Arizona Chickens

[Tracydr]

Gallo-I'll shoot a pm to MegMoringa about kombucha, thanks.
I'll work this week on getting ahold of Casa Grande, might be our best bet. I have tons of great formulas from universities we can choose from, with and without soy. We can see if they have organic grains, that would be a nice option. My thoughts would be to mix a 20% flock raiser type of feed and we can feed oyster shell on the side for the layers. That way, it can work as a nice all purpose formula for everyone, even if you have chicks, meat birds, growers, molting birds or even other species ( except for younger turkeys, which would need a higher protein).
The other nice thing about a slightly higher protein feed, also is that feeding lots of treats won't effect your egg laying nearly as much.
Does anybody know if Buckeye has a mill? For some reason I thought they did but I can't find one on a google search.
AZ is so short of mills. In other states I've lived in, CO, OK and WA, this would be so easy.
Mikey- coop is going to be amazing! You need to come get some sumacs, now that it's cooled off.
No Banties on the front porch this AM. Maybe clipping the hens wings did help? Too soon to tell.

 

[southerndesert]

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Nice job on the coop...

 

[ca]

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I went to Olsons about a month ago to ask about mixing feed. The person I talked to at the store gave me the deer in the headlights look. They don't even have an Olson's brand layer feed anymore. I bought a bag of their "Home Grown" Layer feed (that's the name of it, it's from the Country Acres Feed Company in Brentwood MO).
Here the contents:
Crude Protein (Min) 16.00%
Lysine (Min) 0.75%
Methionine (Min) 0.25%
Crude Fat (Min) 2.5%
Crude Fiber (Max) 5.5%
Calcium (Min) 3%
Calcium (Max) 4%
Phosphorus (Min) 0.5%
Salt (Min) 0.1%
Salt (Max) 0.6%

ca, that is just insane. it is on their website that they make this stuff and they will custom make you what you want!
do you know what else is in that feed? you know, the fine print? i have been reading so many feed tags the last two days or so and am finding some really crazy ingredients that i never paid attention to before like BISULFITES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SULFUR. i won't buy anything with these things in them because they cause me to get horrendous migraines, i am not feeding it to my chickens. i don't know how much would be passed into the eggs, but why even bother. and surprisingly, these ingredients are listed in the better brands that Sonoran Silkies suggested. they may be great feeds, but just won't work for me. i suppose i will trek back to manna pro until i can come up with a better solution.

And here's da fine print:
Processed Grain By-products
Grain products
Calcium Carbonate
plant protein products
Animal protein products
Molasses products
Salt
Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (that one sounds yummi!)
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
Thiamine Mononitrate
Calcium Pantothenate
Niacin Supplement
Riboflavin Supplement
Biotin
Vitamin E Supplement
Vitamin A Supplement
Vitamin D3 Supplement
Manganous Oxide
Zinc Oxide
Copper Sulfate
Calcium Iodite
Sodium Selenite

It sais not to provide additional Grain or Free-Choice Calcium Source.

 

[Mikey D]

Gallo del Cielo, Tracydr & southerndesert thanks for the kudos on the coop. Grand babies woke up at O-dark-thirty this morn - back to work!

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

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I feel for ya. My #1 ( and only, so far) spent the night with us and was up with the chickens! ( Mommy and Daddy were celebrating their 3rd anniversary)

Cooper (5.5 months old)

 

[pastrymama]

thanks ca, i guess that one is OUT too. oddly enough, it's not in organic feeds.......but i have too many chickens!!!!!!!! cripes! what's a girl to do? gulp, sell half of her darlings?

mikey, how much room do ya have in that coop??????? i think you need 10 more!!!

mama hen, thanks. lemme know what happens.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

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Can you sell some eggs to make up some of the feed cost? Do you have extra with that many chickens?

My feed bill is going to double with the new chicks. I'm planning to sell some eggs to make up for it. The feed I use is very expensive but People will pay a lot for organic, corn free, soy free, pastured eggs.

 

[tball chicky]

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Awesome!!! Yeah...excited to try to kefir. I will be coming into Tucson on Friday for sure...possibly before. Does Friday work for you?

 

[Mikey D]

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It is 4 x 17 with an additional 4 x 3 of shelf space. at 4 ft/chickie I should be able to handle 15 or so.

Appenzeller Spitzhaubens!

I really like these birds linkey!

 

[Mikey D]

The Control Tower want to know which one of you told me this wasn't going to be expensive...