Hip Hillbilly Acres
Crowing
Your style reads like what my husband is drumming into my head. I wonder if you are still active here as this post is kinda old. Looks like I could learn a lot from your set up. Thank you.Scenario: I get my birds once every few years from a hatchery. I buy in larger numbers from 30-100 at a time. Sometimes other people come and get some of them after they "aren't delicate little chicks" anymore. Sometimes people just come for "finished"birds. Sometimes people just give me the money to "get" their chicks because wuantity buying is cheaper. I do keep a lot of them. Some of my birds are 6 years old. 1 rooster is gonna be 10 if he makes it till next spring. I use my birds for eggs and meat and breeding experiments crossbreeding to different breeds and sometimes even with pheasants or Guineas.
On to feed/s/ing……
If I can afford it I will feed my chicks non-medicated "20% Chick Starter" for a couple of weeks then "18% Grower" till they are about half grown(4or5months).
More often than not it's free range with the adults after the chick starter. Regarding "medicated feed" I haven't seen a great positive effect. I ain't saying not to use it though. I suppose in some instances it is necessary. Just that in the long run it hasn't done anything good for my birds. Many times my hens raise their own chicks "un savauge"
They eat grasses and legumes and slugs and bugs and other fruits of nature. I sometimes throw some some mixed grains to them. They start knowing a certain call and come running. That helps in the fall and nights during aerial predator season. I like to feed more corn during the fall and winter for the higher fat content. It gets pretty darn cold here sometimes. I'm talking -50*C.
I really prefer organic but need to be real if I can't get it.
My birds get treats every day. It's kind of bothersome having them underfoot occasionally but it is a control thing to have my chickens running to and/or with me. It's also helped save a few lives.....of chickens and turkeys and ducks and geese and Guinea fowl and even rabbits....from roaming dogs. Geez I even have Eagles, Falcons, Redtails and owls actually landing in my yard. But it's also kind of cute. So ya the 'treats' have in this case actually been helpful.
That said about "treats" my treats are more down to earth than cubed veggies and balled fruit.
I like to mix my own feed of pretty much even amounts of wheat oats and corn and about half that of barley. I really like peas and some beans. All my veggie peels and egg shells get scattered on the lawn and they have access to their own gravel/sand pile. They also seem to like ingesting certain amount of the thick high quality clay from around the edge of the pond. And always alway always fresh water. Anywhere from once to 7 times a day depending on the weather. Winter has its own challenges but still kinda simple.
I don't do fermented food mainly because I don't have it and it would be too much bother to make and properly look after it...for safety sake....for the chickens
However, in the winter I like reconstituting dehydrated alfalfa for them. They seem to love it and the payoff is I still get the nice richly yellow, almost orange, yolks of summer free range chickens.
In my neck of the woods "free range" is essentially wild.... bush, wetlands, meadow, pasture and lawn.
I think most BYC people would be shocked at how very much "KISS"(thnx speckled hen) my operation is.
My birds aren't pets and although they aren't forced to roost in trees all year round their chicken coop ain't a palace either. I used to expend tons of energy in fortifications for my birds but my life ain't just about my birds anymore. So no barnyard fowl Fort Knox here anymore.
Like I said "essentially wild"
