Washingtonians

[GopherBoyFarms]

Quote:
Cascade Park, you?

We are kinda in Heritage neighborhood....end of Padden Parkway...on your way to Hockinson. We sit right on the city limits boundery (or so we have been told). Thankfully the neighbors like our chickens.....and we dont mind their 5-7? little yappers, LOL

If you are ever headed out to Hockinson just look for the house with the 10 foot tall red and white rocket in the driveway. And hopefully we should have our big egg shaped GopherBoy Farms sign out there soon.


~Tiff~

 

[Davidian]

I'm on the West side of Spokane across the river. (on the upper west plains)

My 8 chickens seem to be faring well through this bitter cold spell. We just got them and I've been making mods to the coop as we just moved in here to make it more "Egg Friendly".

 

[UrbanChickenMama]

My girls' coop is much smaller than your's GopherBoyFarms (3'x4'x3'), but it is insulated. It is new as of this year and I already have modifications I want to make. I currently have an extension cord run out to it with a light mounted in the upper left hand corner. I blocked off the vents for this cold spell. Their water has been freezing, but I've been changing it out with warm water 2 a day or more. They seem to be fine. I don't want to add to much heat and get them so taht they can't withstand the normal temps, but I also don't want them to freeze. I'm worrying, but also trying to trust that they truly are barnyard animals and can survive. They are heavy breeds, so I think they'll be fine.

You're not to far from me. I'm pretty familiar with Hockinson. I love that area. I went to Prairie - back in the day - and had a number of friends that lived out there.

Big red rocket, huh? Do you guys sell your eggs -- hence the signs? That's great!

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

I broke down and turned the heater on in the coop....dont know if I will leave it on all night or not. And I added an extra heat lamp for the 5 girls (and the cat) in the garage.
I will go check all the animals on my last trip out to get wood, and see how they are all doing. I also moved all the girls up onto 2 perches so no one is sitting alone.

Yes....we do sell eggs...most the time we have about 3-4 dozen a week, we are hoping by this spring to have 10-15 dozen a week. Right now the girls are not laying very good, maybe 2 dozen a week (I think some are hidding eggs again) and we havent added any extra hours of light for them (I want to do that this week).

DH has been working on the sign in his spare time....and the new coop in his spare time...I hope one of the two will be done by January.

I love Hockinson.....we hope we can buy a house out there someday (we rent right now). The kids go to school in Hockinson, and it's such a great school district that I really want to keep them there. We are right there on the main road into Hockinson, about 1/4 mile past walgreens. Cant miss the rocket, LOL


~Tiff~

 

[chookchick]

OMG it was soo cold this evening outside! My two hens have been hanging out outside all day! Trying to scratch frozen ground and roosting, and giving me two eggs! the little troopers. Tonight I am nervous as they are saying 8 degrees. I wrapped the coop on two sides with insulation and bungied it on. Here's to hoping we make it through this cold spell with no (or no more) issues!

 

[JennsPeeps]

I came home last night to the unpleasant surprise of finding that my BSL had somehow escaped the run, the coop door had blown shut, and my girls were stuck outside in the dark with no food & no water.

Full story here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113516

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Well this morning when I got up it was -14 and the pump in the well house had a cracked pipe so we have been out all day working on that. Then a hen that I thought was dead showed up, she must have been broody so now all the critters are safe.

 

[Davidian]

Finished remodelling the coop today as it was a nice balmy 15 degrees out... Expanded the area inside for them to run around and moved the nesting boxes in, made a doorway that i can shut at night to keep it a little toastier at night and I ordered a 250W Ceramic heat bulb to replace the red heat lamps. I'll have pics tomorrow.

Next project insulating...

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Ok something happened when we were headed to town tonight. We got down to the corner of the road and there are basically no houses in sight and the one that is has been abandoned for years. Well we saw glowing eyes and figured maybe a wild cat but when we got closer and it didnt move I stopped and looked and it looked like one of the barn cats so I called the name "rikki" which is our oldest cat that is missing. Well it wasnt rikki but it came running to the car meowing so I picked it up and the poor thing was frozen, its ears were so frozen that they were stiff like a nail file. We went to town and made it a fast grocery run instead if stopping here and there. Once we got home I took the cat into the bathroom so it wouldnt fight with our others and I fed it and all. Well I noticed that it looked odd when it walked and when I came back I noticed how short the legs were and how long the back was. It looks like a munchkin kitty. When it was eating I noticed it had a hard time so I looked and it has no front teeth. I am thinking some one dumped it because there is no reason it would be out there.
So now we have a cute kitty that we are gonna take it to the vet to see if it has a microchip and all.

 

[Selena]

Well my Danish Leghorn got out and went missing. I found her this morning. She made it back to the chicken run but couldn't get back inside and didn't realize that I left the "quarantine run" open with a light on inside for her. So, she just stood there in the snow. I scooped her up and quickly took her inside. She was pretty lethargic, and I just happen to have pedialyte (for my lizards) so I mixed some with a little sugar and started syringing it. (thank goodness I have hands on with my lizards. Chickens are much easier, let me tell you!) She's even drinking some out of a cup if I get her started first. I've given her about 10 cc, and found something out... she's ticklish. If you lightly scratch at the webbing of her feet, she gets ticked off and will give you a look. I kept doing it to keep her awake and drinking. Finally she is reacting a bit more alert, so I've got her tucked in on the couch with a warm pack and under my Carhardt.

And it JUST started snowing again. Big heavy flakes.


(FMP: hope Aurora loves her new home and congrats on the new pet.)