Washingtonians

[Sudsy Chick]

Congrats on a very successful hatch! I'll bet the kids are excited. Did you enjoy hatching using an incubator this time?

Thank you - everyone loved it - especially me! It's very different from a broody mama - I can't even see the chicks until they're a few days old!

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In Monroe I bought a silver Ameraucana pullet from Pips&Peeps. She gave me a fertile egg to take home. A nice little bonus for going to the show I thought! I put the egg in my pocket, then in the cup holder of the car for the drive home. Then it sat on the kitchen table in an egg carton, then in the garage. I turned it 3 times a day. I was waiting for the Ameraucana to lay more eggs so I could set them all together in the incubator, but do you think she'd give me anymore? Nada. So 10 days after I brought it home I set it.
Not wanting to waste ALL of the space in my Brinsea, I contacted zgoatlady and she was nice enough to share 6 of her Wheaten Marans eggs with me, so I set those the following day.
Day 21 for the Ameraucana - the "in my pocket, in my cup holder, kitchen table, garage", lonely 10 day old egg - and this morning I woke up to a "cheep!"
What an amazing thing hatching is! Hopefully those 6 other babies will be greeting me tomorrow morning.

Oh so adorable =) I hope you have lots more peeps tomorrow!

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Aww, thanks! Maybe next year? If you ever make it over to this side of the state, I'd love to have you over. Always nice to meet more Washingtonians

 

[justbugged]

Anyone want some Giant African Dewlaps?

This is why geese are one of the few animals that really scare me in life. I know that they probably can't kill a person, but that's not because they don't want too.

 

[RonB]

Ok, you garden "Pro's" I have a question. How much fresh ( 1-2 weeks old) chicken poop do you think I should use in a garden.? like around tomato plants, cukes, and peppers?
Thanks !

 

[Hinotori]

Apart from the brooders in the basement, we also have some outside, as well as grow out pens.



They all have water and electricity :-


with automatic waterers inside, plus a wire bottom so there's little cleaning;we move the birds to a clean pen, then move the other pen to a new spot.


When the birds don't need heat, they can go to the grow-out pens - when the tops are removed there are hinged wire doors so the birds can enjoy the sunshine without escaping!.


All the automatic waterers are on a pipe base so spilled water (from the ducks) is removed via a hose running down the hill.

We have chickens and ducks so they had to be dual purpose.

That is a great setup! I need a few of those. I'm showing this to my husband and telling him that I want some. Hehe. They look great.

 

[Hinotori]

The ONLY benefit I ever found to living in Western Washington has been rendered null and void. I was in the yard pulling out these mystery invasive plant things and I found a snake. Of course I was kind of lying on the ground and the ****** snake was right next to my face! I swear it was NEARLY A FOOT LONG!!!!! I'm never going outside ever again! My husband won't let me go back out there with my pistol to render said snake null and void. Killjoy. At the same time, he refuses to go out and get the yard tools I left behind and it looks like it's about to rain. I wish I could quickly teach the dogs to retreive the tools for me but they'd likely bring me the snake instead.

And, yes, I know that it's harmless (to everything but my psyche) and that it's a tiny snake but growing up in The South (of the US, not Washington) instilled in me absolute terror of snakes.

*shudder*

The only thing I've seen here is the garter snakes. There weren't as many this last year after the chickens found them. Had one get into the house twice. She apparently didn't learn the first time after we dumped her over the fence. The second time hubby took her farther and dumped her by the mailbox. Know it was the same one because she was missing part of her tail and it had healed. I'll take the small harmless snakes, I'm from the east side of the cascades and have seen enough rattlesnakes.

I've about gotten over the spider phobia unless it looks like a black widow. To many *&^% spiders over on this side, even if most are the small harmless annoying kind.

 

[Imp]

Quote: On the topic of snakes. I just found out that we have wild boas living in Washington. Wild huh?

http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/herp/html/4chbo.html

Russ

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I love the rubber boas! The first and only snake I have ever owned was a rubber boa. I found quite a few this summer, awesome little things. I read that they can live for up to 30 years in captivity.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Ok, you garden "Pro's" I have a question. How much fresh ( 1-2 weeks old) chicken poop do you think I should use in a garden.? like around tomato plants, cukes, and peppers?
Thanks !

Ron, that is much too soon to use on the garden. You need to compost it first, let is sit a couple of months first, or it will burn the veggies as it is considered a HOT manure.

Here is a good article on how to use it best:
http://www.ehow.com/way_5767802_long-manure-composted-before-use_.html

 

[justbugged]

OH MY GOSH! We read that book when I was in grade school in California. I could never remember the name of it. I thought it was so sad that the person got locked up and missed the sun and that the people had to live in a place with so little sunshine. Then I had to move to western Wa!

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OMG! This could maybe mean that months and months of grey rainy skies aren't normal after all.

Hey! I was born here. How would I know if it's not normal?