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

[donrae]

Seems like a good place to ask my question. In process of building coop and then get about 4-6 hens for fresh eggs to eat. Wife has been on board but now says she will not eat them unless we put them in the frig. She also says She will not let them go into the frig unless then have been cleaned first.
I told her I would ask the experts on how to "clean" the eggs so they can go in the frig. Remember she has made up her mind on this so help me out on the correct way to clean them.

I'm going to bring this back, not sure if you're still here or not. While I understand the answers you were given, for the most part I don't think they're going to help you.

You can wash your eggs with dishwashing detergent or Dial antibacterial if it makes your honey feel better. Just a sponge or dishcloth, a tiny squirt and rinse well, then into the fridge. As someone who has been married a long time, I can understand the need to work around things sometimes. And as another poster said, baby steps. In a few months, she'll get over it. Maybe. Maybe you'll always have to was your eggs, who knows. But peace in the house is worth it. And they're still better than store bought eggs, and you still have chicken entertainment.

 

[thedragonlady]

Well, the tannins can be harsh...but wild turkeys eat them like candy and I'm assuming there is a way for chickens to eat them also. Hogs eat them too...both hogs and chickens are monogastric, so.....

What research I found were discussing the tannins in grape seed extract and it was found to depress immune system function and slow and retard the growth of broiler chickens. Doesn't sound too good. Another research found that it decreased egg laying.

I'll have to think about this....

Bee,

From what I've read, which is buried in the nether regions of my mind...Acorns will stimulate molting due to the tannins. That makes sense. It is part of nature's natural rhythm. Birds should slow down, and molt about time the acorns fall. As a diet for fall laying pullets because of this..NO!

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...I think my flock doesn't need immuno-suppression and more molting, let alone decreased laying. I'll be passing on the acorns, I think.

 

[NotAFarm]

But I do wish Fred would come back. He's the chicken wisdom from the North. Where are you, Fred??

Fred is now a Moderator here......maybe he's too busy to check in as often as he used to....

 

[smyers32]

This is probably not the right place to post this, but I could really use some no nonsense OT advice. Less than a week into chickendom and half my flock has a nasty respiratory thing. I put them on tetracycline yesterday, some are the same, a couple are worse. I don't want to cull the lot and start over, but I don't want to waste much time and energy treating chickens that cost about $5 each either. Should I go ahead and cull the sick ones and see what happens with the ones who aren't showing symptoms? Or should I just start over and if so, who's to say the next batch won't get sick too? They all seemed fine when I brought them home, maybe it's something in my barn??

 

[Melissa6]

So, after all this introduction (see my post #7244 from yesterday), I want to know whether you agree with the often-quoted advice that scratch grains are like candy. I'd like to feed fermented grains on the ground 2x/day (some combination of oats, wheat, corn, rye, barley) and dry mash in a hanging feeder all the time and let them figure out what to eat. People feed grit and oyster shell free choice. Certainly their choice of grass or bugs or other stuff in the yard is all free choice. Do you recommend that I try to "make" them eat mash, primarily by restricting their grains, or can I just watch their appearance and see how they do? Eggs are hard-shelled, eyes are bright, feathers look shiny and good, chickens seem energetic and "happy." Maybe some of the answer is seasonal as well, since it will freeze here and the bugs will disappear. My grains are only ~12% protein; my layer mash is 16%; I do give some table scraps. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I think Oswego's question about eggs and the ensuing discussion and diversions made my question get lost. So I'm trying again today.

Melissa

 

[Folly's place]

smyers32, some background info would be helpful, as in flock source, husbandry, age of birds, etc. At this point you are treating but it's too soon to evaluate the outcome. Give it a few days; you'll have more to report then. Good luck, Mary

 

[Beekissed]

This is probably not the right place to post this, but I could really use some no nonsense OT advice. Less than a week into chickendom and half my flock has a nasty respiratory thing. I put them on tetracycline yesterday, some are the same, a couple are worse. I don't want to cull the lot and start over, but I don't want to waste much time and energy treating chickens that cost about $5 each either. Should I go ahead and cull the sick ones and see what happens with the ones who aren't showing symptoms? Or should I just start over and if so, who's to say the next batch won't get sick too? They all seemed fine when I brought them home, maybe it's something in my barn??

How many chickens, what age, what breed, what source and how long have you had them?

So, after all this introduction (see my post #7244 from yesterday), I want to know whether you agree with the often-quoted advice that scratch grains are like candy. I'd like to feed fermented grains on the ground 2x/day (some combination of oats, wheat, corn, rye, barley) and dry mash in a hanging feeder all the time and let them figure out what to eat. People feed grit and oyster shell free choice. Certainly their choice of grass or bugs or other stuff in the yard is all free choice. Do you recommend that I try to "make" them eat mash, primarily by restricting their grains, or can I just watch their appearance and see how they do? Eggs are hard-shelled, eyes are bright, feathers look shiny and good, chickens seem energetic and "happy." Maybe some of the answer is seasonal as well, since it will freeze here and the bugs will disappear. My grains are only ~12% protein; my layer mash is 16%; I do give some table scraps. I'd appreciate your thoughts.


I think Oswego's question about eggs and the ensuing discussion and diversions made my question get lost. So I'm trying again today.

Melissa

If it were me? I'd mix your grains and layer mash into your fermented mix and only offer the FF. Why complicate things so much when it really can be a simple, one dish meal that provides for all their nutritional needs. You won't have to "make" them eat the fermented grains but what may happen is that they will eat only the FF and leave the dry mash behind(others on the ferment thread have reported that, when given a choice, the chickens soon prefer the FF) . So, you'd be feeding whole grains and free range. If that is what you want, ultimately, then I don't see a problem.

If you have layer mash, why not use it along with the whole grains to get the best of both worlds?

I wouldn't feed it on the ground...I'd feed it in a trough feeder. Feeding grains on the ground in your run or near your coop only increases the chances they are ingesting any ova from intestinal parasites that are shed there in the feces and are inhabiting the soils. Just perpetuates the cycle day after day.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

as for the acorn question-some species of oaks, such as white oak and bur oak have acorns that are low in tannins, (so should be less bitter,) I believe the settlers/frontier folk made acorn flour from those.
Angela

 

[smyers32]

Yes, sorry. I'm so frustrated and disappointed, I forgot to state the facts. All birds came from 2 local, small hobby flocks of all healthy looking birds. 4 Ameraucana pullets(4 months old) from one farm and 5 buff, 1 lavender orp hens(about 2 yrs old) and a buff orp roo (about 5 months) from another place. The biggest healthiest looking (the buff girls are starting to molt) buff hen was first to show symptoms, now 2-3 of the ameraucanas are wheezy/snotty, and I occasionally hear little sneezy/coughy noises from some of the others. The original buff and one of the ameraucanas are significantly worse, I might not even notice the others if I weren't on high alert for symptoms.
Yes, I threw them all together from day one, which I understand is a cardinal sin according to most. But I don't have a set up to keep two groups far enough apart to prevent sharing the same air, didn't see sick birds at either place, and I have a strong feeling that people 100 years ago didn't do a 30 day quarantine when they got new chickens. I'm a practical farm girl (new to chickens, but not to animal husbandry) and I figured either they'll be fine or they won't, I doubt a quarantine would have prevented them getting sick, honestly. I'm just not sure how to proceed now that they are sick.