Recent content by urbanutah

  1. urbanutah

    Help, no eggs since August 2018

    Not much seems to bother them, typically. I think they are just on their winter hiatus and I suspect their early molt caused you to have an abnormally long eggless period.
  2. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    I haven’t done that. I’d be curious to know. Since they only get one cup of the breakfast blend a day in the morning and their primary diet is a high-quality layer feed I’m not as concerned. If I were trying to mix my own chicken feed that would be a different story and knowing the nutritional...
  3. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    I actually use Lisa Steel’s breakfast of champions layers recipe as the base and add additional items here and there to mix things up a little between batches. The base of the blend is grower crumble, 4-5 pounds of sunflower seeds, a bag of shelled hempseeds and a bucket-full of soldier fly...
  4. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    I would completely agree with you. There is frankly very little oversight even here in the United States when it comes to pet products (and next to nothing when it comes to chickens I’m guessing), and pretty much nonexistent overseas. It is cause for some concern, but I do think the high heat...
  5. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    They weren’t expensive thankfully and they are only being added to a breakfast blend that contains quite a bit of high density nutritional ingredients. I just wanted to make sure they were OK to feed as an additional ingredient to add a little more variety. Their breakfast blend contains...
  6. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    Good to know. I would hope that in a commercial production environment, these beetles would not harbor the same nasty things they would in an uncontrolled/wild environment, but who knows. I did do some checking and they are terminated and dried by an initial burst of high heat followed by...
  7. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    Thank you, that is good to know. I normally buy from another supplier, but this company’s prices are better in bulk. I added the dried beetles to this morning’s breakfast and the girls seemed to like them. I’m hoping the additional protein will help them wrap up their molting season. :)
  8. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    You have been incredibly helpful and insightful. I couldn’t agree more about beetles and human beings. For now we have balance in our urban abode and all is well. :) Thank you!
  9. urbanutah

    Help, no eggs since August 2018

    I noticed other posts say they cull them at 3-4 years old. As an urban girl (okay...middle-aged lady) I have had these culling talks with myself from time to time, I even bought a tree culling cone, but I'm still struggling with killing my girls. They are my morning coffee company on the back...
  10. urbanutah

    Help, no eggs since August 2018

    Laying hens are a labor of love. Hang in there! We love knowing where our eggs come from (when our girls are laying) and know what our hens are fed and how they are cared for, so for us it's worth the wait for those glorious golden yolks. Not a single organic free-range store-bought egg can...
  11. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    Thank you! The package does not say "adult mealworms," but I assume they are?? I've attached pics of the bag and the dried beatles. They are definitely commercially packaged, but I also just noted they say, "made in China," which is mildly concerning. The company that sells these sells...
  12. urbanutah

    Help, no eggs since August 2018

    I have a small urban flock of 6 hens ranging in age from less than a year to about 5 years old and they all do the same thing. Most of my flock doesn't start their molt until late Sept or Oct, but I've certainly had one or two start their molt at the end of summer and I had one start in January...
  13. urbanutah

    Help, no eggs since August 2018

    You must find the correct "forum" or topic that applies to the post you want to post. Once you are in the forum you will see the "post a new thread" in the top tabs.
  14. urbanutah

    Anyone tried DRIED darkling beetle treats for hens?

    So, I bought a bag of dried darkling beetles at a well-known big box online store. I thought I would "mix-things-up" a little and add something new to my girls breakfast blend I make for them, which has a whole host of nutritious things in it. After the bag arrived, I decided to consult Dr...
  15. urbanutah

    Can't keep my 15 wk old pullets from eating the layer feed, help

    Thank you! They are all integrated and due to the heat of the sun and movement of shade during the day I can't really put them in a tractor. They do eat grass and bugs around the yard, but they also eat the layer feed and the crumble so I'm hoping maybe they aren't getting enough of the layer...
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