The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

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Bulldogma said:
On the first day of Christmas,
My true love (Pete) gave to me,
A chicken in an apple tree....

LOL - couldn't resist... for so many reasons.
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Pullet Surprise said:


This is my mother's father, with his father's flock on Winslow Island, WA. It was taken in the early 1920's about a month or so before he
married my grandmother. What is even better is I have a copy of a letter his grandmother wrote to him telling how much his father had
made off the eggs that year and that the brooder house had just been finished and that a large amount of new birds were expected in
soon. His father had made over $600 on chicken eggs and duck eggs just prior to this flock. That was pretty darn good money in those
days for a retired ship's captain! They also had a cannery on the island. Anyway, that's a lot of chickens! Wish I could see them a little
clearer. Guess they are what? Leghorns?
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They look to be. We raised WLHs when I was young also and my grandma always had a plenty. They are egg laying fools and was that era's production birds.
 
Bee they look so much better,like totally different chickens. Thanks for the update. Okay so now for my questions.

? #1. I keep food Hi-Lay (20% protein they are just finishing their molt I will switch them back to 16% after this bag is gone) pellets in the feeder in the run at all times. Should I not?

I got a 3 gallon Galvanized waterer before our week long trip to our gold claim which is in August. My neighbor was chicken setting and I didn't want my girls running out of water. They have that and a 1 gallon plastic waterer.

? #2. Since I can't use ACV in the galvanized waterer are they getting enough of the health benefits if I just add ACV to the 1 gallon waterer?

I am in my 16th month of owning chickens and they have been healthy for the most part. One had a impacted & sour crop and one had a completely shell less egg. I just want to prevent any health issues.
 
maryhysong said:
Melabella; thank you very much for sharing your memories with us! Your grandma sounds like someone I would have loved to have known also and I'm with her, I've been known to snitch a sprig or two from places I probably shouldn't....
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Pullet Surprise said:
I only wish that I could be a grandmother like that. To be remembered like that is the greatest accomplishment possible.
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Thank you so. maryhysong, so funny you do that too. Sign of a good woman...lol. you should have seen her house in the Bronx. It had a small little front yard, and a small little back yard. She had more flowers and vegetables shoved into every square inch of soil that was available. People would stop and just look, all along her block.

Pullet, I have a feeling you will be! I think the very same about my children, and only hope to live long enough to even see grandchildren. I didn't have my first until I was 30, too busy chasing racehorses all over the planet. LOVE the picture of your grandfather in front of his flock. WOW, all my efforts go into watching those 10 silly chicken heads I have. What was taking care of that many like?
 
nakstk said:
Bee they look so much better,like totally different chickens. Thanks for the update. Okay so now for my questions.

? #1. I keep food Hi-Lay (20% protein they are just finishing their molt I will switch them back to 16% after this bag is gone) pellets in the feeder in the run at all times. Should I not?

I got a 3 gallon Galvanized waterer before our week long trip to our gold claim which is in August. My neighbor was chicken setting and I didn't want my girls running out of water. They have that and a 1 gallon plastic waterer.

? #2. Since I can't use ACV in the galvanized waterer are they getting enough of the health benefits if I just add ACV to the 1 gallon waterer?

I am in my 16th month of owning chickens and they have been healthy for the most part. One had a impacted & sour crop and one had a completely shell less egg. I just want to prevent any health issues.
Click to expand...

  1. I'd cut that ration a little right now, if you can, with some lower protein whole grains. Barley is a good one and the chickens love it~and it's cheap. Win/win/win.
    big_smile.png
    A 50/50 ration would be good.
  2. Should be. Are you also fermenting feeds? If so, they are getting the same beneficial properties in the FF as they are getting in the ACV, so you don't have to do both if you do not wish to do so. I do it because it keeps my water from getting manky so soon, as mine is in a heated water bowl.
 
they are not getting FF I would love to start them on it though. I have tons of buckets that I can use for the process of fermenting it. I made it one time when I had a mishap with their feed getting wet. luckily I found it the day it happened and it was not moldy. Even then I was not 100% sure I was doing it correctly. I just soaked the already wet food in a little more water and added a few Tlbs of ACV in the bucket and stirred it all up, covered it and let it sit for about 24 hours. It was bubbling the next day I spun the bucket back n forth to mix it up, fed it to then and they loved it. If I did it right it was not that difficult and smelled AWAY better then my hubby's attempt at making homemade sauerkraut.
sickbyc.gif
 
It sounds like you made it right and I think you will really love what happens when you feed it full time...and then you just might be getting the full percentage of the proteins you are buying, instead of a good bit of it coming out the other end and stinking up your coop.
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Quote:
Beekissed said:
Gnarly Bunch Update: Just wanted to report on how quickly the decreased feed rations have helped this flock. I've noticed more ease in getting around, more foraging activity and slimmer builds already. The diet is going well! Two and a half months past escape from the Bad Place.
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Well I lost my turkey butchering virginity today!
wee.gif
And one rooster. By the way, that field dressing video didn't work for him; sorry to be graphic, he was a bantam and I stepped on his wings to just get the breast meat, and it just didn't work at all.
My son's friend helped me. They were big guys for standard BB's - I was pretty nervous this morning, and I was more attached to one of them (the other was picking fights with the others) so I didn't actually do the deed on the one, but I did on the others. It was OK once they were dead, and actually quite interesting to see which organs were what
sickbyc.gif
. Haven't weighed them yet, but probably between 15-20 lbs.
Like Bee, I was disturbed to see quite a bit of extra fat on one of the turkeys - I wasn't in a position to take any pictures unfortunately.
The fat was distributed around the top around the neck and above the breast, and a couple of spots down the abdominal area. The other, bigger turkey was not that way. The rooster was a scrawny little bantam who has been needlessly aggressive towards my hens so I decided they had had enough of him.
In the last 4 weeks I have been feeding them 90% FF (ratio of 2 cups cracked corn, 3 cups wheat, 3 cups barley, 3 cups wheat) along with occasional alfalfa cubes, gamebird crumble, hen layer pellets, kefir, and scraps and the occasional Johnny cake. I stopped the Johnny cakes in the last week after hearing about your hen, Bee.
So I am thinking should I be cutting down on overall portions?
idunno.gif
It has been hard to know if the hens (5 bantams, 6 FBCM) and the 3 roosters were all getting enough with the turkeys always jumping in there and snorkelling it down
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And reading your thoughts on seasonal feeding, should I be giving them 40% pellets (not sure what you mean by mash, sorry!) and 60% FF?
Thank you for taking the time to read this, all of you
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That sounds about right or some variation of that. It doesn't have to be an exact science, as long as the nutrients fall away in the winter.

Sounds like you had fun!
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And it sounds like you butchered your big eaters. Now that they are out of the way you are going to find yourself feeding much less and the portions will have to be adjusted to your new flock matrix, so now's the time to see how much they truly need to sustain.

I'm feeding almost half what I was previously feeding and find the birds quite comfortable with it but each flock is different.

Mash is just fine ground layer ration...yours is just pelleted, but before it was steamed and cut, it was mash just like mine. All rations are fermented but the layer ration is mixed with whole grains at 1:1 ratio.

Congrats! That turkey should be good eatin'....
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