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

[al6517]

Maven and/or Al...

Could you point me to the previous discussion of topdressing with fat?

Without sounding too fluffy lol, is there anything to watch for in the grease? As in, bacon fat has quite a bit of salt. Skimmings off a soup or stock will have quite a bit of seasoning. As I'm typing this, I'm convincing myself it isn't anything to worry about...with the possible exception of the salt in bacon fat.

Salt in the amounts that were talking about isn't that big of an issue when you consider how many birds your feeding. Top dressing just enough to change the color of the feed. It works best when utilized feed in pellet form. Crumbles if done too much will become gumy if they don't consume it all at once.

Seasoning isn't an issue either IMO I just watch them and see how they react, if I know it's good for them I make them eat it LOL, kind of like your 5 yr old at the dinner table who won't eat his Brussel Sprouts.

I also do things like save the oil from things I fry up like fried Chicken, pork chops, bacon grease, steak stuff like that. There is also benefits to using pasta water, water used for cooking other things that you normaly put down the drain, you ought to see them drink that goodness in. Now don't get me wrong I don't and never ever will cook for my birds, but I do feed them waste from the table in an effort to be frugal and it's good for them.

 

[maryhysong]

In the meantime thank you to all who commented on incubators. I had already decided from reading that I didn't want a LG, that the hovabators seemed to perform better, from what I was reading. I have been considering getting a genesis with auto turner this spring, so glad to know that one seems to be a good choice, at least for the moment.

 

[al6517]

When we finish dinner and go to scrape plates we do it in a special big pot, and then the next day or so when I go to chore the birds I take it out there and scoop some into each pen's feeder, swishing it around with the feed so they don't just eat the good stuff but the feed as well.

 

[delisha]

Quote: First time I ever heard of hugging a chicken was when I started on this site. I was quite shocked, however, I have become pretty shocked proof since I heard about chicken diapers and now saddles. Grandma, Grandpa, and great uncle came to dinner last night and we had a dinner conversation about that very subject. They did not believe me till I showed them this site and a picture of a chicken with cloths on and a diaper. They were as amazed and shocked as I was.I also showed them a picture of a slikie. That was a really interesting conversations.

 

[Maven]

Quote:
Yup - this is exactly what I do!! the Mr. and I were just saying this morning how saving all that liquid for the chickens was so much better than tossing it down the drain or the trash bin!! All broth, pan drippings, used oil, etc gets saved for the birds now. Tonight I'll fry pork tenderloins for sandwiches for dinner and that grease will go to the birds tomorrow.

Last night I made homemade pizza so the fat from browning the Italian sausage and burger went into a bowl, then I sweat out the mushrooms, onions, garlic and peppers and that liquid went into the fat bowl. All of that went onto my FF this morning. I definitely DO do the FF as it cuts my feed bill by about 2/3s and there is ZERO waste of feed - I mean not one seed or scrap ends up on the floor underfoot. But I understand you not wanting to do it, Al, and like you say, to each their own.

It's all good!

Jeff, I look at the spices and herbs and such as an added bonus - if I ever have to cook one of these gals, she comes preseasoned!!

Who in the world ran Bee off?!?!?! Wish I'd seen it happening, they would have had a fight on their hands!!

BEE - PLEASE COME BACK HOME TO THIS THREAD!!!! WE WANT YOU HERE AND WE NEED YOU HERE AND WOULD NEVER LET ANYONE RUN YOU OFF OF IT!!!!

 

[Pullet Surprise]

Is it just me or does anybody else of us regulars who call this thread home, Miss Bee ??. I know I do !!! it seems like I am a little numb and not as much fun anymore. I think it's a terrible thing what those people did to her over on a thread she started and was a driving force in. All I can say is I'll be watching them when they rear their horns here as I am sure is their next target. Sometimes these Huggers need a good

.

I hope the new posters do go and read and understand the first OP post, that thin skinned Unicorn & rainbow ideals is not what were about here.

Missed MUCH. Stupid thing is it's killing me, I just wanted to tell her that yesterday one of the girls caught and scarffed down a worm. Now that is nothing to y'all, but we haven't had crap for worms in our sterile, sand soil & Bee got me working on dumping leaves etc. etc. etc. to develop a better soil. And that worm was a big deal. So Bee....you were right. If you build it, they will come. Where there is one, there has to be more I hope.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

LOL thanks D ........... laughing sharp knife ............ I like that sorry It's my way. It's my way of bringing chicken raising an animal husbandry back from the brink of everything being so cutesy tootsey and fluffy this and that. I like to believe their might be 1 or 2  people out there who don't hug & kiss their chickens LOL, Just remember they'll poke yer eye out . 

That's why we like you, Al. Nothing cutesy tootsy about your advice! And the part I put in bold is probably my all-time favorite advice for newbie chicken keepers. I remember your first post in this thread (I'm pretty sure it was the first. Where Bee asked all the OT's to list their top chicken advice to newbies) and your final piece of advice was just that. Chickens WILL!!!!! Peck your eye out! Lol... And a weekafter finding this thread, a friend's daughter took her new pet chick to school for 2nd grade show & tell. While telling her class and teacher (who was video taping the lecture) all about her pet chicken, Georgia, that little chickie was sitting on this little 7y/o's shoulder as cute as could be. Halfway through her teaching, that cute little chick leaned around to look at poor Syd's face and watch her lecture when she noticed that pretty shiny blue eye. PECK! "Aaaahhhhhhhh!" ::camera crashes to floor as second grade teacher dashes to now-screaming Syd's rescue::: Hahahaha... syd is find, if a bit smarter about where she sits her chicks while they listen to her lectures on chicken keeping, and Georgia now lives with me! LOL.

I, too, miss Bee. It was as if our thread was in mourning last night, as it was the slowest it's been in weeks.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Thanks, Al. My girls thank you, too. They get a lot of meat scrap now, but they'll start getting my pan drippings, too. I keep a jar in the kitchen that it all goes in to keep it from going in the septic. I'll start using that to topdress the feed once in a while.

The chickens have their bluff in on all the cats in the yard. When a bunch of tallow trimmings hit the feed pan the other day the cats had better position, but the chickens came around the corner of the house looking like a track of thoroughbreds coming into the home stretch. My littlest chicken pecked a raunchy old tom right in the head and chased him off. My wife said it wasn't fair. I told her when the cats learned to lay eggs, I would keep the chickens out of their food bowl.

 

[familycomp3]

I feed mine table scraps too It helped make for a VERY fun, entertaining Thanksgiving. I collected (vegetable only) scraps from peoples plates, green beans, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes (with cinnamon in them even), peas and corn. We all went outside and watched the chickens have some thanksgiving dinner too. It was the highlight of the day. Everyone was laughing watching them go crazy over it

. I also feed the vegetable my kids refuse to eat to the chickens so forth. Its a great treat for them packed with nutrients and we WASTE ALMOST NO food now. Its a win , win if you ask me

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

*syd is FINE not find