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

[Kassaundra]

My feedstore guy is utterly amazed that I FEED my chickens bought food. He says "they are just chickens if they can't find food they'll not eat" and says he "may thow a little scratch in the winter if I think about it" (the feed store man not me) When my chickens act up, I threaten to take them to live at his house!!!!!

 

[Minchi]

The feed store near me has a few chicken owners, it is just that we don't exactly agree on what is best for our chicks and we all have to shuffle through the bad advice. Kind of like parents and children.

 

[bruceh]

i understand. the feed stores here well let me say my chickens are smarter. feeding is an interesting subject. i was wondering the same thing. chickens most people have are hatchery birds, including myself. hatchery birds are bred for either producing eggs or meat to extreme.
so i would imagine nutritional values are different. i could be wrong but it seems more production the more minerals and trace elements used.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

My feed store has been there since the 16th century. They can tell you what most popular feeds are, offer choices, but aren't going to tell you what to do. If you said 'I want chicken food' they'd give you the basic stuff, no frills.

 

[Michelle R]

I am NOT very happy with this thread.....I read all 4,084 posts, took notes, watched the incubation video got to know you folks just by reading your posts. Loved it because I like being around OT's, always have. But then I went to another thread and what did I see but a bunch of whiny chicken huggers talking about putting stuffed animals in their brooders and keeping their chickens in the living room. I kept thinking, 'what would Al say about this?' or 'Man, Fred would hate this'. My point is....you've all ruined me from reading other threads! I suppose I'll just have to pull up a chair and keep hanging out with you OTs and the other newbies that have discovered where the REAL information can be gathered! Thanks for all of your help and for sharing your coops with me. I'm brooding my first flock now and I've had all of my many, many questions answered here.

 

[Minchi]

Hay my chicks loved that monkey!

 

[bruceh]

ok i got a brain storm. being it is summer and flies are plentiful, if i was to take a piece of bad meat and let fly larva form could i feed them to the chickens. disgusting i know but hey plenty of flies around.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

They will eat both the maggots and the rotting meat

 

[jazzy519]

I have a question for you old timers. I have a EE roo that's around 4 months old hes in run with 6 pullets same age he's grabbing them like crazy by their necks. I haven't noticed any bare spots. Is this normal for a young roo?

 

[Michelle R]

Sorry, Minchi!

I bet that monky got pecked to death by your chicks but I'm sure they did enjoy it.