Washingtonians

[justbugged]

I buy all my chicken feed at Dels in Enumclaw. All purpose is about 10.00 for 50lbs. I have just switch to layer and it is 11.99 a bag. I make food for my dogs and I know that for cost, I can't make a chicken feed that is balanced for sure. I do supplement the feed with anything out of the kitchen. I bake bread from scratch and ofter have leftovers that I can't eat before it goes stale. So the birds get the day old bread every day or so.
I buy DE at the Country Feed Store on the Enumclaw-Auburn Hwy. They sell it in smaller bags or you can buy it in the 50lbs. bags. It's bit of the drive I know but it still an idea.

 

[old fashioned]

Any chance anyone knows where I could get a small amount of grain seeds to grow some of my own? Like wheat, barley, oats, soybean, flax, etc. I'm sure I have seen some of these in a garden seed catalog but only sold in mega sizes. I do have a large garden area (about 25'x50') and would only use a portion of that so I don't need enough to plant several acres.
I wish I had enough land to be self sufficient-to grow and raise my own livestock and their feed too and ours-only going to the store for what I can't raise myself-coffee, sugar, rice, chocolate, cheetos, ya know, stuff like that.

This is my life long dream. So for now I get to practice in my yard on a much smaller scale.

 

[justbugged]

You could try buying at a health food store. As long as it is a really good store you should be able to grow any whole grain bought at the store. Or Co-Op with others and share the larger seed purchase.

 

[weaveagarden]

Quote:
That is exactly how I feel. Right now the city council here is going to try to shut us chicken owners down, or at least limit us to very few hens only. I want so badly to find a little bit of land out of town to live on. I have even played around with the idea of having a small intentional community, so that I can do my own idea of self sufficiency.

By the way, try roasting your own coffee from green beans. It is the best, and you can make it dark or medium as you prefer. You can even do it in a fry pan, or in the oven. Easy peasy!!!

 

[crazychickenluver]

Hi All....Welcome to all the new people......


Ok I am really Angry!!!!!!

I came home today from picking my kids up only to find that my wonderful neighbor(used very lightly) decided to let his dog run loose and I cam home to find two of my very tame hens dead

What is it with these inconsiderate $*%&^$(^ that think it is ok to let their animals run loose with no regards for others. He dug under my fence to get in. My wonderful roosters faught hard to protect the flock but I still lost two buff hens.

I am so angry at this guy. Needless to say he better hopr his dog never shows up here when I am home.

I am hoping to get a few more hens beforeit gets too cold so if anyone has any I may be interested in them...

Everyone have a good weekend.

 

[KMHunter]

I am so sorry about your hens! I have a neighbor who has a dog that gets out a lot. She chased my chickens just the other day. I am using my sons pellet gun to scare it. But I hate that my chickens don't go over into their yard and bug them, so how come I have to put up with thier dog coming on to my property? If the dog actually gets one of my girls, I might do something drastic. Did you tell your neighbor what happened? What about calling animal control? It's just not right!!!

 

[crazychickenluver]

Thanks. I told him and his whole attitude was they are just chickens. Like I warned him if his dogs every show up out here on my property it won't end well for the dogs. I hate being that way but this is ridiculous. Animal control is also worthless because it happened on private property. I just hate to think what my poor kids went through when I left. I could have saved them. I really don't want to think about it at all!!

 

[justbugged]

I am so sorry on the loss of your hens. I too remember a call from my 12 year old son telling me that a dog had come into our property and killed one of our pygmy goats. I was in heavy rush hour traffic trying to get home to home and was still 30 plus minutes from possibly being home. I called 911. What a waste of time.
He was able to contain the dog in our garage. I had it removed. But I wish with all my heart that I had just got home and had done the shoot, shovel, and shut-up thing. This is now something that I believe has to be a part of back yard farming unfortunately.

 

[old fashioned]

Sorry for your loss

Some people can be real jerks.

You could make him pay for the loss. They were not just chickens but a food source (atleast tell him that), let's see....2 average sized meat chickens cost about $2 per pound (organic costs even more) at maybe 3 or 4 pounds each $12 to $16 .....PLUS the cost of the organic free range eggs they produced.......2 eggs per day=1 dozen per 6 days @ $3 or more per dozen...He can pay for the loss AND/or replace them with new-take him to small claims court to teach him a lesson and to keep his dog under control. Cause if it happens once, it can happen again. And you (or any other chicken raiser in the neighborhood)don't want that. He'll also tell any other dog owners to keep their dogs away from your property too-kind of like a chain reaction.
Best defense is a good offense-REVENGE!!! LOL Hope you feel better.

 

[weaveagarden]

Quote:
I have several 15 week olds for sale right now. RIR and BA. More to follow after the council vote Monday. I have been thinking about putting my Buff Orp Gracie in the group and going with dark and colored egg layers until I can get a place out of town.

Let me know what you think. I have a friend who travels on highway #3 a couple times each month.