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

[toofarout]

correction: I do *not* mean to be annoying!!!!!!!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Horses and chickens surprisingly have similar biology in that they depend on bacteria in the Cecum for digestion. Keeping that going strong is a very good idea. Colic is not just from impaction its from the breakdown of the biology of the gut.... with horses its too much of a new food that cause a flora and fauna bloom. Too many carbs being converted to sugar.... and on Water is involved as well. Horses eat manure to replenish their gut ..... so do chickens.

Sorry I am splitting hairs here but really am agreeing with your comment.

Rabbits also eat their cecals (night feces) which is important for their gut health. And one reason for gut stasis in rabbits is not enough water. I did not know that horses ate manure, and only recently learned that chickens do that. I had seen them pecking at their poops, just didn't realize that they were doing that for a good reason. So having enough water and eating feces are 2 ways to avoid crop impaction? Sorry that I'm sounding so stupid, I really am trying to learn and do not mean to be annoying.

I think it has more to do with maintaining a healthy digestive tract. I still don't know about crop impaction. I have never experienced it. I dont consider myself an OT. I am still learning about poultry. I feed Alfalfa to my guineas. just a little. they seem to only go for the leaves. I would hesitate to feed them grass hay. Alfalfa is a Legume and pretty full of minerals. Just look at alfalfa sprouts.... I bet those would be good for the chickens too.

And you are totally NOT annoying. The hard part is there is different answers depending on your environment the feed you feed.... the quality of the Hay available..... the latitude.... in rainy environments Alfalfa is not an easy crop to raise. It molds too easily. In my environment its very dry we get only about ten inches of rain a year. It takes forty acres to feed a horse and you still have to supplement with hay. The Greens I give them are much appreciated. I even tried using Alfalfa pellets wetted to a mush.... they didnt care for them.

 

[toofarout]

Thank you Perchie.girl!

 

[seminolewind]

You all make me smile

. I guess my thought about hay is that if there's no hay, a chicken will most likely find something else to impact their gut.


I know I get pretty plugged up when I don't drink enough water.

 

[featherz]

Last winter I bought the big bag of the horse alfalfa cubes, wet them to expand them and threw those in the runs every so often. Is that an OK way to supply 'greens'? Didn't have any crop problems that I am aware of and it seemed a good way to have greens that were inexpensive and would not quickly rot.

 

[seminolewind]

Sounds good to me . I am going to be looking for the alfalfa fines at the barn

 

[al6517]

Quote:
I can answer one question: Why people get chickens before the coop - because the feed store has them and by the time we get the coop built they will have sold out for another year. Who KNEW chicks could be mail-ordered? I just learned that last week. Chicken book? Do they have those?

Contrary to popular belief it is advisable to get a coop first and all the nessesary items before getting chicks, be well prepared for getting them. It works easier than bringing home birds and then not having the set-up to care for them, rushing around trying to get all the info you need and pretty much doing it backwards. After all how many post have you seen that say I have new fluffy butt's from the feed store now what do I do ???. It pays to be organized, have all your ducks in a row, have some inkling as to waht is invovled and then get chicks, it's just the way smart folks do it.

 

[ladyride]

Quote:
I can answer one question: Why people get chickens before the coop - because the feed store has them and by the time we get the coop built they will have sold out for another year. Who KNEW chicks could be mail-ordered? I just learned that last week. Chicken book? Do they have those?

Contrary to popular belief it is advisable to get a coop first and all the nessesary items before getting chicks, be well prepared for getting them. It works easier than bringing home birds and then not having the set-up to care for them, rushing around trying to get all the info you need and pretty much doing it backwards. After all how many post have you seen that say I have new fluffy butt's from the feed store now what do I do ???. It pays to be organized, have all your ducks in a row, have some inkling as to waht is invovled and then get chicks, it's just the way smart folks do it.

Thank-you Al

 

[galanie]

Speaking of hay causing impacted crops. When a small batch of chicks I had was 10 weeks old, they decided that straw was the tastiest treat ever. Here I was watching these guys somehow suck down an 8 inch piece of straw at a time. I was stunned that they'd do that and prepared myself for impacted crops. But nope, not a one had a problem with it. And they're grown now and will still on occasion eat straw if I have some fresh around. I think (and that's just what it is, a guess and an opinion) that since I made sure they had sand and small pebbles available then there was no problem. They really need grit in there to keep rough stuff from backing up and I suppose a couple huge (to me!) bits of straw were no match for their gizzard.

 

[seminolewind]

That long straw reminds me of some chicks I had, I was breaking their treat in small pieces for their little mouths, and one picks up this giant bug and swallows it! The beak sure could open real big for a big bug!