Washingtonians

[KMHunter]

Quote: The only problem with that theory is that yellow jackets don't leave their stinger when they sting. Only honey bees, or those types of bees do. Yellow jackets, hornets and wasps are nasty mean buggers that bite AND sting and keep coming after you. I really don't like them and do my best to rid our place of the nests that seem to get started every year.

 

[Imp]

Quote: The only problem with that theory is that yellow jackets don't leave their stinger when they sting. Only honey bees, or those types of bees do. Yellow jackets, hornets and wasps are nasty mean buggers that bite AND sting and keep coming after you. I really don't like them and do my best to rid our place of the nests that seem to get started every year.

Oh Gosh Yes. I get at least a dozen wasp nests every year on my house. I usually can just grab them and tear down before they get bigger than a quarter.
Now the Yellow Jacket ground nests are a different story. Tough to kill, and mean. Got my first stings ever when I was in my late 40s. Following year I got swarmed a couple times rebuilding a fence. Fortunately the stinging only lasted a couple hours.
Glad William is OK & tough.

Russ
Found a white round paper nest (bigger than a softball) in the garden shed walls when I rebuilt the run. Seems to be inactive so I'm going to try and get it out whole.

Russ

 

[lisaheath1]

That's an easy move if you have 3 or 4 'rollers'. Like 2" PVC pipe in 5' lengths. Lift one end of the coop and set a pipe under it. Push the coop so it "rolls" on the pipe a little. Put down another section of pipe (in the direction you want to move) and push a little more. Keep doing this, keeping your pipe sections 2 or 3 feet from each other. When you roll the coop you'll be moving a pipe from 'behind' the coop to the 'front'.

Gosh - I hope you can figure out what I mean


VF


OH! Here is a video of some guys moving a really heavy piece of shop equipment. See what they do with the sections of pipe? That's what I'm suggesting.

That is so awesome, thanks. I don't need to move it too much. And I really should have thought about the position before I finished building it, lol. Thank you, thank you, thank you

 

[lisaheath1]

Hooray! Congrats, how fun! I "only" got 5 eggs today and was actually disappointed. LOL, we just started getting eggs 3 weeks ago and I'm already disappointed with 5

because yesterday there were 7! Hope your BR got a nice treat. I have started giving my girls all the pulp from our juicer and they LOVE it!

mine love the pulp from my juicer too! Yesterday I gave them the pulp and the tops/leaves of the beets. There was a nice long game of tag and keep away over those, haha

 

[lisaheath1]

I would either put a hardware wire floor or a 2' no dig Skirt.

ok, thanks

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: My only thought on the hardware floor, is that the chickens can't scratch and dig as well unless you put 4-5 inches of sand down. I went with the aprons around my coops and runs so that they could do what chickens do ans scratch and peck. But then again, I am also filling in holes that they have dug around the perimeter. They can't dig out, but they get pretty deep. SO maybe the floor has it's merits. I just can't let mine out to free range as much as I would like, or they would like, so I chose to do the apron.

 

[lisaheath1]

The only problem with that theory is that yellow jackets don't leave their stinger when they sting. Only honey bees, or those types of bees do. Yellow jackets, hornets and wasps are nasty mean buggers that bite AND sting and keep coming after you. I really don't like them and do my best to rid our place of the nests that seem to get started every year.

I have been feeding the birds this year for the first time since we have lived in this house. Our yellow jacket problem has almost disappeared. I'm not sure if it was because of the bird feeding or the strange summer weather we have had. But I will continue to feed the birds from now on, just for the sheer fun of watching them, lol.. I put the feeders so we can see them from the kitchen/dining room windows.

Bumble bees were still plentiful, thank goodness

And hopefully my tomatoes will ripen before it gets too cold. This is the first year I have grown tomatoes too, and I admit I did start very late in the year with my planting. The strawberries did great until we had the 90 degree weather and no rain....I'm a forgetful one with the watering. So I will be putting in a rain barrel with some auto-drip lines for next year. And hopefully a sprinkler system too

anyway, now I'm rambling...I do enjoy reading about how everyone is doing, you guys and gals are all really great.

And, I'm going to the Puyallup Fair on the 10th. I'm wondering if anyone has chickens entered in the fair....I will have to check it out while I'm there

 

[lisaheath1]

My only thought on the hardware floor, is that the chickens can't scratch and dig as well unless you put 4-5 inches of sand down. I went with the aprons around my coops and runs so that they could do what chickens do ans scratch and peck. But then again, I am also filling in holes that they have dug around the perimeter. They can't dig out, but they get pretty deep. SO maybe the floor has it's merits. I just can't let mine out to free range as much as I would like, or they would like, so I chose to do the apron.

Yes, i will probably go with the skirt of 2' and then I was thinking of putting some cobblestones around the perimeter but not sure how that would look. I saw the kit you can get with a form and just mix cement and pour it in there.

I will be getting the kit for another project so I will think about that and see I did see someone that had cobblestones (real ones I think) around their coop and it looked absolutely stunning.

And I must admit, I didn't want a 'normal' coop or one like everyone else. This is why I built my own, as I'm sure everyone else did to get what they wanted. I just have to be different, I have always been that way, lol. And I thank everyone for all the suggestions and tips, it has helped me so much.

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Ah, well that is interesting to hear that MyPetChicken is simply a shipper for Meyer. I've been posting around BYC trying to get good info on experiences with integrating Hamburgs into a mixed flock. That is the breed I have my heart set on to complete our city flock (all female), but I worry they'd get bullied too much. If I do decide to go with Hamburgs, I can't decide if I want to wait until spring to get them from Baxter Barn in Fall City (he has a lot more varieties than the hatcheries) or just order from a hatchery as soon as we build our new coop, and Meyer/MPC seems perfect because of the three-chick minimum, which is exactly how many I need. But if Meyer is not a good hatchery, maybe some of my fellow Washingtonians would be interested to split a shipment from another hatchery sometime this fall? This is all just talk for now, of course. I am on my BF's chicken schedule as I need his help to build a bigger coop first and he keeps our flock at his house.

 

[Imp]

Ah, well that is interesting to hear that MyPetChicken is simply a shipper for Meyer. I've been posting around BYC trying to get good info on experiences with integrating Hamburgs into a mixed flock. That is the breed I have my heart set on to complete our city flock (all female), but I worry they'd get bullied too much. If I do decide to go with Hamburgs, I can't decide if I want to wait until spring to get them from Baxter Barn in Fall City (he has a lot more varieties than the hatcheries) or just order from a hatchery as soon as we build our new coop, and Meyer/MPC seems perfect because of the three-chick minimum, which is exactly how many I need. But if Meyer is not a good hatchery, maybe some of my fellow Washingtonians would be interested to split a shipment from another hatchery sometime this fall? This is all just talk for now, of course. I am on my BF's chicken schedule as I need his help to build a bigger coop first and he keeps our flock at his house.

Meyers has a mostly good rep.
There other hatcheries that also offer small quantities. I can't remember the names right now.
Reber Ranch in Kent is starting a fall chick days starting on the 8th.
Have fun getting ready

Russ