Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Mountain Momma]

Cold and cabin fever...doubt the gout.

Get them some more space to get away from one another and I'd keep the FF, the level of protein is not too high at 18%.

How many roosters do you have to how many hens? How big is your coop/run area?

2 roosters raised together with hens. 23 hens. 25 total. The run is very large, maybe 100'x 70' and coop is 10x12 but they really only sleep and lay eggs in there.
Im am willing to cull the loser in the contest and start a baby roo in the spring. The loser in this skirmish thing looks beaten up. They have always worked so well together as a team up until recently. They started sparring a lot when we ate the turkey and now its actually getting worse. Before it was just sparring and not really hurting but in the last 24 hours the losers' cheek/jowel is a little torn.
Changes recently, Turkey is gone and I took in my friends chicken a couple weeks ago but she seems fine with everyone. One of the Americaunas seems to really want to get out of the run and dig around. She soemtimes sits and stares out the fence.

Other than that I have no idea. The peckyness isnt brutal but certainly noticeable.
L

 

[NYREDS]

I can't say definatively that chickens don't get Gout but I've never heard of it. I feed 22% protein feed w/o any problems. Not unusual for males to spar to establish/maintain their place in the flock hierarchy. I don't see anything alarming in your post.
Can't figure out what FF is though.

 

[Beekissed]

They do get gout and there is plenty of info about it~ both visceral and articular. They even attribute some bumblefoot symptoms to inflammation from gout due to feeding too high protein levels.
I'd post you some links about it but Al hates those things and I've been read the riot act on all that dry, informative scientific crapola.

Gotta keep those OTs happy!

 

[delisha]

They do get gout and there is plenty of info about it~ both visceral and articular. They even contribute some bumblefoot symptoms to inflammation from gout due to feeding too high protein levels.
I'd post you some links about it but Al hates those things and I've been read the riot act on all that dry, informative scientific crapola.

Gotta keep those OTs happy!

 

[delisha]

I can't say definatively that chickens don't get Gout but I've never heard of it. I feed 22% protein feed w/o any problems. Not unusual for males to spar to establish/maintain their place in the flock hierarchy. I don't see anything alarming in your post.
Can't figure out what FF is though.

You might want to go to the Fermented Feed thread...Most animals get the same illnesses we do, they even get herpies.
You can also go to Bee's other thread and read all about how to turn unhealthy chickens into works of marvel.
The link is at the bottom of my post.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Let them out for a few hours a day..before you feed,........ put them back in with the feed.(if that is a possibility)
Fighting is natural at that age. You can hang veggies for entertainment too.
Garland ring on the side of the fencing. I am making mine in a few weeks after we get more snow. Right now I have opened the gate to the woods so they are all good.

 

[Beekissed]

You might want to go to the Fermented Feed thread...Most animals get the same illnesses we do, they even get herpies.
You can also go to Bee's other thread and read all about how to turn unhealthy chickens into works of marvel.
The link is at the bottom of my post.

Sooooooo funny!!! NYREDS might know full well how to keep chickens healthy....check the bars on the arm.

OT alert....officer on deck! All newbies please stand at attention and salute a superior officer.

Delisha, you are so sweet!

RED, we've been playing around with fermenting the feeds and have found it much to our liking and are loving the results. I think I'm the only OT actually doing it, though.

 

[Maven]

Jeff - you were right!!

It is a pale blue-green which means one of my EE pullets is the first to reach POL in my flock of 28 pullets!! I have no idea which one of the 4 it was - she laid it after I let them out of the run to free range this morning - in the DRIVEWAY right by the truck.

All those nice, clean, soft, roomy nest boxes in the coop and she waits until I let them out and drops it on pavement!

The shell is nice and hard and while it isn't huge by any means, I think it is a pretty nice size egg for a very first one!

My daily routine goes thusly: Go down at sunrise, let them into the run and feed them. They can eat, scratch, go back and forth from coop to run just as they please until 10am, at which time I go down and open the run to let them free range. They free range until they put themselves to bed at sunset, and then I close them up for the night. QUESTION: should I leave them in the run until later in the morning in hopes of getting them to lay in the coup? Or should that probably take care of itself as they mature?

I hate to leave them locked up any longer than I have to, but I don't want to go on an egg hunt all over the farm every day either!

 

[delisha]

Quote: I am sure Nyreds does know how to keep his own poultry healthy. I thought he might enjoy your journey. It is a good read.

 

[Maven]

Oh, and Bee, when I crack it, I'll take a picture of how the insides look compared to an extra large store-bought egg to compare the yolk size and such for the FF thread.