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

[Fred's Hens]

ok guys I was thinking of switching to 22% gamebird feed for my flock for the winter. I have seen some people say it is not good because it is too much protein and others say it would benifit them in winter and then switch to a lower one in spring. What are everyones thoughts on this?

I'd be supportive of the idea. I like a "go round" with Game Bird every now and then. Feeding Game Bird allows you to also feed them higher rations of grains, such as scratch. The only time scratch grains make a whole lot of sense, to me, is in conjunction with a high pro feed. Most birds could use some feather generation this time of year and the high pro is helpful with that as well. I'd supply Calcium Carbonate for the layers, and yes, I prefer Calcium Carbonate pellets over shells. Never have bought shells as I don't care for the crude nature of them and inconsistent intake, but that's just me. In short? Sure. Go for it.

 

[City farm]

OMG Im an idiot it was Bruce's recipe not Als.  So Sorry I want to correct that right away. How soon does Alzheimers set in?  I think I have it!  Al and the tragedy have been on my mind. 
Sorry Bruce, your recipe is the cleavage recipe!
L

Ok may we have the recipe? Can I request to have in my PM box..
Since I am so new with technology, I know how to go to my messages..
Looking for a thread has not been easy.. Well at least not for me.. Some
days I can not check email,BYC... By that time I have hundreds of threads
to go threw.. WhOoooohhh!! It is a lot... I need a personal asstetance..

 

[chickencowranch]

ML, I've been using JOB for years now and the rats always crawl outside to die....never once have my dogs, cats or chickens touched them. If a coon or possum finds and eats the carcass, I count that as a two-fer.

What is JOB? I looked for poison bars. I found D-con brand that had a box of what I call poison nuggets.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Sorry so late to reply...

Thank you for this....this has given me LOTS to think about.

I'm glad my thoughts were somewhat helpful. This is rather an "axe to grind" subject for me. I truly love chickens and chicken keeping. I'm frustrated, as an old curmudgeon, that people are cursed with such lousy birds. It's bad enough that people take up the "hobby" and haven't a clue about chicken behaviors or flock keeping and have no facilities in which to keep birds in a healthy, normal way, then, to add insult to injury, get such crummy advice from folks that are novices themselves and finally, the real topper is that they get such lousy birds that that whole thing collapses into armageddon.

Once a person becomes adept, to a degree, in chicken keeping, I believe they deserve better birds. I also believe that really good birds enhance the whole experience in positive ways. I don't want to see really good birds wasted by being stuck in a bad environment, with a goofus flock keeper, but good flock keepers just need good birds. I just cannot describe the difference such birds make.

Apologies for the rant.

 

[Beekissed]

What is JOB? I looked for poison bars. I found D-con brand that had a box of what I call poison nuggets.

JustOneBite....JOB, for short. Comes in a big cake that has lines which can be broken off into bars. Looks and smells like a good cereal bar but is hard, neccesitating the need to gnaw off the grains. BOOM! No more rats. Love JOB.

I'm glad my thoughts were somewhat helpful. This is rather an "axe to grind" subject for me. I truly love chickens and chicken keeping. I'm frustrated, as an old curmudgeon, that people are cursed with such lousy birds. It's bad enough that people take up the "hobby" and haven't a clue about chicken behaviors or flock keeping and have no facilities in which to keep birds in a healthy, normal way, then, to add insult to injury, get such crummy advice from folks that are novices themselves and finally, the real topper is that they get such lousy birds that that whole thing collapses into armageddon.

Once a person becomes adept, to a degree, in chicken keeping, I believe they deserve better birds. I also believe that really good birds enhance the whole experience in positive ways. I don't want to see really good birds wasted by being stuck in a bad environment, with a goofus flock keeper, but good flock keepers just need good birds. I just cannot describe the difference such birds make.

Apologies for the rant.

Around here we just call that "teaching"....

 

[Gargoyle]

Ok may we have the recipe? Can I request to have in my PM box..
Since I am so new with technology, I know how to go to my messages..
Looking for a thread has not been easy.. Well at least not for me.. Some
days I can not check email,BYC... By that time I have hundreds of threads
to go threw.. WhOoooohhh!! It is a lot... I need a personal asstetance..

It helps to use the little drop down arrow on the right side of the forum link in the top menu bar. You can find the newest or "hottest" threads, but the one I find useful is the "I've posted" button.I've actually bookmarked that page, it's the first one I go to, so that I can catch up on any threads I've participated in.

 

[loanwizard]

Well, I for one am excited! I just got a facebook message from a friend that saw that I would be collecting Jack O Lanterns and let me know that one of the local grocery stores was throwing them away daily and that they also throw away lettuce, corn stalks, and other stuff M-W-Fri, from 11-12. Just went down and got about a 30 gal bag of lettuce. Yay me! The punkins were down in the dumpster and I didn't go in there. Was afraid I would slip into it and come out with a rotten pumpkin on my head. If this wasn't beggars night I probably woulda done it but I expect I will have 50-100 pumpkins tomorrow. Course no seeds....

As to the natural chicken loss.... I am one of those. I free range, they come in to the roosts I build if they want. I had a run and coop once and lost way too many than I ever have when they are free. Operative word being FREE. We believe in it, I extend it to my chickens... not my hogs and dogs so I suppose I am a hypocrite....

I love chickens. Even if they get killed naturally by a predator, they lived free as God intended. That said, they are free. I hatch them, feed them, eat them and their eggs. They are livestock.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Fred'shens-- thanks. I also am switching from shell to the pellet, they were not eating the shell, I hope they take the pellet.

 

[just me]

I'm glad my thoughts were somewhat helpful. This is rather an "axe to grind" subject for me. I truly love chickens and chicken keeping. I'm frustrated, as an old curmudgeon, that people are cursed with such lousy birds. It's bad enough that people take up the "hobby" and haven't a clue about chicken behaviors or flock keeping and have no facilities in which to keep birds in a healthy, normal way, then, to add insult to injury, get such crummy advice from folks that are novices themselves and finally, the real topper is that they get such lousy birds that that whole thing collapses into armageddon.

Once a person becomes adept, to a degree, in chicken keeping, I believe they deserve better birds. I also believe that really good birds enhance the whole experience in positive ways. I don't want to see really good birds wasted by being stuck in a bad environment, with a goofus flock keeper, but good flock keepers just need good birds. I just cannot describe the difference such birds make.

Apologies for the rant.

I totally appreciate the rant. I got these chickens as a way for my husband and I to be more self-sufficient upon retirement. Knowing I have a lot to learn, I want to start the learning process now.

After having these birds for a few months, I have gained a whole new appreciation for them. I know I'm not ready for "good" birds (one reason being I don't have the time I'd like to devote to observing and learning from them), and hate to call these "experiment" birds, but to be honest, that's what they are. I didn't pay much attention growing up, I just fed them and did whatever mama and daddy told me to, so I'm sort of learning as I go.

My hopes are that once DH and I do retire, and I have more time, and have their environment tweaked, I'll be ready for the good birds, and will have found a good source for them!!

Julie

 

[Beekissed]

In the last 10 years I've free ranged exclusively(one time lived in town and could only range in tractors), and have had a total of 4 chickens lost to wild predators and 2 chickens lost to a set of adopted pups~these were injured so badly that I killed the birds myself. One to an owl, 3 chicks to a black snake was the total lost to wild predators.

It doesn't have to be a given that free ranged birds are in constant danger of predation if you have good dogs on guard day and night.

My mother free ranged and used a large paddock, with just one pretty worthless dog, and only lost a couple of birds while they were confined to the paddock/coop~possum predation. This was eliminated and never happened again. We are surrounded on all sides by wooded land and have a high population of wildlife.