Washingtonians

[Majombaszo]

I can't quite walk yet, but I am up to stumbling around for about 30 minutes at a time, a few times per week. I ditched the crutches on Saturday because I could not hold a laundry basket at the same time. I am going absolutely stir-crazy because I have been home since Easter and I have barely been out of this room.

I don't know what happened to you because I'm both new here and too lazy to dig through the threads to find out. I can tell you from my, sadly extensive, experience on crutches that a backpack worn on your front is a truly wonderous thing!

Good luck to you!

 

[Majombaszo]

Quote:


I think the muscovies would be better, more dedicated slug hunters but yes, my hens annihilate slugs. I had heard that chickens weren't crazy about eating slugs, so we made sure to feed them tiny slugs when they were babies, and it seemed like it worked. If the slugs are too big to eat in one bite, the hens peck them into smaller bites. gruesome but effective.

Better than watching my husband stalk the perimeter at dusk with a cup of coffee in one hand and a container of salt in the other. There was that one time he used the pressure washer but found out (the gag-worthy way) that there's too much blowback.

Two of my favorite things to feed the young chicks and duck would be broccoli (they 'mow' it faster than anything I've ever seen) and earthworms. Earthworms always lead to a rousing game of Poultry Keep Away. I'll have to get 'em going on slugs.

 

[SweetSilver]

My chicken bedding goes through two bins and a tumbler. I throw in my coffee grounds when it goes in the tumbler. When it smells good, I know it's done. It's still pretty woody at that point, so I use it as mulch. I don't worry about it getting hot. As far as I can tell, it doesn't.

There is no need for it to get hot, except perhaps for parasite control. Cooler composts retain nutrients better, though the process will be slower.

 

[SweetSilver]

Two of my favorite things to feed the young chicks and duck would be broccoli (they 'mow' it faster than anything I've ever seen) and earthworms. Earthworms always lead to a rousing game of Poultry Keep Away. I'll have to get 'em going on slugs.

My grand dame BO's name is Buttercup-Tyrant-Queen-of-the-Worm-Hunt. She spent more time pecking at the hens finding worms than she did hunting and eating them herself.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

I have Breda eggs in a Hovabator too. Good luck with your hatch.

If you end up selling your Brinsea, please let me know....I'll buy it from you. I need another one....already....I'm using a hovabator for Breda eggs because my Brinsea came broken in the mail and customer service doesn't seem to be their forte.

 

[EricaD]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this thread (and to BYC) but have a quick question. How many in Western WA (I'm in the Gig Harbor area) successfully free range their flocks (without fencing) during the day? I hope to free range during the day (sometimes we'll be home, sometimes not) by using a chicken door, and they'll be locked in the coop at night. So my concern is about daytime predators.

We'll have a rooster, and our dogs will be outside during the day, but they're in a large fenced run on the opposite side of the house from where the chickens will be, so not loose. But they will bark up a storm if any other animals come onto the property, hopefully scaring them off or deterring them altogether. We also have several neighborhood dogs on invisible fences nearby (another deterrent), and our property is 5 acres of mainly woods, so tons of cover from hawks.

I would love some realistic advice. I've never seen any predator on our property other than a hawk (who was being mercilessly attacked by 2 crows mid-air), but we've heard coyotes far off in the distance. Never found any scat or other evidence of wildlife (every day when we're home we let our dogs run loose through the woods, so they mark their territory all over the place and I think that keeps them away). Our immediate neighbors keep their trash outside and have never had any animal lay a finger on it (tells me the neighborhood dogs also deter the bears and raccoons). We have another neighbor adjacent to us who has some old sheep and a single rooster, who are out ranging all day, and has not reported any problems.

All that being said, perhaps no predators have come because we never served up a chicken buffet on a silver platter before. I'm sure the chickens will attract interest, but given all of the above can I make an educated guess that we may have an ok chance at successfully free ranging the birds?

I'm open to adding electric field fencing around a large area, possibly even creating smaller areas that we move every week. This would be my plan B. And then plan C would be a fully enclosed run.

So, my friendly locals, thoughts? Successes and failures? Am I being overly optimistic and setting myself up for a chicken massacre?

PS - another option I'm open to is putting our own dogs on an invisible fence so that they're out mingling with the chickens all day, but won't know if this is feasible until we see how they behave. For all we know, our dogs may want to eat the chickens too, lol. But it's something we'll explore with caution if our dogs show potential of becoming LGD's.

 

[Teva]

So, out of 15 straight-run chicks, about 5 of them are cockerels. I have leghorns, buff orpingons, and EEs.

I suppose I ought to keep one. I'm not looking forward to the 5am wake up calls, though.

In your experience, which breed is the best roo?

 

[SadieSue]

Hi all, I miss ya!

Recuperating and hope to be back soon. Neighbor dogs got in my yard last week and killed 3 hens. Shasta jumped her enclosure and fought the other dogs off. Sad Day

Ohmygosh I am so sorry. Makes me sick to hear this. It's my worst fear right now which is why my girls have been confined to their enclosed run for the past month. How are the kids taking it? Do you know which neighbor's dogs? Are they aware?

 

[Teva]

Hi Erica, welcome to BYC and our thread! I'm new here too. I am in Mason County, I have a pen for my chickens but I leave it open and let them come and go as they please. I have 8 acres, 1/4 is a pond, 1/2 is woodland, and 1/4 is grass/garden. I have no dogs, but I have peafowl who are supposed to be pretty good "predator alert" birds. I've had them all for about a month and a half with no predator problems except for the neighbor's dog who got loose once. Didn't get anything though.

About 2 weeks after getting my hens, I came home to a coyote on my driveway (it's about 1/4 mile long). I'm not sure what he was doing, he wasn't anywhere near the chicken pen. When I startled him, he ran PAST the chicken pen and into the woods. Weird. Haven't seen him since.

I lock the chickens in their coop every night. Haven't had any issues!

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this thread (and to BYC) but have a quick question. How many in Western WA (I'm in the Gig Harbor area) successfully free range their flocks (without fencing) during the day? I hope to free range during the day (sometimes we'll be home, sometimes not) by using a chicken door, and they'll be locked in the coop at night. So my concern is about daytime predators.

We'll have a rooster, and our dogs will be outside during the day, but they're in a large fenced run on the opposite side of the house from where the chickens will be, so not loose. But they will bark up a storm if any other animals come onto the property, hopefully scaring them off or deterring them altogether. We also have several neighborhood dogs on invisible fences nearby (another deterrent), and our property is 5 acres of mainly woods, so tons of cover from hawks.

I would love some realistic advice. I've never seen any predator on our property other than a hawk (who was being mercilessly attacked by 2 crows mid-air), but we've heard coyotes far off in the distance. Never found any scat or other evidence of wildlife (every day when we're home we let our dogs run loose through the woods, so they mark their territory all over the place and I think that keeps them away). Our immediate neighbors keep their trash outside and have never had any animal lay a finger on it (tells me the neighborhood dogs also deter the bears and raccoons). We have another neighbor adjacent to us who has some old sheep and a single rooster, who are out ranging all day, and has not reported any problems.

All that being said, perhaps no predators have come because we never served up a chicken buffet on a silver platter before. I'm sure the chickens will attract interest, but given all of the above can I make an educated guess that we may have an ok chance at successfully free ranging the birds?

I'm open to adding electric field fencing around a large area, possibly even creating smaller areas that we move every week. This would be my plan B. And then plan C would be a fully enclosed run.

So, my friendly locals, thoughts? Successes and failures? Am I being overly optimistic and setting myself up for a chicken massacre?

PS - another option I'm open to is putting our own dogs on an invisible fence so that they're out mingling with the chickens all day, but won't know if this is feasible until we see how they behave. For all we know, our dogs may want to eat the chickens too, lol. But it's something we'll explore with caution if our dogs show potential of becoming LGD's.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote: Hey, that's great CL! We can then all say we knew you back before you were the famed Buckeye portrait artist.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the Buckeye paintings turn out. CL does extraordinarily beautiful work. And those Buckeyes are a handsome bird to begin with.