Washingtonians

[Hinotori]

Quote:
We have the same with Dish. Extremely heavy rain might cause issues, but not clouds.

 

[Hinotori]

Now that I've caught up, I'm sorry about all the losses and injuries on birds. Yes it does always seem to be the favorite ones.

My sympathies to all who are fighting pain. Makes me wish there was something I could do to help stop the pain. It just never is fair on who it hits.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

One other thing, I figured I would put this on here before I put it on Craigslist.
I have a clock for sale, but not just any clock this was built by a man named Jimmy Collier (this is the reason why my farm is called Collier Clocks Farm). He was an amazing man that built everything from clocks to race cars from scratch. If you do a Google search and read about him you will fall in love with him.
I have so much info on this man I could go on for ever, He is the reason that Evergreen speedway is what it is today. It used to be a dirt horse track, but Jmmy wanted a place to race his Model T and so he went to the Snohomish city councle and convinced them to turn it into a paved race track.
I would like to sell this clock to someone who will appriciate it in every way. If you want any info on the clock let me know. If not no biggy I just wanted to share it's beauty with ya'll before it goes.

WOW So Cool but I bet rather pricey.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Wow, I just got caught up on 160+ posts! Sorry to those who lost birds or have injuries to deal with, you have my full sympathies.

I think I have figured out why my girls "aren't laying well" these days. I think the darn rodents who are living under the coop are stealing eggs. We only had 5 eggs today. 9 yesterday, but after each egg was laid I took it away; basically yesterday every time I heard an egg song I went to check for eggs. 9 total. Today we were gone most of the day. 5 when we got home. Then Martha and Willow were in the boxes, sang some egg songs, and all the girls were out free ranging. What I think is happening is that the rodent comes to get eggs when the gals are out of the coop/run, and I'm not checking frequently. When the girls are in the coop/run locked up most of the time, all eggs are there (ranging between 7-9 each day). I'm so frustrated! I want to rodent proof (for the most part) the run, but DH doesn't want to help.

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Well, we've brought Salma over to my apartment just to give us all a break from the many, many animals and people over at my BF's. I haven't tried to feed her or give her water in several hours, so that is what I'm going to do now. We have assessed our current finances and there is simply no money for a vet. She's on antibiotics, I'm keeping the eye clean and putting Neosporin on the cut above it. I'm force feeding her as much as I reasonably can. Beyond that, there's nothing we can do but worry our heads off. I hope she makes it. She is the only one of our chickens who is more like a pet to us than livestock. The smartest and the only one who comes up to us even when we don't have food. Why did the raccoon have to attack her?!?

 

[TerrorBird]

We just had a mini-crisis about an hour ago. I was in the house doing random thing x when I heard a commotion going outside. It was sudden and furious, some predator was out there. I raced out as fast as possible and roared as I charged down the hill. Didn't see anything leaving the general area. I found two of my favorite young ones pressed up against the back of the chicken house. Another was hiding in the garden.

My Pudge was nowhere.

We looked everywhere for her. We looked in every garden, all around our house, and around the fruit trees. We called everyone in for scratch, but at that point the two at the back of the house were hiding under the house and wouldn't come out. We found a bunch of black fluffy feathers right around there. I was sobbing and feeling absolutely horrible and mom was trying to comfort me. We passed by the chicken yard a few minutes later after some more searching and I saw what looked exactly like Pudge pecking at the scratch in the yard. IT WAS MY PUDGY GIRL!!

I grabbed her and gave her hugs despite her displeasure. We think it might have been a hawk. Either it tried to get someone just outside of the garden area behind the house or it went for someone actually in the garden. I have no idea how it actually played out since I didn't actually see anything. I don't know if the rooster did anything to discourage it or if he turned tail and ran. I'd like to think that he warned them and gave them a chance to run before it happened. Whatever the exact situation was, it ended with all of my girls being alive. This is a harsh lesson, but we're going to make the best of it!

 

[Farmin Momma]

Quote: Yeah, that is the only thing. It was apraised at $6,200. but I figured a more realistic price is $4,000. It actually has a 350 turbo transmision in the head of it that runs the whole thing. These things are just amazing. When we moved in here the shop was packed full of machineing "machines" and tools, some of them were so old there were even hand crank tools. Just cool stuff!

 

[DeesHens]

Well, we've brought Salma over to my apartment just to give us all a break from the many, many animals and people over at my BF's. I haven't tried to feed her or give her water in several hours, so that is what I'm going to do now. We have assessed our current finances and there is simply no money for a vet. She's on antibiotics, I'm keeping the eye clean and putting Neosporin on the cut above it. I'm force feeding her as much as I reasonably can. Beyond that, there's nothing we can do but worry our heads off. I hope she makes it. She is the only one of our chickens who is more like a pet to us than livestock. The smartest and the only one who comes up to us even when we don't have food. Why did the raccoon have to attack her?!?

I think you are doing a great job helping Salma. I am nursing Betsy Barr Rock so I know how frustrating it is when they don't seem to feel better after much effort. Today Betsy actually was drinking the broth off the feed I put in a bowl with warm water for her. She enjoyed it more than anything else lately. Stopped eating her favs like meal worms, cooked eggs, etc. days ago. She nibbles a bit on her dry feed but not enough. She won't eat yogurt. She has been eating the dirt out of her chard potted plant. So now she poos dirt mixed with grass and water mostly. Gross huh! Maybe something wrong with her plumbing? I put some krill oil in her feed broth hoping it would help her. Thought it would help her throat/crop. Kept hearing gurgling in there so concerned about that now. She seems pretty much OK otherwise. But sometimes after she eats she gets a pale face, hunches up and closes her eyes a few seconds on & off. Then she snaps out of that and goes back to pecking some grass. That is another reason I wonder if it isn't a sour crop or ? I put a fresh organic beet with greens out of our garden in a plastic bottle with water in it. She was pecking & enjoying eating the beet greens. Also put a carrot and a lettuce plant in the water bottle so she could peck those leaves too. But she seemed to prefer the beet greens. Tomorrow I will try some canned tuna but doubt she will eat that. I know she needs the extra protein cause she is growing back feathers from her molt. Anyway, I visit her a zillion times a day in her tractor run it seems making sure she is eating something and drinking. So far pretty good but hoping for better for Betsy & Salma as well. Yeh, it really sucks the raccoon attacked your fav hen. This may sound bad but I think you will understand it when I tell you I was glad the raccoon killed Gemini and not Betsy. Betsy has always been our Selma so to speak. But even so it sucks to only have one hen now. Hang in there and keep up the good work. Hoping the quieter atmosphere will help restore Selma soon. Quietly resting is good for her no doubt. All my best to you and Salma.

~Dee~

 

[DeesHens]

We just had a mini-crisis about an hour ago. I was in the house doing random thing x when I heard a commotion going outside. It was sudden and furious, some predator was out there. I raced out as fast as possible and roared as I charged down the hill. Didn't see anything leaving the general area. I found two of my favorite young ones pressed up against the back of the chicken house. Another was hiding in the garden.

My Pudge was nowhere.

We looked everywhere for her. We looked in every garden, all around our house, and around the fruit trees. We called everyone in for scratch, but at that point the two at the back of the house were hiding under the house and wouldn't come out. We found a bunch of black fluffy feathers right around there. I was sobbing and feeling absolutely horrible and mom was trying to comfort me. We passed by the chicken yard a few minutes later after some more searching and I saw what looked exactly like Pudge pecking at the scratch in the yard. IT WAS MY PUDGY GIRL!!

I grabbed her and gave her hugs despite her displeasure. We think it might have been a hawk. Either it tried to get someone just outside of the garden area behind the house or it went for someone actually in the garden. I have no idea how it actually played out since I didn't actually see anything. I don't know if the rooster did anything to discourage it or if he turned tail and ran. I'd like to think that he warned them and gave them a chance to run before it happened. Whatever the exact situation was, it ended with all of my girls being alive. This is a harsh lesson, but we're going to make the best of it!

Whoa! That sounds like a close call. So glad your Pudge is alright. I got a kick out of you grabbing and hugging her. That's so cool. I know that feeling as I was so happy to find my Betsy girl alive after I found out the raccoon killed Gemini. I quickly enticed Betsy into the chicken tractor with meal worms to keep her safe while my DH dealt with everything else. This was my first and only experience with a predator and it was horrible. Never ever want to deal with it again. We will be building fort knox now. LOL
~Dee~

 

[Nikki99]

I got my confirmation today for Salem.

This is gonna ROCK!!!!! I am being set in an island booth and EVERYBODY entering or leaving the building show must pass through my space!!!! And the RV space is very close too!! That is very important for DW.

Yes I am finally starting to get eggscited. Now to just get a bunch more items made in the next few days.

Woot Woot!!! Congrats CR!!

Thank you, I could.

In other news, I got a hobble put on Gimp. He's peeping as pathetically as my son whines at bedtime. It's the end of his little world.

Jennifer

That's great you were able to hobble him, I hope it works out! Hahaha, that's funny about your son, sometimes mine are the same way when it comes to bedtime, teeth brushing and/or chores.
Thank goodness I love the little stinkers!

for those fighting rats as most of us are.... here is the best description and photos of a bucket catcher I've seen so far.
http://theschultzcompound.blogspot.com/2012/06/rat-catcher.html

Well, we are on day 2 of no eggs. I'm having a hard time believing none of my 5 are laying, when I know at least 3 of them started laying about a month ago. I'm starting to wonder if something is stealing the eggs everyday. ??? I dunno though, I wish they would just use the dang nesting boxes!! Grrrrr!
Anyway, thanks for this, I do believe DH and I will be putting this together tomorrow.

Western WA - near Olympia! How-DEE!

Welcome!!!! Glad to have ya!

OK... I'm going to ask a question that I think may have been asked before, but I didn't understand what was being asked at the time. How are you guys quoting multiple people in a nested quote? I can't, for the life of me, figure it out. When I quote someone, I get the last person who wrote only - which quite often leaves my posts not showing what the topic I'm referring to is.

Edited to add... the "Multi" button doesn't quote nested quotes for me. So... I know that's not what I'm looking for.

I've wondered the same thing b/c this post is what happens to me when I hit the multi option. I'm going to have to try what others suggested for you too.

Hey, here I am! Let's see if I can put a newish photo up, one moment please.


Oh, hey, just realized I need to eat the other half of my breakfast and go take a nap. I was awakened in the wee small hours of the morning by my husband's voice saying "Oh, hello, big white cow" and got to go out in the frosty starlight to chase her in and chain the gate that some trespasser did not close correctly. We were lucky that it was one cow, no calves, not the bull; it could have been 31 all together and I do not know if any of you have dealt with thirty-one shorthorns at 3:30am while wearing your nighty, Carhardt hoody, and barn shoes so old they're probably more than 50% cow manure by weight, but I have, more than once, and it's really more of a life-enhancing experience than I'm currently up to.

Beautiful birds!! I have a feed store OEGB cockerel that looks very similar to yours. I love your pic!
Sorry your cow got out, I'm glad you were able to get it all taken care of, sounds like that could've been a disaster! However, your story and the visual you painted for us made me giggle...thanks for sharing!