BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[draye]

I am feeding a 22% protein Game bird layer to everyone. They are all doing well on it. I am paying $11.50 a 50 lb bag.

In the hatching season I'm planning g on adding some animal protein cat food to their diet to see if that will help with the hatching.

I probably need to start adding some oyster shell also, but right now I just feed back the eggshells that I use around the house.

 

[FaerieChicken]

Chick ID
Hatch Wt - Ounces
11/23 (@2 days)

Wk 1
11/28
% Change
Wk 2
12/7
% Change W1 % Change Hatch
W3
12/13
% Change W2 % Change Hatch

Breed Type
Blue Band 1.58 2.58 63.29% 4.85 87.98% 206.96% 7.2 48.45% 355.70%
Green Band 1.35 2.15 59.26% 4 86.05% 196.30% 6.37 59.25% 371.85%
Purple Band 1.44 2.13 47.92% 2.52 18.31% 75.00% 4 58.73% 177.78%
Orange Band 1.27 2.62 106.30% 5.4 106.11% 325.20% 8.64 60.00% 580.31%

Breed Type
Pink Band 1.49 2.59 73.83% 4.59 77.22% 208.05% 6.74 46.84% 352.35%
Yellow band 1.17 1.7 45.30% 2.63 54.71% 124.79% 4 52.09% 241.88%


Update on my little yummy buggars....

 

[FaerieChicken]

I had accidentally posted twice

 

[DesertChic]

Used to feed everything from peafowl guineas turkeys chickens gamebird feed back when it was affordable and had animal protein. They all did fantastic(except not enough calcium for peahens- gave those a mixture of gamebird and chicken layer- oyster shell never, ever worked for them). Got the same sort of reactions- 'you sure feed your birds REAL good!' etc.

Had to stop when the price became excessive. They;re all priced at 25-26 per bag for gamebird breeder... don;t remember how much grower and starter is- they're higher. I checked the labels on all of these recently- yep all vegan now...

The 17% chicken layer currently floats around close to 20 per bag.

I also figure cat food at 30ish protein both ups the protein slightly plus the bonus of animal protein.

25 per bag?? We pay 19. That's robbery.

You guys would probably faint if I told you what I pay.

But we accepted years ago that quality food costs money, and my philosophy is to put the healthiest feed possible into my birds since I eat both their eggs an their meat. I know a lot of people balk at labels like "organic" and "non-GMO", but I'm in the camp that favors them, and I like that my feed is freshly milled just a few days before I accept delivery. Everything is ground into a mash but you can still see wheat seeds, green pea splits and sunflower seeds, and it even smells really good...not corn, soy, or canola. In spite of the cost of the chicken feed, our grocery bill has been cut by 1/3 to 1/2 since I started raising so much of our food, and so far many of the diseases and ailments that have plagued many of the other poultry people I know around here haven't shown up at my place. Yeah...I'm a big believer in really good nutrition.

 

[DesertChic]

I can't find anything in a bag that has animal protein in it. Feather Fixer is the best base feed I can find for them (empirically, seeing how they do on it and how they like eating it) - I used to feed everyone a combo of 16% layer feed and 24% starter. That worked ok, but Feather Fixer is better. All of that is vegetarian/soy based, though. Egg quality is better on Feather Fixer, and better still with them getting the animal protein. I very well may pursue the black soldier fly thing at this point.

I am seriously tempted by the ground meat thing. Meanwhile, I do what DesertChic does, and start everyone on 24% at first. (I might start on 20% now, though, if I'm going to be doing the egg thing). There are lots of lizards around, but I'm not sure the girls are getting them, they all hang out on the house.

Ugh, SO sorry you have javelina issues. What a mess they make! Sounds like a good source of protein for the chickens! (Is is prohibited to shoot them there? I'm not sure it is here, but I haven;t looked it up - they are really destructive pests here in Texas.)

I like hearing about everyone's different ways of getting animal protein to their chickens on this thread. I think I'm pretty convinced they need it. Love hearing the options. (They DO adore the livers and hearts when I cull, but I don't cull enough for that to be much more than a treat...)

- Ant Farm

I tried Feather Fixer and really wasn't happy with the results vs the cost. I'd rather feed them some fresh, raw meat of some sort, which seems to give almost instant results and makes my chickens sing my praises for days. Pork and salmon have given me the best results hands-down. I finally broke down and gave my heavy molt girl a dish of raw meat scraps. The next day she FINALLY started showing more pin feathers...and this formerly elusive girl has become amazingly affectionate with me. Go figure.

The laws surrounding Javelina are "touchy", but where we live is considered ranch land and we're legally allowed to protect our livestock from any potential threat. And luckily we have neighbors who feel the same way we do when it comes to the critters. It's not uncommon to hear rifle shots from one house or another when invaders show up, and right now I'm supplying one of our neighbors with free eggs weekly because he got laid off from work and they need a little extra help. Since I started doing that he and his family have been amazingly supportive at helping me with predator control, which I greatly appreciate since I'm usually the lone ranger around my home.

 

[DesertChic]

Yep, those are the same prices here at the feed stores. Gosh, two 40 lb bags of Nutrena Meatbird feed cost me $52 the other day. The Starter-Grower runs $20. I haven't priced the Gamebird feed and I only saw a 5 lb bag which I'm sure is astronomically high. I'll look for the 40 or 50 lb bag when I go there next time and report back. But yeah, I can't believe there's no feed containing animal protein - I haven't been able to find any that had it either. I'm certainly no scientist but if you ask me it's an essential ingredient based on the way they go hog wild whenever I bring any type of real meat, bugs, or trapped (dead) mice into the run. They're worse than people from my hometown at the lottery counter when the jackpot is over a million dollars.

Try these people for feed: http://www.tucsonorganicfeed.com/

They also have a Phoenix delivery. You have to purchase in bulk a two month supply, but it's worth it. They use peas and fish meal as the primary protein sources.

 

[DesertChic]

Chick ID
Hatch Wt - Ounces
11/23 (@2 days)

Wk 1
11/28
% Change
Wk 2
12/7
% Change W1 % Change Hatch
W3
12/13
% Change W2 % Change Hatch

Breed Type
Blue Band 1.58 2.58 63.29% 4.85 87.98% 206.96% 7.2 48.45% 355.70%
Green Band 1.35 2.15 59.26% 4 86.05% 196.30% 6.37 59.25% 371.85%
Purple Band 1.44 2.13 47.92% 2.52 18.31% 75.00% 4 58.73% 177.78%
Orange Band 1.27 2.62 106.30% 5.4 106.11% 325.20% 8.64 60.00% 580.31%

Breed Type
Pink Band 1.49 2.59 73.83% 4.59 77.22% 208.05% 6.74 46.84% 352.35%
Yellow band 1.17 1.7 45.30% 2.63 54.71% 124.79% 4 52.09% 241.88%


Update on my little yummy buggars....

Orange band is kicking butt! Obviously a cockerel. Most of the others look pretty good, but I'm a little curious about Purple Band and Yellow Band. Are they bantam? Their growth rates seem rather anemic to me. By week 3 most of my birds show a 300% - 500% growth rate since hatch.

 

[FaerieChicken]

You guys would probably faint if I told you what I pay.

But we accepted years ago that quality food costs money, and my philosophy is to put the healthiest feed possible into my birds since I eat both their eggs an their meat. I know a lot of people balk at labels like "organic" and "non-GMO", but I'm in the camp that favors them, and I like that my feed is freshly milled just a few days before I accept delivery. Everything is ground into a mash but you can still see wheat seeds, green pea splits and sunflower seeds, and it even smells really good...not corn, soy, or canola. In spite of the cost of the chicken feed, our grocery bill has been cut by 1/3 to 1/2 since I started raising so much of our food, and so far many of the diseases and ailments that have plagued many of the other poultry people I know around here haven't shown up at my place. Yeah...I'm a big believer in really good nutrition.

I do the same, I don't tend to lean at the "Organic" labels, but Non-GMO I try to buy nothing but! I wish I was able to get my feed freshly milled, but we just don't have that option without buying in large quantity. I do buy local, as local as possible and I try to buy through my co-op farm supply. We just got a TSC opened up, I stopped by as a friend told me they had sooooo much chicken stuff, but when I went there, it was all the Big Brother company brands, like Purina, Dumor and Mana Pro! They had some of the organics in those brands, but none had the higher protein I am looking for.

Usually my feed bill is around $200 a month for 2- 50lb bags of Little Farmer Yard Blend, 2- 50lb bags of Little Farmer Free Range Scratch, 1- 50lb bag of the King Brand Freedom Starter/Grower crumble at 20% protein, and if you count the dried Mealworms. I will sometime buy those that have other "bugs" mixed with them, I even will get one that has little shrimp and little dano fish mixed in with the worms. However, I ferment the feed, mostly grains with the high protein starter & grower crumble I add to it, I also bought a 50lb bag of Flax seed to put with it, it has lasted nearly 3 months now. My flock loves the fermented feed. I also put stuff in it like Rosmary, Thyme, Marjoram, Clove, Cinnamon, fresh organic Ginger, Parsley, Oregano and organic pumpkin seeds when I find them cheap enough.

As for the animal protein, we give lots of table scraps, not just veggies, but trimmings and leftovers from our plates. Some things they wont touch, but we have dogs that come and eat it up anyway, sometimes jocking for who gets what! LOL Then there are the barn cats that will later even get whats left as well. I think the worms and bugs count as animal protein right?

 

[ejcrist]

Try these people for feed: http://www.tucsonorganicfeed.com/

They also have a Phoenix delivery. You have to purchase in bulk a two month supply, but it's worth it. They use peas and fish meal as the primary protein sources.

Gosh, thanks for that link. I'm going to give them a try.

 

[FaerieChicken]

Orange band is kicking butt! Obviously a cockerel. Most of the others look pretty good, but I'm a little curious about Purple Band and Yellow Band. Are they bantam? Their growth rates seem rather anemic to me. By week 3 most of my birds show a 300% - 500% growth rate since hatch.

You know I was wondering about them too! I am not sure of their lineage. I thought Purple band was from my breeding project, but perhaps it was one of the random other eggs incubated along with yellow band. I am thinking that perhaps Pink band should be in the top group and was actually the one in the breeding project. The Yellow band was a runt when hatched, really tiny too and just hasn't grown much since. All of them are getting in their feathers and running about, I have enlarged the enclosure a bit to give them more room to flap around, scratch more spots and jump around too.

As far as Bantams go, I have a silkie but I didn't put any of her eggs in the incubator. I have Hamburgs, one silver one gold, are they considered bantams?