Search results for query: *

Wow! Makes me wonder how people figured these things out, keeping birds that can coexist happily in a bachelor group seems more likely an achievable way to resolve the excess male issue for me.

Hmm, intriguing. Can’t find anything other than eating dark greens and avoiding alcohol sugar ect. to raise ph. Pretty sure nutritional intake affects it, too much milk can cause osteoporosis because the low ph prevents calcium uptake, I’ve seen this with my own birds laying soft shelled eggs...

@Penpal I had some issues with calcium uptake lowering the ph too much with probiotics so wouldn’t want to risk experimenting, current plan is a side by side with red clover but if they’re consciously dictating gender I doubt it’ll work. There’s someone on eBay selling a magnet on the end of a...

You are right about the female determining gender, also there is some evidence that they consciously decide. Maybe giving them phytoestrogens would be worth a try. Just found this.. In mammals, it’s the father (XY) that decides the sex of each offspring, the mother (XX) only ever able to...

Ooh thanks, that might explain why there’s a sometimes a disproportionate ratio for months at a time as the temperature changes with the seasons, if any of my hens are temperature switched it might hamper my experiment. I’ll look into it. I’ve got some Chinese liquorice growing but it won’t be...

I’ve read that hens can go through stages of laying eggs with an unusually high ratio of either male or female chicks that can last for months at a time. In humans the sole factor that determines the gender of offspring is the level of testosterone in the male, some foods are capable of...

@potatoyay Good to hear about the dotted whites being docile, I’m hoping to keep a bachelor group of them together because the spare males are so hard to re home and I’ve not got it in me to kill them. Be a bit careful with the Dubia, their nutritional requirement changes a lot depending on...

https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2018/01/19/Mushroom-supplement-may-boost-poultry-meat-quality Thanks :) I found this about oysters but not looked into portabello because I thought they’d need cooking to reduce the agaritine, hadn’t considered sun drying them. Thanks for the links, much...

Thank you :) I’ve been looking into adding mushrooms to the menu and for sources of vit d. glad I found your post.

This made me smile :) they must be happy chickens, I’ve been making my own quail food and there’s no way on earth I’d consider feeding them commercial pellets after tasting the eggs. Great tip about sun drying the portobello for vit d, do you know if it affects the Agaritine?

@U_Stormcrow They’re low in vitamins A, D, E, thiamin, and omega-3 fatty acids so that’s something to consider in addition to harvesting them before they get too big. I mix mine with chlorella, sea buckthorn, and provide nutritional yeast separately to make up for the imbalance. Also helps if...

@potatoyay I’ve seen it repeated a lot that they’re too high in fat which causes health issues, the fat content goes up with the size of the worm so I harvest mine when they’re small to reduce the risk. I’ve also read that fat is good for them so not sure what to believe, mine were getting the...

It’s just their deposits I’m interested in and they seem to live ages so I’ll probably just get a couple of same sex dwarfs, thanks for all the info. I only wanted to grow a plant and somehow ended up with quail, dubia roaches, compost worms, a mealworm farm, and now rabbits. @JacinLarkwell do u...

Thanks! I love learning new things.. I was thinking about keeping some on wire above my compost worm bins but figured it wouldn’t work because of their need to eat things twice. I’m googling miniature rabbit now :). ETA omg the Netherland Dwarf is so cute!!! ‘looks like a kit no matter how old...

Wow! I’ve not seen this and wondered how they know the difference between droppings that need to be eaten again and the one’s they’ve finished with. Do they literally reach their heads around and catch it before it drops?! They must know it needs a second run before it’s dropped which blows my...

Maybe ask the seller if they’ve noticed any change with their birds? I’m surrounded by wild ducks here but last year not a single duckling hatched, there were lots of people saying the same about their chickens not laying at the time and theories about the food supplier’s being responsible but...

Sweet rabbits, I was looking at getting some just for their deposits/plant food but quail need less space and also make eggs. Might save you some money and be better for the bunnies if you give them a solid floor, they have to eat their pellets/droppings twice to extract all the nutrients as...

Quite excited about adding this to the menu. Should help with coccidiosis, mareks and egg production. Shame the leaves aren’t available to buy, 20% protein fresh weight. Have a couple of plants growing so will be able to harvest my own at some point.

I think he’s just a normal Italian, I called him clem after clementines because of the orange colour.