California - Northern

[lawatt]

speaking of feed, here's a question: i now have an age range of chickens from 6 weeks to 18 or 19 weeks all living together in their coop, and hence eating the same feed -- how long should i keep them on chick crumbles, or when to switch to layer for the older girls?

thanks!!

 

[Happy Chooks]

speaking of feed, here's a question: i now have an age range of chickens from 6 weeks to 18 or 19 weeks all living together in their coop, and hence eating the same feed -- how long should i keep them on chick crumbles, or when to switch to layer for the older girls?

thanks!!

You can switch to flockraiser. It's good for chicks all the way up to layers. It's what I feed my flocks.

 

[zooweemama]

Yeah, the feed store bill far outweighs the food bill for the two of us.

On top of the chickens, there is hay for the sheep/alpacas, dog food for the 3 border collies/1 great dane (only eat Taste of the Wild) and about once a month I buy $80 worth of crickets for the frogs, the rest of them eat homemade cultures fruit flies. The feed store bill runs $750+ per month.

Wow, we have gotten carried away.

Deb

Whoa! I guess if you can afford it though. We love our animals!

 

[zooweemama]

Hey Ron I really like the way that feed looks! I know the chooks would love it.
It seems like a lot of us are not getting the quality layer feed we would like our chickens to have.
We really should organize a drop off from cascade in the upcoming months before spring arrives!
I guess the main issue is the "major" bill to actually get the drop off. Realistically its hard for a lot of us to just shovel out a huge amount of money on bulk feed at one time so either we have to take up a collection or one/few people have to buy it and other people would then buy it from them.
Just thinking out loud.....
I only have about 50 chickens (give or take) meaties included. So I am only buying food about once a month. Sometimes longer.
I try to "stretch" my feed as much as possible, so I'm fermenting feed too. That swells a lot of up with water so I'm feeding them less.
But I WILL buy more of this Cascade feed to store to also help out getting this stuff down here for us.

I think we might be game for this too. If the savings could be significant. We only have 23 or so chickens and we have 6 awaiting the stew pot so we aren't even keeping them all.

 

[zooweemama]

speaking of feed, here's a question: i now have an age range of chickens from 6 weeks to 18 or 19 weeks all living together in their coop, and hence eating the same feed -- how long should i keep them on chick crumbles, or when to switch to layer for the older girls?

thanks!!

I switched to Flock Raiser/All Flock feed right around 4 weeks old or so. We had so many various ages birds (ducks then too) so having them eat the same food at that time was necessary for us then. All my chickens are still on Flock Raiser (aged 17 weeks to 28 weeks) and free choice oyster shell. I could probably save some money by switching them all to layer feed now but frankly with my high quality roosters- I am a little afraid of feeding them a diet that has extra calcium.

 

[ronott1]

Hey Ron I really like the way that feed looks! I know the chooks would love it.

It seems like a lot of us are not getting the quality layer feed we would like our chickens to have.
We really should organize a drop off from cascade in the upcoming months before spring arrives!

I guess the main issue is the "major" bill to actually get the drop off. Realistically its hard for a lot of us to just shovel out a huge amount of money on bulk feed at one time so either we have to take up a collection or one/few people have to buy it and other people would then buy it from them.
Just thinking out loud.....



I only have about 50 chickens (give or take) meaties included. So I am only buying food about once a month. Sometimes longer.
I try to "stretch" my feed as much as possible, so I'm fermenting feed too. That swells a lot of up with water so I'm feeding them less.

But I WILL buy more of this Cascade feed to store to also help out getting this stuff down here for us.

Quote:

Quote: If we do get the Cascade from Magill, we can get the grower version, which is like Flock Raiser. It's better for the roosters too.

Definitely give them Free choice Calcium. I use 150 pounds or so a month.

Another problem we will see this year is an increase in Soy and Corn costs, so feeds based on them will be going up this winter.

Bye the way, I am not getting notifications today..

 

[ronott1]

McMurray is having a sale on butchering kits:

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/bas...1012&utm_campaign=ws20121012&utm_medium=email

 

[zooweemama]

I think I might like to try a couple meat birds this Spring. BUT I do not wish to raise 25 of those suckers. Do any of you buy meat birds and would you be willing to sell me a few chicks if so (come spring time)?

 

[ronott1]

I think I might like to try a couple meat birds this Spring. BUT I do not wish to raise 25 of those suckers. Do any of you buy meat birds and would you be willing to sell me a few chicks if so (come spring time)?

You can buy them from TSC. They had a 6 chick min. last spring.

Make sure you use Rooster Booster!

 

[juststruttin]

I wish I could get over my issue with eating my own chickens. Last spring, I gave away 20-50 roosters a month to a man is Sebastopol who grew em out and processed them. I am not a vegetarian so I really don't know what my hang up is with eating my own chickens. Rationally I know eating our own chickens is better than supporting the commercial operations where chickens are inhumanely raised and processed but still I buy my chickens at the grocery store.

I have been contemplating getting some Freedom Rangers, hoping that knowing their fate from the start will help but am afraid I will not be able to go through with the processing.

Im curious, are there any other non-vegitarians on this board that have not eaten their own chickens. Maybe we can start a 12 step program. LOL