Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

Seems to me RainWolf has a girlie who looks alot like this EE...her name is Latte..........very pretty !

 

[Chickielady]

Excellent idea! Hmmm. I have one of those small round things you can either fill with ice or hot water. I wonder if I could incorporate it.

I have often thought the same thing...and it would be awesome if the cover had some sort of "fur" or "feathers" the babies could snuggle in, as they do with a hen.
There are bed & throw pillows at Walmart that are furry, made in wild colors for teen girls....maybe one of those, remove the stuffing & add heat pad inside ????????

 

[Sunbug4]

Seems to me RainWolf has a girlie who looks alot like this EE...her name is Latte..........very pretty !

I would love to see a pic of her girlie!! I cant wait till she is full grown to see what she will look like! And sooo tickled pink to hear she is a she.. hahaha Thanks Illia for also confirming!!! YAY!! When we picked them out there were a bunch of chipmunk marked ones, then the two we grabbed.. lol Here they are together, they were the only two not chipmunk marked.. So of course we had to have them. Ha Ha! The Whitish one was a ball of white fluff, and the other was all black..

 

[Chickielady]

Ewwww - I just went out to the chicken coops to spy on the feeder in the banty run (dog kennel at the edge of the woods). I saw about a half dozen small rats and a big one run down the wooded hill and jump down into the banty run. All along, I thought the hens were making all those trails through the woods. It's rats! Or maybe it was a bunch of mice and a big rat, but I'm thinking mamma rat and a bunch of young rats.

Time to get batteries for my zappers and load them up again! yuck. I have not used them since the fall.

If you have rats, the mice usually steer clear...rats will catch & eat mice.
I dug 18" deep all around our old coop which is about 6" clearance under it...perfect for rats.
I screwed hardware clothe to the entire bottom...and DH set up the web cam..sure enough come dusk, the rats were trapped under the coop !
Then he slipped a bowl of anti-freeze in via a corner & screwed it back down.
last night the ratties were drinking & presumed got pretty stoned.
I hate the idea of a dead stinky rat under there, but we have tried every trap & bait & these buggers are just too smart to fall for any of them, including the zapper.

 

[Chickielady]

I was wondering if any one hatched anything out of an egg with a complete broken air cell? The reason I ask is that I have one. It has a totally broken air cell and there is something moving in there.

I have............but more often than not, the baby will get so big & then die.
Keep it air cell up, and at lockdown, hatch it in an egg carton, air cell up.
Maybe that will help.

 

[Chickielady]

First off to the person with the Easter Egger they're wondering if it is a pullet or cockerel - It's a pullet. Those aren't saddle feathers you see, trust me. It's a pullet.


To Chickielady - Bugging has been okay. Because of all the brooder lamps and whatnot for the main barn/coop going on, I couldn't use a trap in the normal place so I have one right out my bedroom window. I've been too lazy to even bother washing my sheet from last year so right now it's a little dirty with algae stains

But hey, the moths don't care and no visitors see it anyway. Catches have been decent but not super yet. I missed the season I always miss which is around March-April, and May is always kinda boring, but June-August will be fun. Especially with our expanding garden, who knows what I might catch.

If you got me a jar of moths, I'm sure half of them I'll know quite well and half I'll know but never find out here. You live very close to a guy I know who actually got me into this, got me the camera I have today, and he usually catches stuff I never do, but am familiar with identifying/knowing of. I believe your summers are a bit more arid, and it's more agriultural out there, so that allows more things like Sphinx moths and the sort. Supper jealous of people with those.

Aaanyway, felt like an idiot bringing my telescope out again tonight, as even though it is mostly cloudy, I saw the moon for a quick few seconds, but, by the time the telescope was out, and after a good round of patience, I never saw it again. Always next time.

In the mean time, I had fun planting a TON of strawberries today as well as some hardy Kiwis today (the fuzz-less kind) Chickielady I don't know if you remember, but my backyard is riddled with several huge slash/burn piles from the logging, and, well, they're not so pretty and we've yet to get rid of them, so, genius idea - I decided to have hardy kiwis grow up them. Hardy Kiwis are SUPER productive and the vines, fruit and all, can weigh over 100 lbs per plant, plus the vines grow out as much as 40 feet, so, perfect place. I've got one really, really big burn pile I'm just gonna cover with them, and have fun climbing up to harvest the Kiwis.

I do remember the slash, why have they not been burned ?
I had a hardy (2 actually) Kiwi)s) growing up the 2 story house I rented years ago in Seattle.
The vines were huge, old & grew up the 2 stories to twine around on an upper story deck covering !
We had huge deliscious kiwis !!!!!!!
They were fuzzy, and did great in all weather.
I would imagine if you grew kiwis on a slash pile, while the pile would look nicer...may be impossible to crwl around in the slash to harvest.......

Be careful !

 

[Chickielady]

Will rats hurt chickens? Or just eat their food?

Rats carry disease from place to place.........a full grown rat can eat as much chicken feed as a full grown hen.....they also drink from the chicken's fonts & can sit & poop in feed bins.
Rats can also catch & eat baby chicks.
They are fast, and dart out from under cover, grab a small chick & be gone with it.
There are many many reasons to get rid of them.
Do not leave feed out for them, and cover compost to keep them out, if possible, or compost your vegies in a metal trash can (shoot holes in it for air) I hate rats !!!!!!!!!!!!!

They will eat blackberries, fruit off trees & vines, dog & cat food, compost & poultry feed.

 

[Chickielady]

I'm thinking a run at the edge of the woods, is not the best place for bantams .

Especially at your house with the Fox Family !

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: Could you set up traps along the fence?

 

[Chickielady]

Rats will kill chickens sometimes. It has been occasionally posted that they will gang up on a chicken or, at night will just start eating (similar to possum).
I haven't seen any evidence of rats in my yard in years, but I had a few 10 years ago. They only went after the feed, but I had lights on so maybe it/they weren't willing to take on alert chickens.

Russ- I like the stray/feral cats that live here now.

Seen some feral cats after my birds here....6 of 1 or a half dozen of the other !!!!!!!!!!
We had no idea we had rats either !
Until we got a wildlife cam...then later we got the web video cam...and sure enough , there they are.
During the day there is no evidence of them.
We watched the overnight DVD recording one morning, and saw a skunk, go UNDER the old coop (6" or less clearance) and went through & popped out IN the enclosed chicken pen, then UNDER a gate into the next pen...then back out the way it came.
IMAGINE if I had strolled out into the chicken pen ????????????????????????

We had NO IDEA there was a skunk IN THE PEN !!! And here they were going under the coop to get in.
Thankfully coops were closed at the time.
One morning I went out in the same pen to find a stomped yound garter snake lying there ...in January !
I knew then, that the young snake was probably hibernating under the coop, the rats caught it, drug it out & killed it !
It was about 15 long.....in the cold, it was helpless.
I HATE RATS !!!!!!!!!!!!