Washingtonians

[Zgoatlady]

WA4-Hpoultrymom
Oh we have big goats Nubians and Toggenburgs they are milking goats. I'll get some pictures in the next few days Im still so tired I feed them around the clock at least the last few nights. Not tonight have to drive tomorrow.

Im a school bus driver the kids wouldnt make it with me LOL

 

[Sparkelrose]

Quote:

I love Nubian goats! My friend, Bambi, had me take care of her goats for 2 weeks while she went on vacation and I just loved it! If I hadn't lived in an apartment at the time I would have taken one home with me. Now I don't really have an excuse at all, except my hubby saying no lol. You must post some pics!

 

[AnnesChicks]

Yes - Post pictures of all your spring babies....I love em all...goats, ducks, bunnies and chicks! I don't have room for anymore but looking is fun!

I moved my pullets outside at about 12 weeks, but kept them closed inside their coop for another week to help them settle in. I did leave a light for warmth for about two weeks. (but I tried to be very careful to set the light up securely because of fire danger) Then even after I opened the coop door, they didn't go out for a few more days.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

OK I am a bit behind but .... Our last hatch didn't do so well. We had 7 olive eggs and one brown. Of the olive we were sure 5 were going strong and 2 were ify at lock down. And we had one brown egg. Well the brown hatched 2 days early and the rest quit. We checked and it looked like they had quit just a couple of days ago. Don't know what went wrong but we are going to try it again soon.

On the plus side the 3 OEGB's and 1 Sicilian Buttercup have finally started laying again. We are getting 2-3 eggs a day from the 4. Yesterday they were not very proud of me and only gave 1. I think they were a little upset that I disturbed them by PAINTING thier little coop barn red. I have to do another coat then will put the white trim on. It is looking so cute. Don't know why they are mad they don't have to look at the pretty red paint, but we were getting tired of looking at the bare wafer board with 1/2 a free sign on it!!!! And they now have a nice window that opens.



Chickens are like tator chips ya can't have just one or a dozen, or 2 dozen, or 3 dozen, or 4. We are now creeping up on 60 chickens !!

I think there may be an addiction problem in my household !!!!!

 

[Illia]

Our hatch is over. Out of 11 Black Coppers, 5 hatched. Out of 6 Wheaten/Blue Wheatens, 3 hatched but a fourth was still alive in the shell, just underdeveloped.

Also, all 3 Ameraucanas made it. The Wheaties are SO cute though!!


Tomorrow I have 4 staggered hatch eggs due - 3 Brahma x EE, and 1 New Hampshire Red.

After that, I'm setting nearly 60 eggs for a hatching on the 16th of April.

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Yeah on the chickies!!!!!

What's in your batch of 60?!?!

I am down a few more birds...Steven just came to get his 2 RIR's and a buff orpington. Plus we lost another on Friday night....something is hanging around and not sure what. There was NO sign of this bird, just up and disappeared!!! We lost another bird about 2 weeks ago, but had seen a coyote and sure enough, pretty sure it took her. Left a trail of feathers into the woods, which is typical of them. Ah well. We have 4 coops, and 2 are empty. The 3rd has our pair of Muscovies and they will be moving shortly. DH took spring break off with the kids and we will be building a duck house and pen for them. Then I'll have 3 coops ready for all the chicks in the next 8 wks or so.

Tamara

 

[ReiMiraa]

Alright i posted this on the coops thread but i know there are some experienced people here too. so here is my problem (i have alot of chicken problems, 1 egg eater unidentified)

Help on building a new coop so chickens are no longer stressed due to space.
i have some ideas and have trolled everywhere looking for something similar to what i need

i currently have 27 chickens and a 10X12 coop they stay in at night (lots of roosts) i let them roam in the pear orchard and garden during the day.
in april i am getting 20 more chicks and in a few years plan to expand to 100+ to meet demand of a local resort restaurant (60 dozen per week)

so right now me and my bf are thinking of a 20X 15 or 20X20 to house them in.

i know of a few requirements. (cos of drawbacks of the old coop, which is a chain link dog kennel that i put plastic on the sides for the winter with plywood thrown on top with metal roofing scraps thrown on)

1. I want the coop to be raised off the ground
2. lineolium flooring
3. hinged roosts to raise up for cleaning
4. external access to nest boxes
5. 1 whole hinged wall to use pressure washer to gut out for cleaning.
6. people height.
7. possible external run holes (to be built if i ever feel like fencing)
8. eye hocks in the ceiling to have hanging feeders and waterers (the only way to keep them clean)

so far all the coops i have seen are too small for what i need.
any help is great because i am going to start this coming week as it is the only time i have to committ because i will be on spring break

Thank you.

 

[StevenMNielson]

Quote:
HOORAY!

We're home, the hens are in the coop, and the baby girl is down for the night. The BO kept popping her head out and cooing at us the entire ferry ride back into Kingston... my daughter was very entertained!

When I got the hens home I sat the box down in the run, opened it, and let them come out on their own accord. The BO was OUT in a moment... squawking for some food or water... I threw some scratch, put out fresh water and food... and she promptly snubbed it and walked in to explore the coop... what a handful she's going to be!

One of the RIR followed her out, and the other was more than happy staying in the box. I reached in and pulled her out, and she decided to roost on my hand, and was not interested in putting her feet down - to which the other RIR jumped up and pecked at her a few times. The first RIR went into the coop, and the timid little one decided to peck around and eventually roost outside.

I went in to check on the two in the coop, and both were huddled ON the poop board, not the roost. Maybe I did something wrong there?

So I picked the two of them up and placed them by hand on the roost. I then went out and carried the timid RIR into the coop and placed her on the roost as well. Maybe we will all figure it out... but it seems like I might have some work to do on improving the roost situation!

Here's to our first night!

Cheers!

And a HUGE THANK YOU to Tamara and her family!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

And a HUGE THANK YOU to Tamara and her family!

Your very welcome! ......AND, Welcome to the addiction!!! LOL!!

Putting them up on the roost was the perfect thing to do. Remember, they are not that smart in all reality. You may need to do that for a couple of nights until they know that that is where they are supposed to go. Sorry we couldn't spend more time, that rain sure had awful timing!!! Feel free to email or PM me if you have any other questions or concerns.

Tamara​

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Batch of 60 includes a dozen Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas, dozen BBS Jersey Giants, dozen Black Copper Marans, dozen BBS Ameraucanas, 18 Polish x EE, and 3 EE eggs. Soo that's actually 69 eggs.

And after that batch, TOLBUNT POLISH!! Whooo!!!

I was emailed today saying they're ready to be shipped tomorrow, but there is NO way my incubators can fit 81 eggs.

Oh yeah! And since our Wheaten Marans didn't go as we hoped, and we're in love with our 3. . . We're looking into buying some chicks from Cree Farms.