Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Katt66]

Wing:

Pickering is about $18.00/50lb
TSC is about $14.00

A couple of other outlets have matching prices...more or less and they are all within about 25 miles from each other.....

I don't think too many are close to me around here but the two TSC's I know of in my area are Hazleton and St. Clair. They're both around $14 for a 50# bag of DuMor layer crumbles. What I feed my guys. With fermenting it the bag last me about 6 wks for my 10 chickens. The only other feed stores I know of are Koch's over in Lewistown valley. Was there a few weeks ago and won't go back I don't think. It's changed sooooo much since I was a kid going with my Mom to buy rabbit and chicken feed there. Used to be a nice simple cut and dry feed store. Now it's like a feedstore/Hallmark gift store/PetCo. I won't waste my time going all the way down there. Their prices weren't even that good. Which is understandable with all the money they spend on the "tourist" garbage they sell now.

And then there's Country Junction. Again, prices are a bit more than TSC.

There's supposed to be an Agway around here somewhere but I've never found it. So... I dunno.

 

[ClucksNasty]

I've been going to WC Agway out of convenience, closest place to buy feed. Their selection of other supplies really stinks, so I'm left to buy feeders etc online. I watch for free ahipping sales from Blains and get great deals on pine & treats. So far the Agway all grain feed is ok, but I just got a huge bag of their catfood and my cats are snubbing it... Where is nearest TSC? I will stop up in Poconos when I visit Mom, but never get up in winter, would love to find one closer.

Parkesburg

 

[Cheralee]

C:

Thought owls are night hunters...do your's roost outside?

If its not to far a drive these guys will have BAs next week   http://www.pickeringvalleyfeed.com/poultry/poultry-arrival-schedule/

It's a perfect storm of factors. We live only a few miles from a nature center that has a nesting pair. I know they successfully raised owlets last year as well. I have been feeding the songbirds because of the weather, and I read in many places that they attract the raptors who find fat, slow chickens easier to pick off. My girls free range during the day and we shut the coop door after they return in the evening. We went out later than normal and that was the night we lost one. We have a breeding pair of crows that do a great job keeping the hawks away, but the tree they nested in came down in one of the first storms in December. I hadn't noticed them back until yesterday, so I am crossing my fingers that they find a new home close by. They are fascinated by the chickens. I only had 6 black hens, but I would often look out and see ten because the crows were hanging out!

We live in NW PA, so I placed an order with Meyer Hatchery in Ohio to pick up in May. I don't like getting chicks from TSC and Pickering is about 5-6 hours away.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Good afternoon, looking for some advice. Is this a good idea or I am just being an idiot?

Given all the good things we've heard about probiotics and beneficial bacteria, I was considering putting some adult chicken poo near (but not accessible) to my new chicks in order to expose them to bacteria. Has anyone read the articles on hospitals doing fecal transplants for humans? Creepy, but it works. I was also considering adding some soil from outside to give them some exposure.


Thoughts please? Am I innovative or just being crazy?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

 

[wingstone]

Good afternoon, looking for some advice. Is this a good idea or I am just being an idiot?

Given all the good things we've heard about probiotics and beneficial bacteria, I was considering putting some adult chicken poo near (but not accessible) to my new chicks in order to expose them to bacteria. Has anyone read the articles on hospitals doing fecal transplants for humans? Creepy, but it works. I was also considering adding some soil from outside to give them some exposure.


Thoughts please? Am I innovative or just being crazy?

I mix sand and dirt for the little one's before they go outside,,,,,are you trying to treat anything specific....

since I have a wandering serama rooster that visits all the pens each day, it kind of makes isolation a little difficult,,,but he is more of a pet so he stays...in a sense he is exposing the little one's to everybody else.

 

[fisherlady]

Good afternoon, looking for some advice. Is this a good idea or I am just being an idiot?

Given all the good things we've heard about probiotics and beneficial bacteria, I was considering putting some adult chicken poo near (but not accessible) to my new chicks in order to expose them to bacteria. Has anyone read the articles on hospitals doing fecal transplants for humans? Creepy, but it works. I was also considering adding some soil from outside to give them some exposure.


Thoughts please? Am I innovative or just being crazy?

We keep our broody hatches in the coop with the rest of the flock (but separated by wire for the first week), the floor is sand, so the babies are out scratching in the same stuff that has been scratched in and pooped on by the rest of the flock... out of 40 or more babies last year we lost 0 to illness and we don't vaccinate or give medicated feed.

We raised 20 meat birds and 6 black giants from day olds to 2 weeks in a brooder in the house before they went to the coop... we placed a pan in the brooder which was half full of coop floor sand and a few times a day we scattered some seeds on the sand and they learned to scratch in it... we had none lost to illness and again, we didn't use medicated starter.

I think exposing them like that and giving them ACV in the water and a plop of plain yogurt once in a while helps keep their gut happy... at least it seemed to work for us...
Either that, or we just got really lucky and had all super hearty babies?

 

[wingstone]

Blarney,,,,,

those 2 OE boys that came from you,,,,what are the backgrounds on them.....

they are growing out nicely, but one is being a pain, he is fine with people just very aggressive with other birds..shame since he will eat out of my hand,,trying to decide if I want to try to break him or not,,,,,,thought about throwing his butt in with the big boys and teach him a lesson about being the small one.....right now he is the big guy in the pen...


also, are you interested in any of the serama,,,,I need to move some birds...

 

[wingstone]

need to move out some birds,,,,,what's everyone looking for.....all would be either POL or about a year old..

 

[beaglady]

just curious, folks talk about going to different TSC stores for the different prices,,,,amazing how the same product can cost so much more or less just because of region....

just went to the feed mill today for grower feed.....I do not feed layer, I add my own calcium....

going price today was $9.30 a 50 pound bag...

It would be worth it to me to drive the truck down to your mill for 1/2 ton at a time. TSC layer is 13.99, gamebird grower pellets over 17.00 a bag.