This is my third year raising meaties and I'm having a much higher fatality rate this year. I'm wondering if it's the new metal feeders or my feeding method.
I soak my chicken feed in milk for 12 hours before feeding it. The last two years I used rubber feed pans and poured the wet feed in twice a day. But it got really tiresome washing them out twice a day after the chickens walked/pooped in them all day. This year I'm using the tall metal cylinders attached to pans. I like them much better because the chickens can't poop in them.
But I'm worried that there's some kind of chemical reaction between the sour milk and the metal. Is that a possibility? I wonder if the acid from the milk/clabber is leaching zinc or something from the feeder?
Or could it be that I'm overfeeding them? Before, I would fill the rubber pans in the am with an amount that they would clean up within a couple hours. At night I'd fill the pans, leave them for 45 minutes while I did evening chores, then take up the pans so they couldn't sleep/poop in them. This year, however, I'm filling the feeders and leaving them full. Am I over feeding them by giving them unlimited access?
The last 2 years I butchered at 10 weeks (I like a big carcass because most of it goes into canning jars.) I had very few losses. This year I'm at 8 weeks and I've lost 13 out of 51 chickens. That's not acceptable.
Please help! Thank you!
I soak my chicken feed in milk for 12 hours before feeding it. The last two years I used rubber feed pans and poured the wet feed in twice a day. But it got really tiresome washing them out twice a day after the chickens walked/pooped in them all day. This year I'm using the tall metal cylinders attached to pans. I like them much better because the chickens can't poop in them.
But I'm worried that there's some kind of chemical reaction between the sour milk and the metal. Is that a possibility? I wonder if the acid from the milk/clabber is leaching zinc or something from the feeder?
Or could it be that I'm overfeeding them? Before, I would fill the rubber pans in the am with an amount that they would clean up within a couple hours. At night I'd fill the pans, leave them for 45 minutes while I did evening chores, then take up the pans so they couldn't sleep/poop in them. This year, however, I'm filling the feeders and leaving them full. Am I over feeding them by giving them unlimited access?
The last 2 years I butchered at 10 weeks (I like a big carcass because most of it goes into canning jars.) I had very few losses. This year I'm at 8 weeks and I've lost 13 out of 51 chickens. That's not acceptable.
Please help! Thank you!
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