Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chicken Rustler]

Hello all - south puget here. Interested in raising chicks at home, came here to learn a thing or two :0)

Welcome and you probably came to one of the VERY BEST places for information and to learn.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: (fingers all crossed)

One of the best thing about Hamburgs is that they are darling little silver babies with a metallic sheen and never go through an ugly adolescence: they look very different at two weeks, three weeks, four weeks (when it's easy to determine gender) and then about five weeks they start looking like little adults, only darker, and from that point on they just get prettier and prettier.

I should put up the baby pictures from last spring, although... not today. I had two strong, healthy, young adults helping me yesterday, and I never did learn not to try to keep up with those people.
Congrats CL! Need pics as soon as you can!

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I finally beat you to it CR! You are always one of the first to greet, but I finally got one!

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Quote: Yes, Tamara and I got to join you and CL and Einstein for a lovely lunch and admire your place. It was so nice it was hard to leave!

 

[TerrorBird]

I was able to find a good home for Lyle. He's now living with a woman who runs a horse rescue in Everett. Mom tried looking for the ad I'd placed on Craigslist and found one for a Lavender Orpington rooster in our own neighborhood! He's a young guy (4.5 months) but he's big! He was being bullied by the hens at his old home. This morning, I tried setting him loose among the girls. He casually wandered around while Muffet and crew followed him closely and watched his every move. They wouldn't leave him alone.

They give the poor guy the Stinkeye when the five of them are eating. He'll be ignoring them completely and focusing on food, then someone will give him a look and move toward him. He skitters off a short distance and comes back to eat again. He did peck at a few of them once or twice, but he's just getting used to them and he'll establish his place at the top of the pecking order soon.

Dawn, I'm truly sorry that I had to give Lyle to someone else. He saved my Pudge from that hawk and I'm eternally grateful for that. But he did pick on the girls needlessly during his entire time here. They didn't do anything at the time to deserve it and it bothered me to death. My girls' happiness and well-being are my top priorities and they were fairly unhappy that he was bullying them. I did learn that roosters are a great thing to have around if you have predators in the area. That is why we decided to get another rooster so soon. If he picks on the girls needlessly after the pecking order struggle is all over, I will find him a new home. That is how things work around here.

Also, hi Lindsay!


Here he is! He's so handsome.

 

[Hinotori]

We have a manual log splitter that you could use if you need too. The willow trees that I had to take out this past January were difficult to split. They were very stringy. I burned most of the firewood this past summer. I would love to have a small wood stove in the house. My son has access to downed trees for most of the winter. So he has brought us several loads of fir rounds.

Thankyou much for the kind offer. We're getting a log splitter as soon as DH can decide on the one he wants. He's been trying to decide for the last six months.

These weren't rounds we had delivered, they were tree trunks. Some of those suckers were 12 feet long. Luckily the really wide ones are only 5-6 foot long. We ended up getting a log jack to get them lifted up so he could saw them into rounds. There is one really long, heavy one out there that even he couldn't get up with the jack. I told him he should just cut halfway through in the middle and roll it. Then we might be able to jack up each half.

I'm only running a space heater right now. It pops on for a few minutes every hour or so. I can't bring myself to build a fire for a couple degrees.

There are ash and willows saplings that came up out in the area the previous owner "cleared". I told DH we should let them grow until they are big enough around to burn, then we can start harvesting some of them. There just aren't many trees on the front 8 or so acres because of the guy.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: I finally beat you to it CR! You are always one of the first to greet, but I finally got one!

I greet them in new member introductions,and send them here for you to greet them.

 

[Hinotori]

From a couple days ago. First fire of the year. Got the house up to 95*. Felt so good.




There used to be a huge Cottonwood next door, but it came down during a windstorm a few years ago, and took out the neighbors house. They used to save any downed branches for me. I didn't notice it being especially wet (it was deadwood), but it burned fast, not so hot, and it smelled dirty.

The same neighbor took out a huge Alder, and the neighbor on the other side took out 3 Cedars. I took out 3 small trees. The tree services told me that it was much cheaper to cut the wood into rounds and leave it, rather than haul it away. Both neighbors gave me all the wood, so I'm stocked up for a couple years.

Russ

I still like the looks of your stove. It's so cute. I can't take 95* anymore. Though some of those times when I'm cold and wet from working outside, it probably would feel great for a bit.

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
I'm going but just to look around and shop. It's hilarious that DH also shops for me as well.

 

[Hinotori]

Hello all - south puget here. Interested in raising chicks at home, came here to learn a thing or two :0)

Ask away and we will try and answer. We do chat a lot and it moves fast here sometimes.