Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Nikki99]

I'm here now too!! This is pretty cool, a new thread n all! My eyeballs popped outta my head though when I clicked on the link for this new thread and we already had 9 pages, equally 80+ comments!! Lol. We are a chatty group aren't we!

Quote:
Hehehe, loved reading this!

Quote: The smell disappates, doen't it? I've been in gardens where it was used, and I don't remember any disagreeable odor.

I sure hope it dissipates. That's pretty cheap for a yard, but I still don't think I could go there. There's a gross factor there that I don't know that I'd be able to get over.

I'm right there w/ya Itsren!

I just unsubscribed from the other thread and subscribed to here. Now I'll always know where to go.

If you want to have this thread in your subscriptions list, when you post something, below the typing window there's a "Get notified when others reply?" box. Click on "Site Only" and it will show up in your subscriptions.

Thanks for this info.

Quote:

Quote:
I think my poor DH can trump you both....our cat dropped a dead vole in his muck boot. Hahahahahaha!!! Unfortunately, he discovered this by putting his foot in his boot and to his surprise, there was something squishy!

Now is the time to contact the Pumpkin Farms around you.
I now grow mine but before in years past I'd call and see if I could stop by after the 31st to glean some.

I know Remlinger plows them back under the very next day.
Better to call now then few days before as they get quite busy.

Pumpkins very good food for your chickens.
The smaller size will store longer for you.

If you use .......... pumpkin seeds anti parasitic .......... in a search engine you can read about the health benefits for you and your chickens.

I did not know any of this. Thanks for posting it. I'm all over this!

 

[Nikki99]

Just like Imp, I have to post here so I can find the thread in the future.

I got myself a load of pumpkins today. Found a guy on craigslist selling 500 lbs for $40.00. Bunch of smaller ones, but they will work for the birds.

500lbs is a lot of pumpkins!! So, do you give them all 500lbs at once, or do you freeze some to keep for later?

 

[Imp]

Last year I got about 10 large pumpkins free. i brought them home and put them in the shed. Planning on breaking up like 1 a week. Of course I forgot till the freeze hit. Then afterwards I had a box of pumpkin puree spread out across the shed floor. lol.

Russ- never again.

 

[Nikki99]

CarolynF: In the other WA thread I tried to quote you there then post it here but it wouldn't let me. You mentioned that you have a wood floor in your coop. Is that it? You don't need any bedding for them on top of the wood floor? (Please note: I'm not being snotty, I'm a newbie to the world of chickens and am asking b/c I'm curious and wanna learn more)

I have a dirt floor and I'm doing the DL method for now but am definitely wanting to learn more about other options in case this one doesn't work for me. I have a big coop and just want something that will work nicely and not need a lot of time and effort daily.
I've thought about using sand, that seems like it would be really easy to keep clean, easy to scoop poo. Just not sure how easy it would be to keep dry b/c when it gets wet, it clumps up which I would think would make it hard to get it to dry quickly. When the shavings get wet, I just rake and fluff, they dry pretty quickly. I'm also not sure if a sand floor would help much in keeping the birds warm enough?
I have also thought of putting in a wood floor but to me, that seems like it would be really hard to keep clean. I see what happens on the roosts w/the poo and it just smashes and smears all over, I'm pretty sure the wood floor would do the same thing? It seems like you'd never really be able to clean it very well. What are your experiences with this?

 

[Imp]

I think from the old thread that you will not be able to quote to the new thread.
Try Copy & Paste.
Highlight the post in the old thread, then rt click and copy
come to the new thread and open a reply box and rt click and paste
If you want the quote box, highlight the post and hit the " " (quote button)
It will put the post in a quote box.

I'm at work right now and the computers here are like on IE 2, lol!
Very wonky to use, but fun at the same time.

Russ

 

[Hinotori]

CarolynF: In the other WA thread I tried to quote you there then post it here but it wouldn't let me. You mentioned that you have a wood floor in your coop. Is that it? You don't need any bedding for them on top of the wood floor? (Please note: I'm not being snotty, I'm a newbie to the world of chickens and am asking b/c I'm curious and wanna learn more)

I have a dirt floor and I'm doing the DL method for now but am definitely wanting to learn more about other options in case this one doesn't work for me. I have a big coop and just want something that will work nicely and not need a lot of time and effort daily.
I've thought about using sand, that seems like it would be really easy to keep clean, easy to scoop poo. Just not sure how easy it would be to keep dry b/c when it gets wet, it clumps up which I would think would make it hard to get it to dry quickly. When the shavings get wet, I just rake and fluff, they dry pretty quickly. I'm also not sure if a sand floor would help much in keeping the birds warm enough?
I have also thought of putting in a wood floor but to me, that seems like it would be really hard to keep clean. I see what happens on the roosts w/the poo and it just smashes and smears all over, I'm pretty sure the wood floor would do the same thing? It seems like you'd never really be able to clean it very well. What are your experiences with this?

I have wood floors in the smaller coops. I use wood pellets for their bedding in there. The wood never usually sees the light of day until I clean it out. Not everyone likes wood pellets, though. I love the things. They keep it nice and dry.

I mentioned putting some sand in the run to fill in the chicken holes and make it level and the nasty look I got from DH. He reminded me how wet sand gets all over and is a pain to get off. It's a valid point. Even if it's tarped the water floods in from the sides when it gets really bad.

 

[itsren]

Now is the time to contact the Pumpkin Farms around you.
I now grow mine but before in years past I'd call and see if I could stop by after the 31st to glean some.

I know Remlinger plows them back under the very next day.
Better to call now then few days before as they get quite busy.

Pumpkins very good food for your chickens.
The smaller size will store longer for you.

If you use .......... pumpkin seeds anti parasitic .......... in a search engine you can read about the health benefits for you and your chickens.

We just brought a couple dozen home from my SIL's. She grows a huge field every year, then has a huge pumpkin party and lets the kids take how ever many they want. My daughter wants 'em all and takes a lot! She's got tiny pumpkins all over her room and our front porch is covered with 'em.

We're carving some tomorrow evening... can we feed the "guts" of the pumpkins to the girls? Do we have to do anything to the seeds or do we just give them to the girls the way they come out of the pumpkin? And, the tiny pumpkins - are they edible for the chickens?

 

[itsren]

I think my poor DH can trump you both....our cat dropped a dead vole in his muck boot. Hahahahahaha!!! Unfortunately, he discovered this by putting his foot in his boot and to his surprise, there was something squishy!

Aren't you glad it was in your husband's boot and not yours?

 

[RaZ]

Last year I got about 10 large pumpkins free. i brought them home and put them in the shed. Planning on breaking up like 1 a week. Of course I forgot till the freeze hit. Then afterwards I had a box of pumpkin puree spread out across the shed floor. lol. Russ- never again.

Here, in the burbs, people buy pumpkins, straw bales and corn stalks for Halloween decorations. The week after, all that stuff gets set to the curb for trash pick up.

That is when I go scrounging for the goodies. My chickens don't care that the pumpkin was carved. The corn stalks usually have decent ears of corn and the straw bales make good bedding.

Thank goodness for Yuppies.

 

[Greg Richardson]

Quote: I usually split mine in half.
Depends on the size of the pumpkin.
But half's work for me.
Yes, just place it on the floor and let them eat it all.
You want them to eat everything.
They will leave the outside part.
It really depends on the chickens how much they eat.
I've had some go nuts over them others just eat a bit.
You'll notice your egg color go even more orange.

I grew New England Pie ones this year as I was informed if I grew smaller ones they'd store better.
So I'm going to test that this year.