Washingtonians

[itsren]

They are easier to qwack !!

Jessica, do share what they are like. I've heard that someone with an egg allergy might not be allergic to duck eggs.

 

[itsren]

and even the insides are super slimy, thick, and hard to get out of the egg shell!! I ended up scooping out the shells with a spoon

Eeew! Guess I no longer need a review. I think I'll just be happy eating egg yolk and passing the whites on to the family.

 

[Rainwolf]

Who here sells hatching eggs for Blue Laced Red Wyandottes? Also, who sells chicks/eggs of light colored (white, blue, gray, etc) easter egger descent?  I want to know where I'm getting hatching eggs next spring! I won't be hatching our "mutt" eggs as I know I still want pure-ish bred chickens. I like their look better in my backyard

I'd like to know, too.  I'm still not totally convinced my remaining 3 chickens will be Silkies.  I feel like I need to research Silkies a lot more before jumping into unknown territory.  I think it *might* be fun (and educational) for the kids to show - like at the Puyallup Fair, or something, but I don't know anything about showing animals.

I know nothing about 4H... but plan to research that as well.  Any info/advice on 4H would be appreciated.

If we don't get Silkies, I'm thinking Bantams.  I love my adorable Light Brahma - but her size at such a young age is making me nervous.   What am I going to do if she outgrows the beautiful coop/run we just built?!!

I have a blue AM over my hens to create EE's so far colors seem to be blues, silverish, and sometimes black I'll take a photo of my EE boy I have before he goes to the soup pot so you can kind of see what I mean by silver-ish.... I'll start hatching end of sept for the POL's in march then hatch most the winter and quit in march for the year...

hens are
leghorns for power laying light blue eggs,
Brown layers for EE's green eggs
OE layer for dark green
and AM's for pure BBS AM's

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote: Itsren (and Jessica)

not all duck eggs are created equal. I think perhaps the ones you got are Muscovy eggs, which do smell a bit and have the snotty inside. HOWEVER, I have some Welsh Harlequin ducks that lay a large egg,doesn't smell, that is much more like a chicken egg, but with a larger yolk. Nice fried, and scrambled with cream is fabulous!

 

[Farmin Momma]

I am so very bumbed, I really wanted to go to the meat up but did not make it home early enough. Really really bumbed!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Quote: I have a blue AM over my hens to create EE's so far colors seem to be blues, silverish, and sometimes black I'll take a photo of my EE boy I have before he goes to the soup pot so you can kind of see what I mean by silver-ish.... I'll start hatching end of sept for the POL's in march then hatch most the winter and quit in march for the year...

hens are
leghorns for power laying light blue eggs,
Brown layers for EE's green eggs
OE layer for dark green
and AM's for pure BBS AM's

I have Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and am working on Olive Eggers and Ameraucanas. Right now I am growing out a pair of blue Americauna's, another pair of blacks and one lavender Ameraucana pullet and I currently have one lavender Ameraucana rooster in with 4 black Am hens. So by next spring I should have lavender, splash blue and black pure Ameruacana hatching eggs. I also have a flock of mostly splash Marans growing out and have my current cuckoo marans x ameraucana rooster I plan to cross next spring and should have some blue, blue cuckoo hatching eggs from that cross. Farminmomma just posted chicks from that cross and I'm anxious to see what they will grow out as. Although I have a black marans hen also so they might turn out just plain cuckoo, but I'll be anxious to see the egg color they lay if her's are female as I haven't hatched any of these for myself yet.

I also plan to put Bilbo (my marans x ameraucana cuckoo roo) over my lavender pullet to get some lavender cuckoo olive eggers. I had hope to do that this spring, but the two black split Ameraucana's ended up not being split. Out of 14 Olive eggers hatched from crossing them to Bilbo who is also split for lavender, I got NO lavenders. :-( Check them out here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/524659/lavender-cuckoo-easter-egger

So you can check with me for eggs in the spring!

Oh, I forgot to talk about 4-H. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. But you need to contact your county's extension office for more specific information on clubs in your area. Be aware that some clubs are single project specific, which means the entire club may work on dogs. But other clubs are multi-project. This is how ours works. We are a single club that offers multiple projects, such as dogs, poultry, cavy's (guinea pigs), model trains, sewing, gardening, leadership. Different clubs have different requirements to show at fair, as do different projects. So shop around for different clubs to find one that works with your family. Like if you have cub scouts on the first Tuesday every month, you wouldn't be a good match for our club because that is the night our club meets for our business meeting, and a club requirement is that you attend the business meetings.

And some county's have very little 4-H participation, so if you don't find a local project or club, consider starting one of your own! Snohomish County is one of the most active 4-H county's in the nation, so consider moving here!!! LOL!

Another important thing to know is that the 4-H year starts in October and ends with the county/state fairs in August/early September. And kids start in 4-H usually the same year that they start kindergarten, but I think the 4-H requirement is that they must turn 6 during their first 4-H year. So my girls have late summer birthdays, so they couldn't start 4-H until they were in 1st grade because of that age requirement.

Hope that helps!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Quote: Itsren (and Jessica)

not all duck eggs are created equal. I think perhaps the ones you got are Muscovy eggs, which do smell a bit and have the snotty inside. HOWEVER, I have some Welsh Harlequin ducks that lay a large egg,doesn't smell, that is much more like a chicken egg, but with a larger yolk. Nice fried, and scrambled with cream is fabulous!

This is good to know. We had Muscovy's for awhile and I was not impressed with their eggs for eating. I would like ducks again one day but only if we move somewhere with more space for them.

 

[cmsdvm]

I'd like to know, too. I'm still not totally convinced my remaining 3 chickens will be Silkies. I feel like I need to research Silkies a lot more before jumping into unknown territory. I think it *might* be fun (and educational) for the kids to show - like at the Puyallup Fair, or something, but I don't know anything about showing animals.

I know nothing about 4H... but plan to research that as well. Any info/advice on 4H would be appreciated.

If we don't get Silkies, I'm thinking Bantams. I love my adorable Light Brahma - but her size at such a young age is making me nervous. What am I going to do if she outgrows the beautiful coop/run we just built?!!

I have some extra silkie chicks if that's what you're looking for.

 

[chickenjane82]

I lost a chick to a hawk today. We were all outside, kids running, yelling, playing and all of a sudden out of nowhere darts down this small hawk and snatched up a baby FROM UNDER A TREE! less than 50 ft away from where a friend and I were sitting in the yard.
I got up and ran yelling, arms flailing, when I saw it coming down but I was too late

Such an awful feeling watching it fly away

 

[Rainwolf]

OK so I need to know who is interested in the bantam ameraucana's
I think I had 2 people interested in a trio?
Can you PM me?