Washingtonians

[herbandteas]

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You have very picky chickens then mine loved blackberries I got purple poo to prove it LOL

they would probably eat the BERRIES but I was talking about the sprouts and leaves ...

mine eat leaves

 

[RonB]

Well its raining

and I'm bored

wish the DW would go out and buy another pair of shoes so I could go out and buy another pair of CHICKENS

So I have a question

I heard somewhere that hens and pullets will sleep with their heads in their feathers BUT a rooster won't. IS THAT TRUE ?

if it is how about a cockrell ?? I am positive One of my little black babies is a cockrell and last night It was sleeping with his head in is wing

well off to the coop to collect all my WHITE eggs

my austra whites are laying like cray

Hey CR what color do ya think I should make these ones

 

[Sudsy Chick]

Brrrrrrr....what a nasty day!

Good news, three more hatched! That's all of them!

However, the eggshell on the right had a tiny chick that yelled for about 15 minutes, enough that I finally interfered and searched the coop for it. The chick was in the corner and peeping like crazy! It was still in the shell and wanted to yell rather than work its way to mama. It is so much smaller and more fragile than the others, I stuffed it under mama and it stopped peeping, but honestly I don't know if it will make it. It has not made any appearances for food as I think all the others have...of course several of them are a full day older.

Here are lots of pics

Hard to tell one from another so far! LOL I thought I'd be able to tell them apart if I kept taking pictures, but not sure I can

Such a great hatch! And such adorable chicks

More than we thought we'd have, for sure! The last hatch we did with broodys and shipped eggs was about 50% hatch rate.

Thank you again for the eggs, Candy!

 

[AriLovesChickens]

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I'm sorta having the same problem. I know I can't keep all the chicks I have, and I still want to get some others.

 

[Ogress]

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I was very disappointed when I realized they wouldn't eat the darn blackberries.

My roos eat the blackberry leaves, they all eat the berries, no one eats the stems.


Wow, one rainy day and the thread is hopping again!

 

[Ogress]

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I've got 4 large feeders that they all have access to. I fill 2 with flock raiser and 2 with layer. I also put out oyster shell. I was hoping that the roosters and juveniles would eat the flock raiser and the hens the layer. Doesn't work that way. They all eat whatever is convenient at the moment. When I do just flock raiser and leave oyster shell out, I tend to get a few softshells each month. I keep the layer feed inside the coop and the 20% in the runs as the runs are easier to access when they are out foraging (I let mine free-range down to dusk in all weather but high winds and snow - funny, when it rains, the barnies hang out in the big hen house and covered run, and the chickens from the big coop hang out in the Barnie coop and run. Come dusk, they all are in their correct coops even though in the day time they are all free to mingle (and they do).

I find that so long as I leave my dogs in their cabin/run which is in the middle of my yard, nothing comes in the yard to bother the hens. But if I bring the dogs into the main house, the predators are in the yard almost immediately! My neighbor told me he often sees coyotes running my fenceline along the orchard. I've seen them a few times, but never when the dogs are out.

 

[Ogress]

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Do they lay more, are they healthier, or what?

I figure that the stuff they are foraging in the yard is mostly berries this time of year is very low in protein (they decimated my 30+ blueberry bushes!). They get somebugs, but not enough to make up the protein, so I feed high-protien food to try and make it up. I also throw a ot of crushed egg-shell out, and they eat it like scratch. My gals are all great layers with strong shells.

 

[Kaneke]

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I think it really makes a difference if the eggs were laid within a day or two of the time you tuck under broody, AND that they weren't jarred around during shipping ... but hand-carried from coop to basket, then hand-carried home ...

I am SOOO proud of your broody and pleased with the results

 

[Sudsy Chick]

Edited to say Panda has a new home! Here's hoping she LOVES it!

**********

We have decided to sell our year-old Australorp. We adore her and she lays beautiful pink eggs, but she is loud and our neighbors hate her. I have included a video so you can see how loud she is before you decide if you'd like her.

For folks on the WA thread I'll sell her for $15 (will increase to $25 for auction/craigslist starting next weekend.) Again - she is not a backyard/neighborhood chicken, but would be great for someone that has land and wants to sell super pretty pink eggs (I had planned on using these for Easter Eggs again this year - they really are a pretty pale pink.)

Panda has gone broody once, and was a fantastic mother. She stayed with the chicks a full seven weeks (our other stopped at five weeks). Here is a picture of her with her chicks.

She lays eggs 6 of 7 days a week, sometimes 7 days. She is our most consistent layer (the other reason I'm so sad to see her go.)

In this picture - Panda laid both the lower left egg (size large) as well as the weird/pullet teeny egg (for color purposes only - that was the only tiny egg she ever laid like that!) The other eggs for comparison are (Upper left and lower center 2 extra large brown eggs from our giant jersey) (upper right - 1 medium brown egg from our Deleware)

And finally - here is a link to the video. Please do watch so you can hear her voice, she likes to talk A LOT! In the video, she is upset that Henrietta (who is yelling back) is laying her egg while she wants to be but Panda is shy. http://youtu.be/hbdS8fE7d7k

I'd be willing to meet you halfway; possibly drive all the way if you're not too far (I'm in the Seattle area.) No shipping.

 

[KMHunter]

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She is as loud as my ameraucana was! Not bad out where I live though. I would take her but I don't have any room at the moment. Hopefully you find a good home for her!