Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[PaulaJoAnne]

fyi, we have no idea whats wrong. I have doen all the treatments I normally do when a chicken is not healthy.
Raw kefir, kombucha and fermented cod liver oil.
Those things usually give me overnight returns to health, but they did not work for these two.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Yikes!!! Check out what I ended up mixing this morning.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5029661#p5029661
Major reformulation coming up.

and my house REAKS of fishmeal right now

And of course my air purifier is at a friends...

 

[EHaus]

I'm sorry.

I've had to kill chickens before, and it's not a happy time.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Do you remember that first link you posted on this thread that showed how to calculate protein? I was looking around at some other things and it was talking about the ideal diet, etc. It mentioned that you can actually feed your grain (ideally a mix) and then feed your fish meal free choice. The chickens would probably pig out at first, because they may need to catch up, but should self-regulate after that.

It also mentioned kelp as being crucial. I keep looking around for a good bulk price online, but I'm also wondering if there's a certain time of year we might not just go down to Homer (or wherever) and get a good truck load of it to dry out on the garden fence and store.

I'm thinking I might just try the free choice thing for a bit and see if it's killing my pocket book due to waste. If they do ok, that sounds SO much easier...except I wonder if it would attract predators?

P.S. Sorry to hear about your chicky.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Do you remember that first link you posted on this thread that showed how to calculate protein? I was looking around at some other things and it was talking about the ideal diet, etc. It mentioned that you can actually feed your grain (ideally a mix) and then feed your fish meal free choice. The chickens would probably pig out at first, because they may need to catch up, but should self-regulate after that.

It also mentioned kelp as being crucial. I keep looking around for a good bulk price online, but I'm also wondering if there's a certain time of year we might not just go down to Homer (or wherever) and get a good truck load of it to dry out on the garden fence and store.

I'm thinking I might just try the free choice thing for a bit and see if it's killing my pocket book due to waste. If they do ok, that sounds SO much easier...except I wonder if it would attract predators?

P.S. Sorry to hear about your chicky.

Kelp will kill the pocket book.
To buy it thru the Azure co-op it was over $200 for the bag.
Now, I have no idea how much to feed them.

I am not keen on feeding the fishmeal free choice. What we have is whitefish meal, and its a brown powder.
It would be a nasty mess to deal with that way.
I mixed mine up in a compactor bag, then dumped it in my feed barrel.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Thanks to everyone that responded about the family thing... all of you have said the same things I have and they don't get it. So I'll just keep saying it.

And my folks, if we lived closer WOULD be at my place, often. And that in and of itself wouldn't be a bad thing because we don't argue about things, but I wouldn't be living where I want.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Next trip out of Whittier I will be bring back loads of kelp. Hit any of the beaches at low tide, and there's plenty to go around. I would think just drying it, then throwing some out there for the birds would keep them happy.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Next trip out of Whittier I will be bring back loads of kelp. Hit any of the beaches at low tide, and there's plenty to go around. I would think just drying it, then throwing some out there for the birds would keep them happy.

Good idea!​

 

[incubatingisfun]

sorry about your chickens Paula Jo Anne

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I know Lavender orps are kind of hard to come by, but I think I may be looking for a roo in the spring. I want to try for some Porcelain patterns in my Alaskan Super Chickens.

What's the chances of someone having an extra boy next spring, maybe you're keeping two to see which one you like better, etc? I don't need them to be good type-wise, I just need the color.

A loaner would be even better, but I know that can be iffy... I'll give you some fluffy bearded porcelain babies in return!