Arizona Chickens

[pipemum]

Non-chicken related: as promised, me in my new rainbow bodysuit. Hello, everyone! Not the best picture, I know. I'll work up to some poses.


The Big Sky feed is amazing. Smells so fresh and delicious. I only have 6 layers, and one bag lasts me from one order until the next. I do FF as well. This last order, I bought the Big Sky broiler starter. Also great, also feed that FF to the little chicks from day one. For both layer feed and broiler feed, I use 5-gallon buckets. I do next to nothing to maintain it. For many months, I used a small one gallon jug to ferment the layer feed in, but I had to add food every 2 days...not too labor intensive, lol, but the 5-gallon bucket was an easy switch.

kp, the new run looks great! Yeah, I know it was answered already about the grit, but it was me that foolishly bought grit! And I have a yardfull of sand and dirt! I guess if one is used to thick, grassy, loamy-soiled yards with nary a pebble or speck of sand in sight, they'd be incredulous that we don't provide grit for our chickens.

My broiler chicks are all doing well. I have one little black runt that I expected to die, but he's still hanging in and seems healthy, but so small. I still don't expect him to make it. All the chicks are so happy with the mama hen. I hope I'll always have a broody to raise the meaty chicks--it's so much easier!!!!

Congrats on the chicks, lkd.

Sorry about the dog attack, westside, how devastating!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

The Great Fermented Feed Incident of 2013

So I am new to the whole fermented feed thing. I have been reading up on it and it sounded like a great idea. So yesterday I grab this 2 gallon plastic jug I have thinking it would be a good place to start.

I go out to the barn throw in about 6 cups of grower and a cup of scratch. Bring it back to the house and fill it about 2/3 with water. I throw in some vinegar (regular because I am out of ACV) and give it a good stir.

A couple hours later I check it and it is a solid mass of feed. Okay, no biggie, I add more water, give it a good stir and leave it to its own devices. A few hours later I check it again. It has absorbed the water and, while not a solid mass anymore, definitely needs a bit more water. I add more until it is covered by an inch, give it a good stir and leave it for the night.

I wake up this morning, go to the kitchen for a peek, and it is filled to the top and bubbling. Okay, well, the bubbling part is good, right? I take a few cups out to the girls, give it a good stir and add a bit more water so it is covered by about an inch.

I go to check on it a bit ago, and, HOLY CRAP! Clearly it is about to make a bid for freedom. Visions of The Blob are racing through my mind. M'kay, obviously it needs more room to grow. I run to the mud room and grab a bucket. Not a whole lot bigger, but bigger than what I was using. Surely it will be big enough, right?.

I take the bucket to the kitchen to transfer the ff. I grab the plastic jug and lift it out of the sink. Splash! It slips out of my hands and goes EVERYWHERE! I kid you not. It is splashed up the walls, down the diswasher and all over my shoes. W T F?, before I can do much more than stare, I realize that the plastic jug is rapidly emptying its contents into the sink. Does this stuff have a life of its own? I swear it winked at me!

I grab the plastic jug and dump what is left into the plastic bucket wondering all the while if my pug, who had been sitting at my feet, is okay or am I going to have to explain to my son how his dog was eaten by a bucket of renegade chicken feed. I scoop as much as I can from the sink before it can completely escape. Okay, I have this under control.

I start hosing down the walls and the sink, but wait, now the sink and garbage disposal are backing up!! Seriously, W T F is this stuff! I hit the disposal button and start spooning out the drain in an attempt to clear the remainder of the feed. Phew, success, the disposal starts to clear and so does the drain. Down goes the rest of without any more struggle.

Yikes, what an ordeal! Moving forward I will use the 5-gallon buckets people on here have described. I also will be walking into my kitchen a baseball bat in the future. I think it is Miller time.

I came within 1/2" of the same thing the first time. I thought I made a half bucket, it turned into a full bucket. I now use a 1-3 mix and leave room to grow, and grow.


----------------------------------
--------------------------------------

When I was in school {I went to an English style school, headmaster, Latin, "C" is an "F", the ruler across your knees thing} , there I as almost laughed at for a limited vocabulary. There are literally hundreds of word, good descriptive words, that are not used today. It I so funny. Along with better education has come pure vocabulary. When you were lucky to have a 6th grade eduction more words were used by the average person. Read old letters, you will have to have a dictionary. It is also funny that in some movies they will write a script were the hick is using big words. It is meant to say "this hick is trying to impress", but in reality these words may have been used in the day.

Read any book by Peter Ustinov and you (I do at lest) need a dictionary. Here is an example:

How many times have any one used the word lachrymose to say "I was lachrymose all day to day......." No I would say "me eyes were red all day to day from crying........." Or who would turn to the person next to you at a lecture and say "OMG, he is so sonorous!" I would say "OMG, is voice is so deep and full". As for using the correct names for things, that is wonderful. Learn something new. They are 2 different things, descriptive words once common is highly forgivable. The correct names of things or turns used in association with performing a function, I feel is important to learn and no embarrassment at not knowing sense it may not be something I have had contact with.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

pipemum, nice bodysuit!

Oh, the fun can have with that! That's great to hear about your broody caring for the meaty chicks.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Well, after a very late start with the winter garden this year, we've been churning out magnificent heads of lettuce. It's a bit to keep up with since I have to remember to start new plants every week, but well worth the effort.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

pipemum, nice bodysuit!     Oh, the fun can have with that!  That's great to hear about your broody caring for the meaty chicks.  

me X2

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Well, after a very late start with the winter garden this year, we've been churning out magnificent heads of lettuce. It's a bit to keep up with since I have to remember to start new plants every week, but well worth the effort.

WOW! WOW!! WOW!!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

.

Read any book by Peter Ustinov and you (I do at lest) need a dictionary. Here is an example:
How many times have any one used the word lachrymose to say "I was lachrymose all day to day......." No I would say "me eyes were red all day to day from crying........." Or who would turn to the person next to you at a lecture and say "OMG, he is so sonorous!" I would say "OMG, is voice is so deep and full". As for using the correct names for things, that is wonderful. Learn something new. They are 2 different things, descriptive words once common is highly forgivable. The correct names of things or turns used in association with performing a function, I feel is important to learn and no embarrassment at not knowing sense it may not be something I have had contact with.

Hey, I love the word, "lachrymose"! I vow to use it as soon as possible.

I had to look up scansion.

 

[pipemum]

Well, after a very late start with the winter garden this year, we've been churning out magnificent heads of lettuce. It's a bit to keep up with since I have to remember to start new plants every week, but well worth the effort.

Whoa! Gorgeous set up! Is the greenhouse frame one of those carport setups covered with plastic? The lettuce and kale in the pvc pipes...are those grown hydroponically? I'm super duper impressed with your winter garden! I think I can do so much better than what I've been doing.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Whoa! Gorgeous set up! Is the greenhouse frame one of those carport setups covered with plastic? The lettuce and kale in the pvc pipes...are those grown hydroponically? I'm super duper impressed with your winter garden! I think I can do so much better than what I've been doing.

Thanks! The greenhouse is made from scratch with galvanized top-rail fencing I got from Home Depot. I bent the rails into hoops with a hoop-bender and connected the parts with bolts and materials used in making galvanized fencing (so it was relatively inexpensive). The covering is polyethylene. The plants in pvc are grown aquaponically, using tilapia waste as the nitrogen source.

Before I had all of that, I was a big fan of concrete re-mesh, bent into 4' wide hoops that I covered with plastic in winter. I had rows of those things and they were easily moved. It kept the climate so much more controlled inside that the plants flourished. I would have to open an end during the day if the temps got high. Here are some old pics I posted on this thread, taken a couple of years ago at about this time of year.

 

[MagicChicken]

I had my breeding program all planned out for this year but the best laid plans have a way of going awry. The first batch of eggs were due to hatch two days ago. There isn't even a pip. Humidity in the incubator had gotten way too high for an extended period and the air sacs were very small when I transferred the eggs to the hatcher. I knew it wasn't good but I was still hoping for some chicks. Nope. Looks like a zero percent hatch rate. Poor little guys.

The good thing is the humidity problem in the incubator has been fixed. Crossing my fingers it got fixed in time. The next set of eggs have been in the incubator for a couple of weeks and are due to go into the hatcher in a few days. It will be interesting to see if the high humidity during early incubation causes problems with the hatch.