Washingtonians

[Greg Richardson]

Lake Stevens area. Looks like one you could repair and still come out ahead...........

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/zip/1647726932.html

 

[StevenMNielson]

Quote:
Hmm... So I cannot buy a chicken in, say, Monroe, and drive it onto a ferry and to my home in, say, Silverdale without buying a livestock transportation permit?

Does that also count for lactating wives?

 

[BoiseBubba]

Quote:
This does not go into effect until June....

 

[Greg Richardson]

Steven. From what I understand poultry was eliminated from this WAC. That being said, it is just a matter of time before they want more money and control going after poultry.
So now we are going to have people transporting livestock at 3:00 in the morning hoping the cops looking for the drunks instead. Just what people need more fees and red tape.

 

[ChickenSal]

Quote:
Considering the weather is going to get warmer and better this weekend, (but with cold nights) I'd say remove it and keep it in a cool, dry area (not refridgerator) where the temp will be around 60 degrees. Keep it and any others stored until you have all the eggs you want to hatch. But remember, they'll only hatch if your hen goes broody - If she's just laying eggs, nothing will happen.

So far it just sounds like she's laying.

What exactly does "Broody" mean?

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Wow talk about cutting it close!!! We set eggs in the bator on Feb 25 which means they should hatch this thursday. So on Monday (day18) we removed the turner and went into lock down. Well guess what... tuesday the first one piped. But when I last checked it at 4:00 am this morning it hadn't made any more progress. I hope it didn't quit on us. This one is just a brown egg who knows what and the other 7 are olive.

Had to stop at The Farm Store yesterday

and while there DW saw that they had silkie chicks.

She kust had to have some so we now have 4 silkie chicks. Have no idea what color they will be. Hoping they aren't all roos.

Looks like my plan of having honey bees this year is going to happen after all. I fellow bee keeper in our club told me to come out they had some things for me. They gave me enough that now all I need is bees. They told me that if I am not able to get package bees they will be splitting some hives and if I help they can set me up. I also know of a colony in a building that I can get just for removing them.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
This does not go into effect until June....

Which gives you time to complain.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Considering the weather is going to get warmer and better this weekend, (but with cold nights) I'd say remove it and keep it in a cool, dry area (not refridgerator) where the temp will be around 60 degrees. Keep it and any others stored until you have all the eggs you want to hatch. But remember, they'll only hatch if your hen goes broody - If she's just laying eggs, nothing will happen.

So far it just sounds like she's laying.

What exactly does "Broody" mean?

Broody means that the hen actually wants to hatch the eggs, and will sit on them almost all day. She will be very insistent on it, too, and if you try and pick her up or move her, she won't move and will probably just raise her hackles at you or bite you. She'll do this for the 21 days it takes to hatch eggs, then you'll see babies running around. But usually I don't know of hens being broody that are less than a year old.

If she is only laying her eggs, she'll probably lay on them for a maximum 2 hours, and if you try and bother her she can easily be moved away.

 

[rainplace]

Every time I come back to this thread there's like a gazilion new people to say hello to!

all you new people!

My life has suddenly become extremely busy!

For those that don't know, our neighbors filed a formal complaint against our flock of 28 waterfowl. Luckily we had guessed it was coming and had hired an attorney to help us get through the zoning codes, and he was already in contact with the city. Instead of the city sending us out a violation, they contacted our attorney, and we were given some time to figure out where we were going to relocate our flock. I tried unsuccessfully to find a place here on the island. I put out fliers at all the feed stores, local community boards, and put an ad up on craigslist. I called all our local farms. From all that I only got one hit from a flier. The woman was very nice, but the area the flock would have would have been smaller than what they have now (our flock runs on a third acre). It would have worked temporarily, but I would have had to move them again.

We almost bought a second property off the island that is how desperate we were. Luckily I managed to get an extremely knowledgeable and unhurried community development employee at Kitsap County who looked the property over in detail through their computer database and let me know that there was no way I could raise waterfowl on that property due to the properties creek connecting to a another creek that went through a tribal hatchery/fishery. He also stated that in the 30 years he had worked for the city this was the first time anything concerning waterfowl had come up. Ostensibly we could have raised our flock on this property, but to grow it out into a business, which is what we want to do, would have been something else entirely.

I made one final call to a 60 acre certified organic farm about 45 minutes from here and pitched my waterfowl. They didn't seem to interested, but since I had them on the phone, I decided to pitch myself as an intern because I have wanted to intern on a farm for quite a long time. I wanted my waterfowl to be there also, but I would have been okay with just the internship. I considered them two separate things. Last Tuesday I spent the day up there talking to the owners. They offered me a full time job, and a place for our waterfowl! I started work there on Thursday and will be working there part time until my current employer can find a replacement.

We haven't moved the flock yet. I'm having a pole building put up in two weeks at which time majority of the flock will be moved. We refuse to move our two pet geese and our pet ducks.

It should not have been this difficult for us to figure out our zoning laws. Before we bought any ducks we spent many hours pouring over code. We believed we could lawfully keep ducks in our backyard. The property attorney we hired also had a difficult time understanding exactly what the code said regarding our flock. When he initially contacted the city, the city couldn't tell him exactly what the law said and told him they didn't think we were in violation. It wasn't until after there was a formal complaint filed that they told us our ducks were considered agriculture and that agriculture was not permitted in our neighborhood without a conditional use permit. A conditional use permit costs about 3500 dollars to apply for and can be denied if there are neighbors who are against it. The city told our attorney we would have to get rid of the entire flock to which the attorney replied with the question, "Are you taking the position that one duck is considered agriculture?"

So though there is a happy ending for our breeding stock, we are not letting this go. There are low cost licenses for people to breed dogs in their back yards, why not poultry? I agree that 28 waterfowl in my backyard is a bit much for our neighborhood, but to say we cannot have any is absolutely ludicrous. The city knows it too. The island is currently codifying their zoning laws regarding density and agriculture. My husband has become an active participant in this discussion.

Gah, I have had so many disruptions while writing this, I have no idea if it makes sense.

Donna

 

[rainplace]

Regarding ducklings and goslings for sale: Due to all of the hoopla surrounding our flock they never got separated out into breeding pens. It's possible that our mini geese will not give us young this year since we will most likely be relocating them at the same time they will be wanting to sit. I will try to move the nest with them, but I am not hopeful. I most likely won't have black runners for another couple of months... same with the black east indies and black silky ducks.