Washingtonians

[Zgoatlady]

RW,
I need to get to you to get the seeds, I have this week off...

 

[Chickielady]

CL. Yes, wheels, but unfortunately they gave a better view of the solar panel machine rigged to the fence then a good shot of the fence.
It was a story about Sun Mountain Lodge in EW.
They were featuring the farms that supply the lodges food mostly.

I've seen this show repeat on Sunday.
Not sure on time though.
Hopefully someone sees it and lets the rest of us know.
Great fence idea.
Same principle as people who have their solar panels set up with a motor to follow the sun through the day.

Thanks Greg !
Sounds really interesting.
If I can squeeze DH off the NASCAR Daytona 500 race today (

) I will try to see the program !

 

[Chickielady]

Someone shot a video of the solar powered chicken tractor. Gives you a much better look at their operation.
I think the one he points out across the field is the one in the show.

That is so cool !
I just watched the video & showed it to DH...what a great way to raise meat birds rather than in a permenent coop & pen.
Especially like how there is no coop to have to clean~~~ meat birds are so "dirty" is dirty the right word ???
Thanks Greg !

 

[Chickielady]

The add says light brown eggs. They are beautiful. Similar to the Cream Legbar but Legbars lay blue eggs. Legbars are auto sexing too! Once the market is saturated and I can afford them I'm going to get me some.

They look like (where they are from) they may have drk brown eggs but I am tired enough to not have read the whole ad, and had an issue peeling my eye balls OFF the ad.LOL
Sure remind me of another mix, almost Golden Cuckoos...which do you still have ?

 

[Chickielady]

For the last 2 nights, maybe 3, we have had jack barking all night long, thinking it was deer or elk, which we see on the wildview cam.
But last night I just had had it & went out to find a pair of Owls have taken up residence over my coops.
Very destinct hoots,
4 hoots with the 3rd longer, a bit higher in tone, and almost purr-like

hoo-hoo Hooooooooooooo-hoo
I knew they were there a few nights ago & had fun hooting back at them & wish I can spotlight them....but now I realize they are a pair & sticking around I decided it wasn't such a good idea.

Not knowing what kind of Hooters these are...anyone know of a web site that has owl voices on it ?
And do ya think these owls would fly during the day & snag chickens ?
I do not have all my pen nest back up yet, and we do free range a large flock a day.....
Stupid question, huh ?
Why couldn't an Owl grab a chicken during the day ?

Well, off to do chores & will be back later.....have a great Week end !

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote: My LG IS a wafer ! After I figured out my wafer was bad and replaced it. I never had any trouble with the temp. I only used it 3 times and never had good hatch rates but I don't think that was the LG. I think I was not getting a good humidity.



Oh, trust me...it IS the LG. A bigger pile of junk, I have never seen.

 

[cheryl98117]

Um well for what I have read and what you guys have said hatching your own eggs results in healthier chicks and chickens. Not to mention the thread about all the dead chicks kinda scared me.

As for how often and how many um I am not sure. Probably not to many. My husband and I are looking for more property probably about 10 acres. So I eventually want to have 25-30 laying hens at all times and maybe a 2 or 3 roos. I dont have the time to get into breeding yet because I have little kids 8, 5 and 2 1/2 who take a up a big chunk of my time. The chickens were for them in the first place so I figure hatching eggs would be something we could do together as a family and maybe learn a little in the process.

My husband is handy but more in the way of cars. He a Army Mechanic. I am pretty handy with a hammer and nails myself but the electrical part not so much. LOL my luck I would end up with a batch of fried eggs.

So I guess what I am trying to get at, at least for now... Something small and not uber expensive at least until I get the hang of it and have a little more time on my hands then invest in something more costly.

I know you dont know me from the next stranger. But if you would like to try out the Brinsea eco 20, I have one here that I am not going to be using anytime soon. lol What with the baby on the way, 3 year old daughter, horses, my flock, and and and. lol If we can figure out how to relay it to you, you are more than welcome to borrow it for the season.

Ive used it for two hatches, and both were pretty good for a beginner. Now I dont think I would incubate $100 eggs in it, but its good for not so expensive eggs. lol

BUT Im in Pouslbo and your WAY up north... So maby the logistics aren't quite right. lol

 

[Ogress]

Ogress, I like Rasberry too! Do you remember if I said they might be splits Mille/Black Mottled? He looks like a split and if he is his coloring is nice. He could use some more tail fluff but he has a nice short back. I'm thinking I might be able to use him on some really typey split hens I have.

Hi CGG!

I don't know if he was a split - I bought him on either April 3rd or 10th last year, and he was just a day or two old. He's a real sweetie though, my favorite of the cochins we have. Olivia likes her original rooster best though, and these 2 no longer get along. Olivia said she caught Raspberry fighting with Rascal. I found it hard to believe, because he is usually the most mellow and easy to pick up and carry around. His color is a gorgeous mahogany with whitle tipped black feathers underneath. He did lose some tail-feathers in the scuffle he got in with Rascal before I took the photo yesterday, at least I assume they are his, he attacked him in a nest box. Rascal was trying to hide with his neck tucked down in the corner, and Raspberry ripped the back of Rascals comb. I suspect the other 2 were involved as well, and Raspberry just saw the blood and joined in. Rascal is usually so full of himself and kind of has that "little dog" syndrome for chickens. He tries to pick fights with the LF chickens and roos through the fence. (a rooster with a Napoleon Complex!) I'd seen the other boys do similar things, but Raspberry is usually above the fray. Their run is my greenhouse, and he discovered he could fly up to the benches and eat all my vegetable starts. He hangs out on the bench and watches everyone below.

 

[Ogress]

For the last 2 nights, maybe 3, we have had jack barking all night long, thinking it was deer or elk, which we see on the wildview cam.
But last night I just had had it & went out to find a pair of Owls have taken up residence over my coops.
Very destinct hoots,
4 hoots with the 3rd longer, a bit higher in tone, and almost purr-like

hoo-hoo Hooooooooooooo-hoo
I knew they were there a few nights ago & had fun hooting back at them & wish I can spotlight them....but now I realize they are a pair & sticking around I decided it wasn't such a good idea.

Not knowing what kind of Hooters these are...anyone know of a web site that has owl voices on it ?
And do ya think these owls would fly during the day & snag chickens ?
I do not have all my pen nest back up yet, and we do free range a large flock a day.....
Stupid question, huh ?
Why couldn't an Owl grab a chicken during the day ?

Well, off to do chores & will be back later.....have a great Week end !

I used to call Spotted Owls for the forest service (spotted are usually 4 or 5 short and then a long with a little hoot at the end - but the females can bark like an angry Chihuahua up in a tree. Maybe the males can too). Go out at dusk or dawn, grab a branch and using a small alligator clip, attach a live mouse (not a white one) to the branch, then make that same call you heard, repeat every minute or so and the owl will fly to a nearby tree to check you out. After a couple of minutes, it will swoop down and grab the mouse. If it stops there or in a nearby tree and eats it, it has no young. If it flies off with the mouse, that usually means he has a nest and is bringing the mouse to his mate or his chicks. He will keep returning to you for more mice throughout the night if this is the case. And if you worked as an owl caller, you would be running around the forest at night with a pouch full of mice as you try to find the nest. Invariably, the owl will play games with you, flying up and landing in trees on either side of a steep, narrow canyon with no trail, scary drop offs and all sorts of stuff to trip over as you are trying to keep your eyes on the owl and not the ground. The owl will manage to steer you through a patch of poison oak, even though it is nowhere near the nest site. (thankfully I'm immune, but my calling partners were not).

This time of year, many owls that are usually living in he mountains will have migrated to the lowlands for the winter.

This is a great website for bird calls: (Cornell Ornithology)
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Owl/id/ac

 

[Chickielady]

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia



I have been listening to owl calls since this morning with DH & THIS is the one, actually it is at least 2 and it IS their breeding season............BIG wingspread (50" for fe) and small body (2 # ?) this is one bird that can sail/glide very well.
Sometimes it sounds like there is 5 or 6 monkeys up in the trees !!!
I do not think they will grab a chicken, I don't think they would need to here, and what a great blessing it will be to have the mouse & rats problem taken care of !

Listen to their calls on this link...awesome weird noises they make !