Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us! - Page 416  

I HAVE HEARD THAT BLACK SUNFLOWER SEEDS WILL HELP WITH POOR FEATHERS..ANYONE ELSE ?

I don't know about sunflower seeds, that for me would be too expensive to be practical. I give my show rooster an egg a day (one of my hens lays an egg that is not good enough quality to sale) and that keeps him looking nice and shiny for showing. Whatever he doesn't eat of the egg goes to the rest of the flock as a treat. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldutch123 

I'm wondering.....my flock is fairly new and I'm a 9 month in chicken owner. So my question is this.
I bought my chickens from hatcheries because hey I didn't know any better at the time. So now I know from all the wise chicken raisers that this isn't a good choice because of the mass production( and many other reasons) of their breeding stock. Im getting to the question I promise lol. I'm a rambler
If I hatch out my own mix breed eggs in the future to replenish my flock can I break this cycle of having overbred birds? I already have hatchery birds and I like them all but I would prefer to not ever buy from them again, so what do you guys and gals suggest?

I would recommend buying from a reliable breeder and getting good quality birds that you can fully enjoy. 

i am just sitting back waiting to heat rooster keeping. i was born in baltimore city md. where crime is high and jails are over crowded the term "lock down " means nobody moves nobody in or out just sit in your cell. i guess incubation means nobody in or out the eggs sit in their cell. lol  i moved to the so called country a while back to get away from the kaios . well that was fine for a while until the people i tired to move from came here, now they think the farm land is an h.o.a..rules rules and more new rules. 

chicken keeping is so much common sense that most people mis it.

yes i do some things to see if my birds would tolerate it without harming them. i use some hatchery birds to be honest most of mine are hatchery birds, why if you ask ? they lay the best. that is for my purposes. i use production reds, black sex links, easter eggers , and heck i just bought some golden comet pullets from someone who got stuck with 300 of them .

i don't breed my birds for the simple fact that it is cheaper for me to buy a  good layer then i could produce myself. people have a big misconception going on. they think if they take 2 birds  and mate them they 're result will be good layers, the same people complain about puppy mills. to get a good result one must first have the qualities they intend  to breed for. just because the breed of  the bird you have is supposed to do that does not mean it will..by breeding a bird with bad traits just means you pass the genes down the line. all that takes time and generations of birds to create.

lets face it folks hatchery birds  suck for what they are supposed to be but they make one hell of a good layer. my expirence only.

Anyone's chickens have a fear of large shinny things?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldutch123 


I looked into that and the only breeder nearby (45 mins away) hatches silkies. So that's out. You wouldn't believe how few people around here sell chicks. I have looked into hatching eggs but I must find an incubator first and then I will need to learn how to hatch eggs lol. I would prefer to get a broody hen that can raise her own babies. Lol
On the up side all these hatchery birds produce quite well. Of course they are still young
Thanks for taking the time to help out newbies like me. I would never argue with an OT because it's so hard for me to find some experienced advice. I have the books and blah blah but the stuff in there is so ridiculous. My first set of chicks I had under a dang heat lamp for months! Because the book said so. My second set of chicks was under the heat lamp like 5 weeks and the 3rd few chicks got booted outside in their seperated coop area after only 3 weeks.
I have gotten more tips from this thread than all those books combined. And I thank you ladies and gentlemen

Well, in that case, I recommend buying a silkie hen and then letting her hatch out eggs when she goes broody.  Broody hens are the best incubators you can get, in my opinion. They even raise the chicks for you so you don't have to worry about it. 

Feeding for good feather quality starts with the proper conditioning of the skin coat, proper fat content is so very important. Chickens will hardly get fat in the same sense as we humans view it, so top dress your feed daily with rendered or liquid fat's that keep/store well in the barn or coop during the different seasons. The best I have found for this is common processed lard from the store, it's inexpensive and you can buy enough to treat a decent sized flock for a full season for $10.00 or so, and it won't spoil ever. I also feed seed grains such as white and red milo which is has a heavy/healthy concentration of benificial oils, as does BOSS ( black oil sunflower seed ). high quality wild bird seed includes these seed grains in proper %.

I will often buy these seeds seperately available at any farmers coops or good feed & seed stores. then I will keep them in seperate bins in the breeder barn and custom mix them accordingly in each feeder as needed. I will mix them with a combination of high quality breeder feed, some 16% common layer feed, some added calcium if needed, then finish it off with a drizzle of softened lard or corn oil and mix.

Their skin will become softer and have a better oil transfer to feathers and also help the oil gland produce this very important byproduct. when a chicken preans itself it is spreading the oil from that gland onto it's feathers to maintain their feathers look and placement and dextarity. never apply anything directly to the feather as this will really screw them up and make the feathers sticky and attract dust & dirt which clumps and is a mess. Now as a breeder of rare LF Cornish I keep a miriad of different feed mixing aids at my disposal that is not to say you even need any of that for your birds, just take away from that what you will. Also you may think it's hard to do and sounds like allot of work, but it's not and if keeping your birds in good health is too much work.............. get another hobby LOL.

This feed mix has other beneifts as well, clearer eyes, healthier colored and textured combs and wattles, better looking feet and legs in color and feel. shiney strong beaks etc etc.

If someones is interested in starting a flock of chickens or is new to chickens I personaly think they should start with Hatchery birds, wet your feet first with these birds and see if it's something that you like and would like to continue to pursue. Doing this help you decide if the common mutt hatchery bird is fine for you or if venturing into other more exotic breeds suits your fancy. make your mistakes and learn yourself through your birds with the cheaper mass produced primarliy egg laying mutts, then if it doesn't work out you haven't lost anything valuable.