Backyard Brahmas!!

[Huntress78]

If he only knew where all the lettuce is going!

Ha, I have the same problem here!
"What are you going to do with all that cabbage?" .........
'Ummm, make cole slaw.'

I raise a lot of winter squash/pumpkins for the girls. They store well and the birds enjoy pecking them apart. For greens I try to sprout grain once in a while...right now I have a tray of oats greening up. The only problem with that is if you want to feed greens every day then you have to start sprouts every day and I just don't have the time. I start one big tray and when its ready (in a couple weeks) I feed it and start another.

 

[Vickis Girls]

That's so funny! Mine love cabbage too. Good ideas here, thanks. So do we need to cook the squash before they can eat it? So, tell me how to sprout grains if you would. Also, can you buy by the pound, or do you have to buy a big huge bag? When your sprouts are ready, do you divide it up over a few days, or just dump the whole thing in for them? I'm anxious to try this!

 

[Huntress78]

In the fall I'll put raw pumpkins in the pen and just cut away a bit of the skin. They'll peck till they make a big hole then hollow the whole thing out.
Here's a pic....I know this is a Brahma thread so just ignore the Orp.


In winter they freeze hard and the birds won't peck them so I bake in the oven or microwave as much as they eat in a few minutes.


How to sprout grain....The short answer is throw some in a container and keep it moist and warm till it sprouts. I'm no expert at it but there is a month's worth of reading on this site about it....just do a search. I read of someone keeping trays of it in a bathtub so it's easy to water/rinse and someone else does it inside burlap bags. For 5 birds you could use the clear plastic food storage containers. Start a new one every day till the first one is ready to feed. Feed that one and refill it. If you keep it up every day you'll always have sprouts. I'm too busy (read lazy) to do it every day so I just use this one tray. It's 1.5ftx2ft and about 6 inches high and the birds will clean it out in 2 minutes. I could feed it any time after the grain sprouts but I like to let it green up and form a good root mat. Then I pop the whole thing out, rinse it off good in case there is any mold, toss it to the girls and get out of the way quick!
I buy the oats in 50 pound bags but maybe you could get a mill to sell you smaller quantities. Or sprout something else...maybe your birds will eat sprouted BOSS. I think you have that already right?

Here's a pic from today. This tray was filled about a week ago and I'll probably let it go another week.

 

[livininbrazil]

I haven't been feeding this flock scratch, but I do give them black oil sunflower seeds for added protein. The reason I am suspicious of impacted gizzard is because we have dealt with that last summer and lost several. We cut two open to verify the diagnosis. All the birds are able to eat and drink (and poop, I presume). What I'm worried about is what if the gizzard or intestine is not 100% occluded, like say 95%, whereas just enough food could pass to sustain life, but that's it? That could explain why they haven't died yet. I will probably do a fecal test at the vet's office when I can get a chance, just to rule out worms. I'm just so worried about the gizzard impaction. I might try adding some oil to their feed this weekend. Anything wet will freeze solid (it's been -35 F). Someone on another thread had mentioned that internal egg laying can cause a hen to starve to death. I will have to read about it. I don't think my EE are getting more feed than the Brahmas. I would say the Brahmas are higher in pecking order in this flock.

It´s just so odd that it´s affecting only the Brahmas...how many do you have? You would imagine that not all of them would be affected with the same problem, for example, internal egg-laying...even impaction...ALL of them 95%? And just the Brahmas? Maybe SD Lady has a point, maybe it´s some problem in the blood line...?

 

[livininbrazil]

Not a dumb question at all....
'Scratch' is whole and/or cracked grains and seed. Companies don't so much produce it as mix it. It might contain cracked or whole corn (maize), wheat, oats, various seed, etc. There is nothing wrong with it except that the birds can pick out the seed that they like so the quick eaters may eat all corn or sunflower seed and leave the oats. Processed 'feed' for chickens may contain many of the same grains as scratch but it's all ground fine, vitamins/minerals and sometimes animal protein is added, and it's extruded/pressed into pellets and sometimes ground back into 'crumbles'. The birds have no choice but to eat the whole pellet so they get a more balanced diet.
It's kind of like kids leaving vegetables on their plate but if you mix them into a soup or stew they will eat them.

Thanks Huntress for explaining what it means. Now I know. It doesn´t exist here as such. "scratch" here in Brazil would be like beans and rice!

 

[Vickis Girls]

It´s just so odd that it´s affecting only the Brahmas...how many do you have? You would imagine that not all of them would be affected with the same problem, for example, internal egg-laying...even impaction...ALL of them 95%? And just the Brahmas? Maybe SD Lady has a point, maybe it´s some problem in the blood line...?

That's a really good point. Do all the Brahmas have the same parentage, or did they come from the same source?

Huntress, I'm going to look up that info on sprouted grains, but thanks for the short version. No, I don't have Boss. I don't even know what it is. Please tell me. Also, do you put the grains in like a very thin layer on the bottom of the container(like just touching, or 1/4 inch thick)? How long from the day you start it 'til you serve it? I'm thinking about two weeks from your post. Do you put it under a grow light? I'm going to a bigger town today and try to find a bag of oats. We can't get much here in the mountains. Since you use oats, I'm pretty sure it's a healthy option. If anything is better, please let me know. And lastly, when you say you're "too busy," I would never read that as lazy,

if anything, it's an understatement, so know that I value your time and so appreciate it when everyone here takes the time to answer my many questions.
Hope everyone has a good weekend, Oh, hey I got a second egg,

I think from my light Brahma. A bit bigger and lighter than the tiny egg from one of the Buffs.

 

[Huntress78]

BOSS is black oil sunflower seed
There's lots of ways to do it so you'll have plenty to read. I read up on it a long time ago and have forgotten most of it so my sprouting is pretty haphazard. Sometimes the seeds are barely touching in the pan but this last time I got them kinda thick, like a quarter inch. I think you can feed them as soon as they sprout....maybe a week, but I let mine grow longer (get green). No grow lights here. My shop/garage has a heated floor so I start them on the floor. It also has some big windows so they go on a table in front of the window once they sprout.

Congratulations on the egg!!

 

[livininbrazil]

Ha, I have the same problem here!
"What are you going to do with all that cabbage?" .........
'Ummm, make cole slaw.'

I raise a lot of winter squash/pumpkins for the girls. They store well and the birds enjoy pecking them apart. For greens I try to sprout grain once in a while...right now I have a tray of oats greening up. The only problem with that is if you want to feed greens every day then you have to start sprouts every day and I just don't have the time. I start one big tray and when its ready (in a couple weeks) I feed it and start another.

Haha, I raise much more lettuce than we eat....and I know that here there´s grass all year, but I still grow lettuce for the geese and chickens...and my hubby says.".that lettuce is going to seed"... "oh, ok", I say.....

....

 

[Huntress78]

Just goes to show you...men are the same no matter where they're from.

"Grass all year".....I don't even remember what grass looks like. It's all under a couple feet of snow right now. I'll bet SDBirdlady's is too...She might be getting a storm today that we're suppose to get tomorrow. Then more cold...like -20*F. I wish spring would hurry up.

 

[livininbrazil]

Just goes to show you...men are the same no matter where they're from.

"Grass all year".....I don't even remember what grass looks like. It's all under a couple feet of snow right now. I'll bet SDBirdlady's is too...She might be getting a storm today that we're suppose to get tomorrow. Then more cold...like -20*F. I wish spring would hurry up.

You poor things.....