Washingtonians

[Mydnight]

I agree with the much louder than the rooster part!! especially early in the morning!! We have a set that belong to my neighbor, and this year we have to cover the vegetables, since the loner male has decided to lead the whole flock over on to our property. We lost half our crop this year.

The worst part is the sound, but the prettiest part is when he puts on his display!!
Also, they do yell 'help' and quite frequently.

 

[bekkers]

Hello all!

I've been advised to stop in here and introduce myself, so here I am. ;-)

My name is Rebekah and we just moved to Yakima from the east coast and are getting started with our urban/suburban homestead! (Can you tell how excited I am!) I don't even have any chickens yet but it is my latest and greatest project thus far, I can hardly wait to find some!

looking forward to hearing from more Wahingtonians...

--Rebekah

 

[JennsPeeps]

Welcome, Rebekah!

I went to college in Ellensburg and have spent many a day in Yakima. I really like E WA. Keep us posted on what breeds you decide to get. Remember that it gets very cold in Yakima, so you'll want cold-hearty breeds.

 

[bekkers]

Thanks for the tip!
Any recommendations? I am super interested in welsummers, blue/red/gold laced wyandottes, "barred" anythings, (I like pretty chickens and eggs!) and I recently discovered that we may be better off with a larger than average breed that may be less inclined to hops and flights over fences... (I guess if they are too heavy they can't get very far off the ground?)

We will only start with a few chickens and hope to grow to maybe 10ish, depending on how our backyard fares!

--Rebekah

ooh, also, regarding the cold, and coop ideas? Will I need to put a light bulb in or maybe even a real heater to keep them alive? I read somewhere recently that unless the temp dips well below zero most chickens will be ok, and that the coop should even be well ventilated in the cold, so I was actually going to put them in a dog crate with a nesting box and a couple of slats put in for perches... Not a good idea? I think we could manage to build a small coop out of wood by the time it gets very cold if that would be better.

 

[Laura78]

Welcome,

I'd go for building a wooden coop and if you can just run an extention cord to it for a heat lamp in the winter. If you can put in vents that don't really allow drafts in that's great, think under the eve of the roof. We're putting on 2 windows that will be just hardware cloth and they will have a flap to close them in winter, but we'll have vents under the eve of the roof on 2 sides.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hi Rebekah,

I just sent you an email and then found this post from BYC sitting in my Inbox next! LOL Glad to see ya made it to BYC.

I would suggest getting or building a small coop. There are lots of idea here on BYC to choose from. You might also be able to find an old shed or something on Freecycle.

As for the cold, all you need is something warm enough to keep the water from freezing. I have a 10x12' Royal Vinyl Shed and housed about 20-30 birds last year in it. The ventilation is so important because during the winter months the birds will spend a lot more time in the coop. More time in the coop adds up to more droppings on the floor (and elsewhere!). More droppings add up to increased amounts of ammonia which leads to respiratory problems if the ammonia amount gets too bad. Basically, if you can smell it and it seems strong to you, it's too strong for your birds.

Other than that, because of the colder temps that you typicaly get over on the eastern side, I would suggest looking at breeds that have smaller combs. Having said that, there are so many factors to consider. Here are just a few:

1) Eye Candy. Which breeds/varieties do I like and not like? This is purely personal preference.
2) Egg Production. How many per week? What size?
3) Egg Color. White, Brown, variations of Brown like tan, Blue, or otherwise
4) Meat production. Will I raise birds for my own meat?
5) Feed Cost Ratio. How much do I need to feed a particular bird to get a dozen eggs or raise it to butchering size?
6) Geographical/Weather conditions. Does a particular breed/variety do well in my environment?
7) Personal Use or otherwise. Do I want a simple backyard flock or will I be breeding, showing, or selling my birds?

Those are just a few things that might be helpful for you to think about.

God Bless,

 

[JennsPeeps]

Use this guide to help you determine which breeds you think will work for you: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

We put a heat lamp in our coop when it got really cold (20s). The bigger problem was keeping them hydrated, since the water kept freezing. There are lots of suggestions on BYC for heating waterers enough to prevent freezing.

 

[Laura78]

Ok, everyone I was thinking of breeding my Porchelain D'Uccles (2 hens and 1 roo). Would anyone here be interested in buying some chicks? I'm not ready to sell eggs yet, I'd like to hatch some out first to see how they do. Here are some pictures taken with my cell phone of my D'Uccles. I will probably let my favorite hen hatch them out as I've been having problems with my bator. One of my hens is a total sweet heart and loves people. The other hen is fearful and hates to be touched. The roo is a nice boy that hates to be caught, but once you have a hold of him he calms down. Even though the one hates to be touched none of them are aggressive at all. At this time I will not ship chicks, sorry.

 

[Drafthorsegal]

Hey guys! I can't believe I missed this thread. I'm in Winlock... anywhere on here from around the area? We're close to Chehalis, Centralia, and about a bazillion one horse towns out in the boonies. Winlock's one claim to fame is that once upon a time it was the egg capital of the US and still has a giant egg to prove it.

I' just got into chickens this year, so any networking around the area would be super helpful. I have RIRs, EEs, Austerlorps, with Spitz's on the way!

Glad you all are around... and I love the BYC community! It's been so helpful this year. I really like the D'Uccles in the pics... what gorgeous birds. My hubby and I eventually want peafowl too, but we want to get chickens down and settled before we stretch out to larger and roaming fowl!

 

[chunky_ficken]

Shakin' the litter out of my muck boots as I land here in the Washingtonians thread......thanks to JennsPeeps for the heads up......and ....to Pinkchick for the heads up on this site......To all the Fathers out there, today is your day, have a good one!
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