and stealing eggs. That is incredible that someone would be so bold.

 

[pennyJo1960]

So someone living next to you was walking into your coop and stealing eggs. That is incredible that someone would be so bold.

That is why I was only getting 4 a day I have a horrible IBD do not get out till like 12 guess he figured that out waiting till Richard had taken dogs out and let birds out. Put the lock on the gate wow 9 to 12 again

 

[mixedbreeds]

Wow I’m not sure what I would do would need to have it happen to me before I New for sure. You probably handled it the best way so not to have people next door with a grudge.

 

[pennyJo1960]

He was telling us he could fix our snapper riding mower we had 2 one very old 30's made a deal he could have it if he could get the other running so we pay for a new starter he still has it I say hey oh he will do it right away but still waiting

 

[Hinotori]

I think you'll be waiting a very long time.

It's just unbelievable he'd just help himself to the eggs.