Recent content by mrsteiner

Couple of questions--how much seed do you need per flat? Pounds? Cups? I know I would use this fodder to supplement the standard (organic) feed I give my hens. Any recommendations about how many chickens per flat of sprouts?

Fish should be Ok, just don't feed them onions, garlic or citrus.

Thanks everyone! I'll add more feeders and see how they do. I knew I could count on you to know what to do!

We've been raising broilers for 3 years now, and as we've increased the size of our flock, I have a new problem I'm not sure how to address. We use Salatin style tractors and organic feed. We do not overcrowd the cages, but our Cornish X birds are growing at very different rates. At six...

I've been struggling with this problem all winter. I tried all of the suggested remedies with no luck until I bought some "Pick No More" at TSC. It's a strong smelling thick lotion that you paint on the chickens bare spots. It's mostly natural ingredients but birds find the odor offensive and...

We have 56 layers including barred rocks, golden comets, RIR, ISA browns, and easter eggers. Here in Mid-Michigan it "warmed up" to about 14 degrees today. My egg count continues to decline. The lowest number ever was today with only 25 eggs. We haven't let them out of the coop for three...

What an awesome idea. The reflections don't bother your chickens?

Do they go missing at night or during the day? My layers do a pretty good job of dodging hawks and owls who fly in, but they have to have something to hid under like a porch or deck. We put a flight net over our run area so when they were enclosed nothing could get them. It has been perfect...

After killing 2 of my meat chickens last night, this Great Horned Owl tried to squeeze through the electric poultry fence and became seriously tangled. I had to call a wildlife rehab person to come and cut him out of my fence, argh!. He has gone to live in another county and hopefully we'll...

After killing 2 of my meat chickens last night, this Great Horned Owl tried to squeeze through the electric poultry fence and became seriously tangled. I had to call a wildlife rehab person to come and cut him out of my fence, argh!. He has gone to live in another county and hopefully we'll...

We left our birds to free range on Saturday--they usually put themselves to bed every night, but this time we found some of them walking around our property the next morning. We found a set of wings laying on the ground that looked as if they had almost been surgically removed. No other...

We've been raising meat chickens for a while now, and would like to add turkeys next year. We're accustomed to grocery store turkey, and like that traditional taste in a bird we raise ourselves. Any suggestions? Which breed do you prefer?

You might want to add some protein to their diets. Corn is mostly fat, and will add an extra layer of fat to their carcass but doesn't add much weight. Good sources of protein is soybeans, fish meal or peas. If it's cold where you are, your birds will need more feed to keep warm so less is...

We're doing a late meatie project too. Ours are about 5 weeks old now, but we won't be butchering them until 11/28. I have noticed that they are a little slower to gain weight since the weather has cooled off. (Waaayyy off, we have a little snow here in Michigan today, thanks Hurricane Sandy!)...

We keep the majority of our feed in the 50 lb. bags it comes in, in our walk-out basement. My DH transfers it from the bags into large (plastic) garbage cans as I need it, and it allows me to mix in any other ingredients I choose at that time. We buy a special organic blend of grain, minerals...