Washingtonians

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
Yeah I was disappointed that we didn't have more eggs. I swear all 7 of my 21 weekers were all over the nest boxes today; apparently they were performing a serious inspection of their future instead of actually learning how to lay!! Dartha, my Australorp, is 20 weeks now too, so really I have 8 girls who could lay any day at all. Then Princess is 19.5 weeks but I believe Marans take longer to lay, and Flower is 18.5 weeks but also a Marans. The babies won't lay this fall even; they're only 11.5 weeks old. Bummer.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Anyone know the website/or/address/or/phone of the WSU extension place in Puyallup? I need to take a spider in. A few years ago our neighbor was bitten by a hobo. This year I have been finding what looked like could be hobos all over our yard. Tonight, we found one in the boys room. I need to take it in.

Another great resource is www.enature.com You can find lots of info about the critters in an area as well as identify what you may have just seen.

 

[Chubby Chicken]

I had no idea how HUGE Coronation Sussex chicks are. OMG. We refer to it as the radioactive chick.

I don't know much at all about Sussex, but from what I have read, I think I have 3 cockerels and one pullet. UUUgh!

We hatched 4 eggs earlier in the year, three cockerels, one prized and adored pullet. UUUgh!

Random craigslist bantams, three cockerels, two pullets.

It's the year of the rooster.

Oh but Judges4 has given me hope, and is keeping me hooked, TWO pullets, one cockerel.

 

[Chubby Chicken]

Anyone know the website/or/address/or/phone of the WSU extension place in Puyallup? I need to take a spider in. A few years ago our neighbor was bitten by a hobo. This year I have been finding what looked like could be hobos all over our yard. Tonight, we found one in the boys room. I need to take it in.

Spiders are the real reason I freerange! I almost peed my pants the first time I saw a Swedish House Spider, and I am not afraid of spiders.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

I had no idea how HUGE Coronation Sussex chicks are. OMG. We refer to it as the radioactive chick.

I don't know much at all about Sussex, but from what I have read, I think I have 3 cockerels and one pullet. UUUgh!

We hatched 4 eggs earlier in the year, three cockerels, one prized and adored pullet. UUUgh!

Random craigslist bantams, three cockerels, two pullets.

It's the year of the rooster.

Oh but Judges4 has given me hope, and is keeping me hooked, TWO pullets, one cockerel.

Two pullets and one cockerel on the bantam Cochins? How do they look now? Love to see updated pics.

Here's our miracle SFH. It pipped at the wrong end over 24 hours ago. And last night it hatched all by itself. Seems perfectly fine!

***by the way, I have extra SFH chicks......want one??***

 

[itsren]

Spiders are the real reason I freerange! I almost peed my pants the first time I saw a Swedish House Spider, and I am not afraid of spiders.

Eggs, natural bug control, and natural fertilizer for the garden are the three reasons we got chickens! I think my girls have done a great job with the back yard. I haven't seen any more of those nests back there since the chickens have been outside chickens. Unfortunately, the huge spider nest I had found (and actually broke down on my "no chemicals in the yard" rule and sprayed) was in the front/side corner of the house - and right under the boy's bedroom - the room were we found the spider this morning. That nest had babies - and it was in the vent that leads to the crawl space of the house. Now I'm thinking my husband will "get" to crawl under the house. I doubt he'll do it, we'll probably have to hire someone.

If you have ever seen a hobo spider wound, in person, it will change your fear levels of spiders. I used to pick up and carry spiders around ever since I was a little girl (my defense against my spider-phobe older sister. LOL!). But after seeing what happened to my neighbor's leg from the hobo bite, I have been terrified of the little buggers if they remotely look close to a hobo. It has been a few years, and she still has issues with the bite location. It's a bad, bad spider. The giant house spider and a female hobo looks very similar (they are actually cousins in the spider family) - so it is hard to know what is what without a microscope. My neighbors thinks the spider in question is a hobo, my husband thinks it is a giant house spider. I'm going to leave it to the lab to tell us.

 

[itsren]

CUTE!!!! How sweet is that!

 

[itsren]

Another great resource is www.enature.com You can find lots of info about the critters in an area as well as identify what you may have just seen.

Thank you! I'll look into that link as soon as I get a chance. I want to learn as much as I can about the little critters.

I'm *hoping* it is a giant house spider, because they are said to be a natural predator for the hobo. Being spider cousins, they go after the same food source, but the giant house spider is supposed to be capable of killing a hobo in food wars. Giant house spider = good. Hobo = bad. I'm not so positive ours is a giant house spider considering the two spiders that my neighbor had brought in to the place in Puyallup were confirmed to be hobos and they never found the entire nest to eradicate it.

 

[itsren]

Jessica - I sent you a PM.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Stop talking about spiders; you're making me creepy crawly. ***Runs away to take a shower!!!***

My neighbor is coming over in 30 minutes to see the chicken setup and see how to take care of them. Won't be much to do, just keep food in the feeders and refill the waterer once. I'm so nervous to leave my chicas but it was bound to be necessary eventually, might as well be now! My other good friend who has her own chickens is coming over to take care of them the first 3 days, the neighbor the last 3 days. I told them they could keep the eggs; that's good payment right? Plus my friend owed me because I have already taken care of her chickens twice this summer while she was away. Off to make breakfast for the kidlets. I haven't checked for eggs yet because I thought it would be fun for the neighbor to find them for herself when we go out there. DYING to see how many we have!