Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

[Redangler]

When its about six to eight inches tall it will be ready to feed to the girls. It will basically look like a piece of sod without any dirt. It will come out of the container and go right into the run for them to enjoy! It it supposed to be super nutritious for them and contain almost all the essentials nutrients they need. I believe the is a breakdown of the nutrients, I will see if I can find it and post it as well.

The containers I will be growing in will be larger as this bowl is only a test plot.

Red

 

[Crafty chick]

How many chickens do you have? Wondering the size of container to number of birds per day

 

[Melabella]

Now here are some pics from this morning


And another pic


Overall the fodder grew 1 1/2" from yesterday morning to this morning. Two more days and it should be ready to feed to the girls. I am very happy with the ease of growing so far. I know when I get in full production the it will get a little more labor intensive but I think it will be worth the effort. To minimize labor I am building a rack with a water resevior that will hold 7 trays. One for each day of the week. The there will be a timer that turns on a pump several times a day to water the trays. With this system I will only have the labor of soaking the seeds everyday to start for the next days tray. It all sounds like I good Idea now but I will see how it goes. As I said in a previous post I will be weighing the next run to see how much the fodder produces in weight. More updates soon. By the way another 10 egg day yesterday and we got our first extra large egg!!! Yeah!

Red

Wowza Red, you are inspiring me to get started with this. I found an organic farmer who finally has started to process some soy free chicken feed, and i am excited to go there when DH has his next day off. He also sells organice non GMO grains. Looks like I am going to be trying this very soon! Love it. I read an ariticle in a small local paper about a man feeding his goats with fodder. Said it saves him a ton of money, save for the initial start up of equipment. How large are the big trays you are going to use?

Congrats on the 10 egg day. I don't know if you read, but i too had my first 9 out of 9 egg day last Saturday. Had an 8 and a 7 since. Maybe today? How long was it between your first two 10 egg days?

MB

 

[Melabella]

Couldn't resist....Good Morning start the day picture of the day...

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[Crafty chick]

Too cute MB!

 

[Redangler]

MB, congrats on the 9! I had back to back 10 egg days this first time. That was on the 17th and 18th. In total I have had 5 10 egg days out of the last 9 days.

Crafty I have 10 hens and a rooster. I will be using trays that are about 8 x 13. My pics will show the whole setup. Hopefully I will have this done tomorrow.

 

[Crafty chick]

Ok, I should only need about half of that. 5 hens and 1 roo here. I think Iwill use those bread trays Ifound, and do halfs. I could make a cart with shelves with them. Where are you keeping yours? All thye watering sounds messy inside

 

[Melabella]

MB, congrats on the 9! I had back to back 10 egg days this first time. That was on the 17th and 18th. In total I have had 5 10 egg days out of the last 9 days.

Crafty I have 10 hens and a rooster. I will be using trays that are about 8 x 13. My pics will show the whole setup. Hopefully I will have this done tomorrow.

Red's DA MAN!​

Ok, wow good to know I can expect them more than I thought. You must have been tickled to get them back to back, the cartons fill up rather quickly then. What have you been doing with all your eggs. DH is really enjoying gifting them at work. Did anyone buy cartons yet? I have used up all the saved cartons I had on the dining room table!

I am afraid I am getting close to making a decision with Duke.. He is now starting to beat up on the girls. Aggression towards me, I can try to deal with, but the constant covering, and pulling out feathers in the process is driving me batty. The girls are starting to look like they are going through a molt. His "favorite" hen that he covers the most looks awful. Now her back is getting bare. Like USVI said of her roo, you can be protective and attentive but still be a gentle roo. I am torn, but have been speaking with a nice BYC member close to me who needs to re home a beautiful BCM cockrel that is the same age as my flock and I think I just may take her up on. Wish he would just settle down. If I didn't read so many times on BYC that there is just no reason to keep a monster roo around, I would just think that this is the way roosters are, and put up with it. I was attached to the little bugger, that is until he started giving me that stink eye, and flogging my leg when I turn to walk away... typical chicken!

MB

 

[Melabella]

Ok, I should only need about half of that. 5 hens and 1 roo here. I think Iwill use those bread trays Ifound, and do halfs. I could make a cart with shelves with them. Where are you keeping yours? All thye watering sounds messy inside

Hi Crafty!

Tell me again what kind of chickens you have? How old are they? Is your roo a nice guy? Just curious!

 

[USVIyardbird]

SOOOOOOO.......

I ordered an incubator!!!! WHAT am I getting myself into!!!!

It's a hova bator circulated air. I am waiting for it to arrive in the meanwhile I am reading up on how to incubate eggs. Any help would be appreciated!!!!