California - Northern

[zooweemama]

Azure Standard runs several drops down I5 by you. There is probably a drop close to you.

They have Chicken wheat. It does not need to be cracked. It's fairly high in protein. The King Feed I am getting has Wheat in it instead of corn.

Ron

I am SO intrigued by this King feed you all keep talking about. I recently switched my ducks and geese over to Mazuri which costs 2 times as much as my Flock Raiser BUT they are eating half as much of it. Plus it's high quality. I like that. I cannot find dealers near me using their search engine though.

 

[zooweemama]

Ahhhhhhhh DUDE! I cannot find anyone who sells PDZ. Are you kidding me? Half the feed stores don't even know what it is! I also called a feed store and they had never heard of a King Feed. We have at least a dozen feed stores here and no one ever carries exactly what I need.

 

[zooweemama]

Woohoo! Found PDZ! Stoked!

 

[zooweemama]

Ok I did find someone who sells a pelleted Layer feed by Nutrena. It's 16% protein and it's a basic layer feed- no extra oyster or cracked corn added. Does that sound ok? I REALLY would like to move to a pellet feed. The ducks and geese are on one now and I LOVE it. It's tidier and no waste.

Sorry for all 478347 posts!

I don't want to feed them the layer yet- the babies still need higher protein. Just planning ahead and they are having a big sale in September so I can buy a few bags cheaper.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: I am sorry you can't find it up there. It just made it to Sacramento. It has been in the Bay Area for a while now.

It is ok to post. You must post in a lot of other forums too. You are really racking up the post count for yourself.

Did you get sweet pdz at the Tractore Store? Do you even have one close to you?

The little EEs I am saving for you are getting cute. I will take a picture later.

Ron

 

[zooweemama]

I am sorry you can't find it up there. It just made it to Sacramento. It has been in the Bay Area for a while now.

It is ok to post. You must post in a lot of other forums too. You are really racking up the post count for yourself.

Did you get sweet pdz at the Tractore Store? Do you even have one close to you?

The little EEs I am saving for you are getting cute. I will take a picture later.

Ron

Eep!! I'd love to see pics. My kids are SO excited about getting them!!

Nope no PDZ at out TS! I asked and the guy scratched his head and asked what is was for. He said we have stall lime- which I am to understand is not PDZ and I don't think I want my chickens rolling in it. Sooo...yeah.

I will keep using the Flock Raiser until the babies are older and then when laying time comes switch to the layer pellets and add flax seed and oyster shell (a la cart on this one) and see how they do.

Yes I also post in the geese and duck forums. I do quite a bit from my phone too. I wait until my kids are distracted. Little snippets of time here and there. LOL I am a bird sponge right now, trying to soak up as much info as I can!

 

[zooweemama]

Ok so I will have 14 laying ducks and 16 laying hens (2 BMC, 2 BCM/black Orp mixes, 2 EE and the rest are all straight bred Buff Orps)...Buy November they should ALL be laying. I should have a couple pullets begin end of August and the rest of pullets and ducks should join in by the end of September. Is it safe to assume I will be getting at least 12 eggs a day and possibly 15 eggs to 24 eggs a day on some days? Ducks often lay about an egg a day on most of my breeds (but some will lay about 5 eggs a week on average). I do have people lined up to take the excess so I am not worried about having too many eggs. What I do not want to do is over promise. I think I might have some friends that would like to regularly buy from me and I will put them in a list - like a reservation method. Does that sound fair? I think I actually might have more people than I might have supply. ha! And I do not want to add hens on at this time lol- this is not a business venture. I have a photography business and do not wish to change one out for the other- one pays much much better.

 

[ronott1]

Ok so I will have 14 laying ducks and 16 laying hens (2 BMC, 2 BCM/black Orp mixes, 2 EE and the rest are all straight bred Buff Orps)...Buy November they should ALL be laying. I should have a couple pullets begin end of August and the rest of pullets and ducks should join in by the end of September. Is it safe to assume I will be getting at least 12 eggs a day and possibly 15 eggs to 24 eggs a day on some days? Ducks often lay about an egg a day on most of my breeds (but some will lay about 5 eggs a week on average). I do have people lined up to take the excess so I am not worried about having too many eggs. What I do not want to do is over promise. I think I might have some friends that would like to regularly buy from me and I will put them in a list - like a reservation method. Does that sound fair? I think I actually might have more people than I might have supply. ha! And I do not want to add hens on at this time lol- this is not a business venture. I have a photography business and do not wish to change one out for the other- one pays much much better.

You should figure on getting 50 to 60% in the winter and 80 to 90% in the spring to summer. Sometimes more and sometimes less.

When you don't have enough, keep a list and fill the orders in order off of it. Eggs have a way of building up and often people don't want eggs at an equivalent rate.

I had to hard boil a dozen today--was working on my seventh dozen in the fridge. My oldest thinks we need a fridge just of the eggs and a freezer just for the ones in freezer camp

I still have 7 pullets that have not started laying yet for the layer flock.

Bye,

Ron

 

[chickee]

For my chicks I start them on Bob's Red Mill whole 7 grain hot cereal (don't buy the 10 grain even though it is in my picture because it has soy) that I buy at the health food store. I sprinkle it dry on top of their Purina Flockraiser. When they are 2+ weeks old I change to a bulk packaged larger 7 grain hot cereal from my health food store and offer grit to help grind the cereal up. They go nuts for it! It is not that expensive and makes for some super healthy chicks! And it makes it so much easier than mixing the grains yourself

I am trying to come up with my own 'scratch mix' that doesn't contain corn. I have oats so far. Any other wholesome grains that are fairly easy to obtain? Since they will stay in their coop run for a few weeks (babies are far too little for me to feel ok about letting them out freely on 2-4 acres) as they get bigger- I like giving them something to peck at. I do toss in veggie and fruit bits and oats right now. Would the wheat need to be cracked or something? I suppose I could buy whole grains and crack them in my little flour mill?

 

[zooweemama]

For my chicks I start them on Bob's Red Mill whole 7 grain hot cereal (don't buy the 10 grain even though it is in my picture because it has soy) that I buy at the health food store. I sprinkle it dry on top of their Purina Flockraiser. When they are 2+ weeks old I change to a bulk packaged larger 7 grain hot cereal from my health food store and offer grit to help grind the cereal up. They go nuts for it! It is not that expensive and makes for some super healthy chicks! And it makes it so much easier than mixing the grains yourself

I love this idea! All my chicks are 4+ weeks old. So they are fine for the bigger stuff. They are on dirt right now that has lots of pebbles in it...do I still need to offer grit?