Washingtonians

[Zgoatlady]

Sorry. Don't mean to sound so melodramatic.
The most recent straw was a plan formulated over several days that was also involving a friend who was trying to help. The seller just decided to flake on it. By itself it was small, but added to this last month it was big. She had Swedish Flower eggs that I wouldn't have to drive anywhere for. Being in Kitsap, any pure breds I don't have to drive for is something special

They seemed to be a good breed to add more consistent laying eggs than the Eng Orps flocks we were trying to start. (thank you and kudos to those local BYCers helping us do that!).
Right now I just want a turn in our chicken luck. Sure seems we've run into more than our share of not-so-helpful stuff.
Enough self-pity. Someone talk about the good things they've had fall their way!

Annies Mom has Swedish Flower chicks you need to PM her, they are so darn sweet I tell ya. Great birds.. Plus she's close to us really close..

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

 What do you mean flaky egg seller that arent on BYC are they on ebaY?  Im so darn sorry your having this hard of a time getting birds. Some of my girls are 3 months old maybe in a few more months I'll have eggs for you. But Rising star has them now and they are nice chicks I have like 10 of them. Just waiting for them to get bigger to see how they look. But right now they are nice, I'll see if I can get some pictures tomorrow for your so you can see them. I also have the other line I got from Florida too and they are looking really good, so two lines.

Rising Star has some chicks and a broody for us on Sunday. We're so grateful for that!

The Swedish Flowers sound so fun. It would've been fun to hatch them. Anniesmom is on the other side of the water from us. We're in Kingston. But thank you. I appreciate the reference!

 

[RainyDayChicken]

hi everyone does anyone have any blue laced red wyandottes i want to start some was just wondering if it is better to has a gold rooster or a silver rooster. i have silver and gold hens i just was hoping for advice on them.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Well I guess everyone is still busy since the day was so nice...been waiting around a bit. I got the backyard cleaned up a bit and spent some time with the birds over the course of the day. The kids had fun playing in the almost dried up creek and then the sprinkler. Chickens loved going through the wet grass after the kids were done! They were eating the wet grass like crazy, even though I kept refreshing their waterers all day long; guess they still have that wild nature to get water the ancient way

DH and I are watching GI Joe and going to bed soon. Night all!

 

[itsren]

Hi all... I'm way behind on posts. We are back from camping at Lake Chelan State Park . We had a great time. We came home one day late because of the Navarre Coulee fire - reminding us why, every time we think it might be cool to have a place in Eastern WA, we end up thinking "Nah"... wild fires are not fun. Both exits out of Chelan were closed yesterday, changing our return plans.

My husband's friend did a great job as chicken sitter. He even let them out to free range - we didn't expect him to do that.

This evening, after we got home, I was out back and I heard my husband yell, followed by a loud crash. It was still light out, and my daughter saw a racoon coming down off the neighbor's tree. My 7-year-old daughter took off after it. I guess the yell was for my daghter to stop, and the crash was a rock that my husband had hurled at the racoon. He came in and told me he was very thankful we built such a predator-proof run.

Although - it is unnerving to know that the racoons are coming out before the pop door closes.

Well, it's late. I'm exhausted. I'll try to catch up this weekend.

 

[JNB]

Hello fellow Washingtonians I was excited when I saw this post.. I have been using this site for a bit now for info and made my first post a couple days ago... lots of good people here it seems I live in Graham, WA. I was raised here on a small 20 acre farm. Had chickens as a kid and wanted them again.. Hubby told me" NO too much work"..... for a couple years and then about a year and a half ago I went out on our 14 year anniversary and bought myself 14 chicks a mix of RIR and Barred Rocks... I put them in a box in our bath tub with a lamp, a red bow and sign that said " Happy Anniversary to Me" LOL What could he do..... That started our adventure.

I still have all those girls.. the one Roo in the bunch literally disappeared.... very mysteriously.

I have since adopted 2 other groups of chickens and now have 2 coops and large runs for all of them for a total of 32 hens and one Roo. The breeds are a bit of a mix.. RIR, BR, EE, Orpingtons, Australops, and some I'm not even sure of. I have become the egg lady to our neighbors, friends, and family I love it.

We have since added 2 Flemish Giant Bunnies to our mix and plan on exploring raising rabbits a bit more. We have a great mix of critters including cattle, 2 cats, 5 Dogs (1 Papillon, 1 English Bulldog, 2 Shepherd mixes and one Lab mix)

I look forward to learning from and sharing info with all the folks here...

 

[Rainwolf]

Hope everyone enjoyed the sun!
I got the large gate in place today then worked my shift so I'm a little wiped today...
Will try and get a picture of the new fence tomorrow....
Hoping I can get the holes in the cement for the other 2 post tomorrow......
Then hang the second gate on Sunday...

Would have most of it done already except that darn job to pay bills keeps getting in the way!

 

[Rainwolf]

Hello fellow Washingtonians I was excited when I saw this post.. I have been using this site for a bit now for info and made my first post a couple days ago... lots of good people here it seems   I live in Graham, WA. I was raised here on a small 20 acre farm. Had chickens as a kid and wanted them again.. Hubby told me" NO too much work"..... for a couple years and then about a year and a half ago I went out on our 14 year anniversary and bought myself 14 chicks a mix of RIR and Barred Rocks... I put them in a box in our bath tub with a lamp, a red bow and sign that said " Happy Anniversary to Me" LOL What could he do..... That started our adventure.

I still have all those girls.. the one Roo in the bunch literally disappeared.... very mysteriously. I have since adopted 2 other groups of chickens and now have 2 coops and large runs for all of them for a total of 32 hens and one Roo. The breeds are a bit of a mix.. RIR, BR, EE, Orpingtons, Australops,  and  some I'm not even sure of. I have become the egg lady to our neighbors, friends, and family I love it.

We have since added 2 Flemish Giant Bunnies to our mix and plan on exploring raising rabbits a  bit more. We have a great mix of critters including cattle, 2 cats, 5 Dogs (1 Papillon, 1 English Bulldog, 2 Shepherd mixes and one Lab mix)

I look forward to learning  from and sharing info with all the folks here...

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Hello fellow Washingtonians I was excited when I saw this post.. I have been using this site for a bit now for info and made my first post a couple days ago... lots of good people here it seems I live in Graham, WA. I was raised here on a small 20 acre farm. Had chickens as a kid and wanted them again.. Hubby told me" NO too much work"..... for a couple years and then about a year and a half ago I went out on our 14 year anniversary and bought myself 14 chicks a mix of RIR and Barred Rocks... I put them in a box in our bath tub with a lamp, a red bow and sign that said " Happy Anniversary to Me" LOL What could he do..... That started our adventure.

I still have all those girls.. the one Roo in the bunch literally disappeared.... very mysteriously.

I have since adopted 2 other groups of chickens and now have 2 coops and large runs for all of them for a total of 32 hens and one Roo. The breeds are a bit of a mix.. RIR, BR, EE, Orpingtons, Australops, and some I'm not even sure of. I have become the egg lady to our neighbors, friends, and family I love it.

We have since added 2 Flemish Giant Bunnies to our mix and plan on exploring raising rabbits a bit more. We have a great mix of critters including cattle, 2 cats, 5 Dogs (1 Papillon, 1 English Bulldog, 2 Shepherd mixes and one Lab mix)

I look forward to learning from and sharing info with all the folks here...

welcome glad ya found us. There is LOTS of god info to be found on this thread and maybe even a couple of enablers too !! ! !

 

[itsren]

Hubby told me" NO too much work"..... for a couple years and then about a year and a half ago I went out on our 14 year anniversary and bought myself 14 chicks a mix of RIR and Barred Rocks... I put them in a box in our bath tub with a lamp, a red bow and sign that said " Happy Anniversary to Me" LOL What could he do..... That started our adventure.

My chicks arrived while hubby was gone turkey hunting. Funny how that happens, isn't it? He knew I wanted them. Over the past few years, I had read 2 books about raising chickens in small backyards, researched city chickens on the internet, through Seattle Tilth, etc. and also attended a class that had been hosted by Purina. He said "some day" but just not this year. In reality, I knew I would be told that every year because our life always seems to have something going on - so I knew some day I'd just have to get them without his complete approval. He wasn't against having them, he just didn't know much about raising them and they sounded like too much work.

When I went to the feed store, I actually had not intended to buy chickens. The kids and I had gone to buy a baby turkey because hubby kept calling and saying he didn't get a turkey. His friends had gotten theirs. I thought it would be funny to tell him, don't worry, we got a turkey for him. I figured we could raise it for our Thanksgiving turkey. We have friends who have raised turkey before, so I knew a little about it.

When we got to the store, I saw the baby chicks, and the RIR pullet bin only had 2 left. One of those babies was hanging on for dear life - it had fallen asleep in the water dish and was blowing bubbles. I got help, they took the baby out and back to the chick hospital - then, the one we ended up buying started running around the bin chirping wildly. The poor little thing was frantic. I had asked them please not to leave it by itself, but they couldn't mix it with the other breeds because they needed to keep the breeds separate. So, she and two others went home with us.

We did not get a turkey, but when hubby called that evening and told us he still had not got his turkey, we told him that's OK, we got chickens. He was a little in shock, but he recovered well.

He said he had a feeling I would end up buying them this year.