Recent content by Island Roo

Nice job on the redneck CoolBot ! I find the chickens are better after aging for a few days - 4 seems to be perfect. Mainly to let the rigorous completely finish - the flavour and texture seems to peak there. We raise Mistral Gris (more like a freedom ranger) so its more important to age than...

Not much info about air chilling on this site. I just finished building my CoolBot cooler and will use it for the meaties this year. I plan to cool the birds down with ice water during the butchering process then hang them to cool further (and dry) in the cooler. The cooler will be set to 36...

I have seen lots of write ups and threads about heat mats used to brood chicks. I can see this working for smaller numbers but not for the 100 chicks I'll have this spring. I'm thinking about building a infrared heat panel with several infrared bulbs - like the ones used for reptile enclosures...

Ok - i'll try that. I was just using email before. I know he's getting email because he refused to send the terminal connector that is needed for the OvaLite. Kinda weird. Anyway - hopefully this is just a communication malfunction.

Yup - thanks for asking Door works good. I like the design. I think the OvaLight would be the cat's meow - which is what set the Ador apart from other other doors for me. Plus it sounded like people were getting decent support...

Well, still not working. I just sent another request for info from Rod/Ador Support. No reply. I'm an electrical engineer - so i dont think its me.

There are some great ideas in there ! Thanks for that.

Today I put some chicks I bought under a broody hen. She didnt fall for it and would peck at the chicks. She was ok with the chicks sitting under her but she was not acting like a mother - stuffed her face with some nice fermented chick starter but didn't call the little ones over. I decided...

Anyone got the Ova Light working? I just installed the door and have the light pre-wired. Will have it running once the relay gets here. Just curious if anyone is using the feature.

I find mine have less fat since I started fermenting. But they still have some nice "healthy" fat deposits which I consider a good thing. I would not consider grocery store chickens to be a good standard.

You might want to try a hoop house next time. You drag the hoop to fresh pasture as needed - when the meaties are close to full grown that once a day for me. This is a picture of mine with the brooder setup inside. Cattle panels give it strength. Theres lots of info / plans join BYC for hoop...

I've noticed my birds seem more healthy, vibrant and active with fermented feed. I also had a sense that they were eating less of if but there were too many variables to measure it. How much savings in food do you notice?

Mine are organic (not certified) and I charge a little less than the grocery store does for organic eggs. I call mine "Organically raised". I'm not going to get rich selling eggs but it pays for my supply of eggs, chicken. My customers (mostly friends) are excited about getting local farm...

Learning opportunity! Does anyone care to critique the birds in that video? The good, the bad, and the ugly. I don't know enough about it to give an informed opinion but here goes … they look great to me

Mix scraps with crumbles. Start slow at first - with mostly crumbles and some bite size goodies. And increase the amounts as they get used to it.