Search results for query: *

Well, all my pullets are the same age, but they are different breeds and some mature faster than others. Only my ISA Brown is laying at present, but I hope the others will start up soon.

Many good points to consider. This is my first year with laying hens, and all my pullets are the same age (19 weeks old). Only one pullet is laying, my ISA Brown, but I expect the others to start laying soon. I have grower feed for another 4-6 weeks and am currently offering calcium in a side...

I'll look more into sprouting sunflower seeds. I do know sunflower seeds are almost twice the price of barley seed. So, if I do get sunflower seeds, I would mix a small measure with my other grains to keep the cost down. As to sprouting seeds for fodder, I just bought a 50# bag of oats and have...

I'm not a chicken nutritionist either. I suppose the commercial feed is formulated for maximum benefit of the chicken. But I really don't care if my girls prefer to forage for half, or more, of their daily food. My commercial feed usage has dropped in half after I let my girls out on a grass...

I would agree that fresher is better in feed. I have read that nutrients can degrade over time, but not by much. More likely it loses its taste and the chickens don't care for it compared to fresh feed. At the moment, my chickens eat lots of grass and foraging stuff and not so much of the...

I really like the idea of just crushing the egg shells and feeding them back to the chickens. Since my chickens have now picked the grass in the run down to dirt, I have just been dumping my grass clippings from mowing on the ground. My run is currently covered in about 2 inches of grass...

Nasty little bugs. I guess I'll have to look really close to see them. I'll check the mill date on the feed I just bought. I have read that feed stays good for 4-6 months if properly stored. Is that true? All the feed I have bought from that store has been good, so far. But I have never...

Sounds easy enough. Do the chickens eat the crushed egg shells, or do the crushed egg shells just disappear into the chicken run litter/ground? I thought the egg shells had to be dried, baked, and ground up before giving them to the chickens. That sounded like too much work. We don't do much...

I just started a new 50# bag of 18% grower/raiser yesterday. A 50# bag of feed has been lasting my 10 birds about 4-5 weeks. Today I got my first egg! :yesss: For reference, that is day 130, or 18 1/2 weeks for my mixed flock. I don't expect all to start laying within the next few weeks as some...

Thanks, I'll be watching for that.

Good to know. Which is why I think I'll just use up my last 50# of grower/raiser and then transition all birds to the layer feed. I'll be getting a small bag of oyster shells to offer in a side dish for now. Thanks for all the other good info, too.

I currently store my feed in my attached garage, so it's out of the weather. Never seen any feed mites, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for that.

Well, this is the Purina layer feed I was looking at to get at our local farm store: I was assuming that "Oyster Strong" refers to oyster shell included in the feed. The other brand of layer feed at our farm store also includes oyster shells. Oyster shells are 96% calcium. I was aware that a...

OK. Thanks for the confirmation. Think I will pick up some oyster shell tomorrow and put it in a bowl so those that may need it have some available.

I have a small backyard flock of 10 chickens, from 10 different breeds. They are currently 18 weeks old and no eggs - yet. I just put out the nest boxes today with some fake eggs, thinking that it might not be too long before some of the chickens start laying. Because they are different breeds...