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

[KnobbyOaks]

Don't put it in their feed, too much calcium is bad for their kidneys. Just offer it free choice. What I did was bought an 8 ft piece of PVC pipe 2 inch inside diameter (I think is what it is) and two 90 degree elbows, two end caps and a roll of ducting hanger tape stuff. I cut one piece 1 foot long and the other 20 inches the 1 foot piece I used a Dremel tool and cut a rectangular hole in it and rounded and sanded the edges. Then just put them together in the L shape they work fine. I have them in the coop one has grit and one has oyster and egg shells.

Went out and took a pic please excuse their mess.

Thanks for your answer and also going to the trouble to take a picture. Someday I hope to have some of those PVC dispensers.

 

[nakstk]

They were fairly inexpensive I think we paid less then$20 for all of the stuff. I made 2 and still have enough PVC to make 1 or 2 more.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Hey all - I have a concern I want to ask your advice on. Today I got one egg from my BA.
My usual production pro RIR took the day off. As I said before, she is the smallest of my 3.
I noticed yesterday that she had a very large crop. It was just before she went in for the night.
I felt it and it was about the size of a baseball and firm. My BA had the same thing. I gave them
both olive oil and massaged the area a little and let them go home.

Tonight (I had to work late) I felt the BA and her crop felt smaller. However, the RIR crop was still the same
size but now mushy. I gave her some more olive oil and another crop massage. I offered her some chick
grit I had laying around the house. (they have been unable to free range for the past couple of days due to
my working late). Hoping it will resolve by tomorrow. I am a little more concerned because she is the smallest,
took the day off of laying (although she has certainly earned it) and the size of the crop.

Has anyone dealt with this? Any advice or further suggestions? Thanks all in advance.

 

[nakstk]

Hey all - I have a concern I want to ask your advice on. Today I got one egg from my BA.
My usual production pro RIR took the day off. As I said before, she is the smallest of my 3.
I noticed yesterday that she had a very large crop. It was just before she went in for the night.
I felt it and it was about the size of a baseball and firm. My BA had the same thing. I gave them
both olive oil and massaged the area a little and let them go home.

Tonight (I had to work late) I felt the BA and her crop felt smaller. However, the RIR crop was still the same
size but now mushy. I gave her some more olive oil and another crop massage. I offered her some chick
grit I had laying around the house. (they have been unable to free range for the past couple of days due to
my working late). Hoping it will resolve by tomorrow. I am a little more concerned because she is the smallest,
took the day off of laying (although she has certainly earned it) and the size of the crop.

Has anyone dealt with this? Any advice or further suggestions? Thanks all in advance.

I went through that last year with one of my SS.
First a chickens crop will be full at night before bed. It will feel almost like a..... hmm... a hackie sack, maybe would be the best why I would describe it but maybe a little more mushier and with a bit more water to it. If you are able to feel her crop first thing in the morning before she has had a chance to eat and after the food that is in there should have been eaten throughout the night. Watch her if she is still eating and drinking like normal and pooping like normal then she is probably fine. If she starts acting like she is tired, standing off by her self and puffing up her feathers and if there is still stuff in her crop in the AM then you can start to be concerned.

Do you have any ACV with mother? Give her and everyone else some of it in their water. It helps with their digestion and it will help keep sour crop away. Impacted crops(feels like a hard ball golf ball, baseball ect) can turn into sour crop(feels squishy like a water balloon and they will have foul smelling breath). That's what happened with my girl last year. I probably babied her far more the I should have. She spent a good 6 weeks in the house.

but she made it and went back with her sister with only a little bit of fighting and rank issues.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thank you for the info. I normally put ACV with mother in their water but I ran out last week and
haven't had a chance to pick up any more yet. That's probably contributing to it also. I'll check
her in the am. Thanks again.

 

[Redangler]

Hey guys! I been so busy the last month, it took me two hours to catch up on all 45 pages I had not read! Glad to be back! Looks like everyone is doing great and alot of new peeps(people and chicks) are here as well. It's gonna take a few days to bring you guys up to speed on my last months events.

March egg total is 279 from the girls. Bringing the yearly total to 650. I will post pics of the egg journal as soon as I get it caught up. The fodder is going really well and the girls really love it. Again more pics to follow. Gotta run for now but glad to be back up to speed!

RED

 

[Melabella]

Red's Back!!!!!​

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Hey guys! I been so busy the last month, it took me two hours to catch up on all 45 pages I had not read! Glad to be back! Looks like everyone is doing great and alot of new peeps(people and chicks) are here as well. It's gonna take a few days to bring you guys up to speed on my last months events.

March egg total is 279 from the girls. Bringing the yearly total to 650. I will post pics of the egg journal as soon as I get it caught up. The fodder is going really well and the girls really love it. Again more pics to follow. Gotta run for now but glad to be back up to speed!

RED

Welcome back. I think about you when I post to my egg journal and wonder how the fodder is going. I still haven't started that yet but I really want to.

 

[Melabella]

Welcome back. I think about you when I post to my egg journal and wonder how the fodder is going. I still haven't started that yet but I really want to.

Me too Knobby,, have to do some other projects around here first. Also want to start fermenting feed too see how that goes. I have heard such wonderful things about it..

Thanks for taking care of responding to everyone's posts,,, I've been in and out, this time of year, I turn into an ogre, and don't return to myself until the taxes are filed...I HATE APRIL!

Printer is broken too,,, uggggggg

MB

 

[Redangler]

Here is a pic of the fodder in production. Obviously I never got the rack built that I wanted to get done so they grow in my kitchen instead!(My wife is not the biggest fan of this new kitchen experiment). I have seeds that soak for 1 day prior to being put in the trays. Total of 7 days to go from seed to feed! You can really see the difference in each days growth. I fill and drain each tray about 4 times a day. I am feeding this as a supplement to layer feed. I have noticed about a 50% reduction in the amount of feed they are consuming each day. With this reduction I have also seen about a 2 gram size increase on average. Prior to feeding the fodder I would get 1 or 2 eggs a day in the 60+ weight range, now I am averaging 4 to 5 and they also have been up to 68.5 grams! Still have not had a chance to weigh the starting seed and finished ready to eat to see how much it multiplies in weight. The containers are rubbermaid shoe boxes and I use 1 cup of wheat in each container. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now and have not made a dent in my 50 pound bag of wheat!