Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[satay]

Morning Peeps 

Stay safe QLDers and lets hope the possible super cells do not eventuate    Stay safe everywhere else also; mother nature is definitely in a mood 

Fizzybelle keep up the good news on Aggie’s improvement.

Fancy good to hear you got some rain.

Congrats on the bubbers sjturner79

Deej211 I have to be honest, I have not noticed paler egg yolks before broodiness but then I have not really paid much attention.  I will suss it out next time I have a broody, which probably will be soon , and let you know.

On the subject of feed, I buy Country Heritage Organic Coarse Layer which is about $32 per 20kg bag.  Yep, it is a little on the expensive side but is recommended for a small backyard flock and being a small backyard flock, we do not go through heaps. The girls seems to like that one the most and it varies with each bag depending on what organic grains are available.  It also has nice bantam sized ‘protein pellets’. 

On the subject of cheese, the gals share a very small slice between 6 of them on Sunday’s.  They seem to know when it is c-h-e-e-s-e day .. yep, we have to spell the word because I swear they know what it means   

Edited to Add:  After her soft shell egg on Monday, Dusty laid a perfect egg yesterday so I am thinking, as in the past, it was related to her moult.

Hope you all are ok if the storms come through today as well. Seems like the black cockies got it right yesterday we got a lovely 25mm in 20 mins last night. Humid as all hell this morning though, current humidity is 96%

 

[satay]

On the subject of broodies. Has anyone else noticed that your hens yolks go really pale just before going broody?

I cant say that i have noticed.

 

[satay]

It's about $38 here but believe me once you break it down with a 20 k bag of mixed grain , it goes a long way and the best thing is there is no wastage. When I offer mine normal size pellets they turn their noses up at it.

I Agree. The ones that eat it there is no wastage at all.

 

[Teila]

Hope you all are ok if the storms come through today as well. Seems like the black cockies got it right yesterday we got a lovely 25mm in 20 mins last night. Humid as all hell this morning though, current humidity is 96%

Eeeew

85% here.

 

[appps]

How are our Queenslanders faring? See a storm supercell is due to hit you?

I think it's little brother found us, pelting down here at the moment. Have had to unplug everything due to the Lightning.

 

[Teila]

How are our Queenslanders faring? See a storm supercell is due to hit you?

I think it's little brother found us, pelting down here at the moment. Have had to unplug everything due to the Lightning.

Hey there appps North Brisbane is not too bad at the moment, starting to cloud up, wind getting stronger but no super cells in sight as yet.

It is, however, super humid and I am melting

Stay safe!

 

[Anniebee]

To :

sjturner79 - satay - Fancy - Teila ---- and Vehve ( nice to meet you Vehve ).

Interesting how the feed mix discussions got started, and a bit worrying for me now. !! So I am yelling "HALP" again ....

Noticed so many other types of feed / grain / pellets used by others, for a variety of purposes. Longevity in healthy life is my main aim for my 3 girls, but they are all in different stages, and I do not have the room to keep them all separate for separate feeding of goodies. Bad enough that I have to separate 1 from the other 2 as it is ( to prevent murder ). sjturner79 also mentioned duck food.

Mindy Araucana lays eggs - 6 out of 7 days and feeds herself the Barastock Golden yolk, like a little pig. She goes through much more than the other two. When she moults, she does so very rapidly, and is back on the lay within a matter of weeks.

Mandy Welsummer is in another slow moult ( usual for her ), and is now eggless ( except for 2 some time back - which was the last of the eggs ). ..... so she is still getting the GY layer - and perhaps shouldn't be ?

Molly RIR - is laying every other day - 4 to 5 days out of 10 ?? Her production has decreased somewhat. They are all 3 years old.

So what do I do ? Feed them more scratch mix to fill them up - or mix in the scratch mix with the feeding pellets for the two big girls ? Do I buy a 5 kg bag of game bird finisher ( if that is possible ) ... as I certainly could not afford the cost as shown here, of it - for a few cup fulls a week. It would take so long to get through 20 kgs of it, it may well go sour. Or do I cut up a lot of vegies and feed them that every day along with scratch mix, so's they are not always at the layer pellets when they are hungry. And of course, they only eat when hungry.

Mandy eats ( but always has ) the less of anything, of my 3 girls.

thanks in anticipation -

Cheers ......

p.s. still raining here, and it has turned chilly. !

 

[satay]

How are our Queenslanders faring? See a storm supercell is due to hit you?

I think it's little brother found us, pelting down here at the moment. Have had to unplug everything due to the Lightning.

Only got a few spits today and that was it.

 

[satay]

To : 

sjturner79 - satay - Fancy - Teila ---- and Vehve ( nice to meet you Vehve ).

Interesting how the feed mix discussions got started, and a bit worrying for me now.  !!    So I am yelling "HALP" again ....:/  

Noticed so many other types of feed / grain / pellets used by others, for a variety of purposes.   Longevity in healthy life is my main aim for my 3 girls, but they are all in different stages, and I do not have the room to keep them all separate for separate feeding of goodies.  Bad enough that I have to separate 1 from the other 2 as it is ( to prevent murder ).  sjturner79  also mentioned duck food. 

Mindy Araucana lays eggs - 6 out of 7 days and feeds herself the Barastock Golden yolk, like a little pig.   She goes through much more than the other two.   When she moults, she does so very rapidly, and is back on the lay within a matter of weeks.   

Mandy Welsummer is in another slow moult ( usual for her ), and  is now eggless ( except for 2 some time back - which was the last of the eggs ). ..... so she is still getting the GY layer - and perhaps shouldn't be ?   

Molly RIR - is laying every other day - 4 to 5 days out of 10 ??    Her production has decreased somewhat.   They are all 3 years old.

So what do I do ?    Feed them more scratch mix to fill them up - or mix in the scratch mix with the feeding pellets for the two  big girls ?    Do I buy a 5 kg bag of game bird finisher ( if that is possible ) ... as I certainly could not afford the cost as shown here, of it - for a few cup fulls a week.   It would take so long to get through 20 kgs of it, it may well go sour.    Or do I cut up a lot of vegies and feed them that every day along with scratch mix, so's they are not always at the layer pellets when they are hungry.   And of course, they only eat when hungry.  

Mandy eats ( but always has ) the less of anything, of my 3 girls.  

thanks in anticipation -

Cheers ......  

p.s. still raining here, and it has turned chilly.  !  

If it is working for you the way you do it now i wouldn't change anything.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Annie, we all face this dilemma as we are feeding our birds on the recommendation set down by the commercial poultry industry. Once birds are 24 weeks of age the protein levels need to be kept around 16%, but it's the calcium level that seems to be excessive in many feeds. Feeds that are lower in calcium can be supplemented to those who require it , by offering calcium carbonate on the side. Scratch or free range mix is like crack cocaine for chickens, they love it but it isn't very good for them. Bit like feeding your kids macas everyday. Finding the correct balance is difficult and finding a feed with less than 2% calcium is even harder.
Mixing up your own feed is a bit ' hit and miss ' and not cost effective, from my experience . Table scraps and especially dairy products , should be kept as an occasional treat . Finding a complete feed that meets all of their requirements , that allows longevity , seems to be the goal of many backyard breeders.

http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=birdBrain.articlesRead&article_id=10

Whilst birds can tolerate higher protein levels , adding calcium to the feed can be disastrous causing kidney damage and gout.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/11/feeding-chickens-at-different-ages.html