Colorado

[Guvnah]

You will never regret switching to fermented feed, in a month you will swear someone switched your chickens out for these nice plump beauty's

Fermented feed.... Can I just pour some moonshine in their regular feed and call it a done deal?

 

[Mtn Margie]

Fermented feed.... Can I just pour some moonshine in their regular feed and call it a done deal?

 

[Latestarter]

24 hens, 5 breeds, not a single egg today

And none have been eaten either...

(eggs that is - actually a GOOD thing). Why am I feeding them?

Between lack of production and cannibalism (egg eating), I am seriously considering replacing the entire herd (yeah, I know it's a flock).

I'm also feeling a bit unobservant... In the past several days I have noticed that my New Hampshire hens are split between 2 different and distinct combs... 1/2 of them have very small single, vertical combs, and the other 1/2 have very large single, (floppy) vertical combs. From what I've found so far, they are supposed to have medium to large single combs that may be floppy. Then the associated pictures show SMALL COMBS!

They are hatchery birds, so no big deal either way, I'm not selling eggs or chicks as "pure bred" birds... but I have sold eggs for hatching... So now I have to figure out which one is actually to breed SOP, and what the remainder actually are...

Did you know that there is a LOT of flat out WRONG stuff on the internet? Like those (some with PHds) who refer to it as a New Hampshire Red when there is no "Red" in the actual name? <sigh> and lots of the links all quote from a common source that happens to be a little incomplete, vague, incorrect?

So, it appears my options are somewhat limited... I can spend $59.00 for the latest (2010) version of the actual APA Standards. Or maybe find someone who has a copy I can borrow (checked the local library, they don't have it). Maybe go to the local state veterinarian college and see if they have it? Or, I can just say that I have what I have and leave it at that...

Sorry for the rant folks. Hope y'all had a great (nice) fall day!

 

[Double Kindness]

I've been so busy with harvest and all. I put up 20quarts of tomatoes the past few days to go with my 15 other quarts of tomatoes canned. My tomatoes did better last year than this year, as did my peppers.

My 39 cornish x broilers and 19 remaining heavy breed mixed roosters from mt healthy are doing really great! Out of 75 chicks shipped, I've only lost 2, 1 of each breed. Freezer camp is coming up this weekend for a few roosters and drakes as well as a beekeeping class being held at my house Saturday. Both my hives seem like they died, this my 1st attempt at beekeeping.

these are my broilers and mystery breed roosters from mt healthy taken a few days ago.

 

[COChix]

We have now have 5/7 of our pullets are now laying. So far we have 2 non-brown egg layers and 3 brown egg layers. Our pullets are a big mixed breed, the darker brown egg layer I believe is a BO X RIR mix and seems to have been giving us an egg a day consistently.

 

[oshun55555]

Quote: NO

 

[21hens-incharge]

The small leghorn is still active and eating well when I feed her. I do think I will put her in one of my transport cages inside the coop so she is not pushed off food by the others and can have it all day long. Hard to feed just her in the coop or in the run since the others need access to both places too.

The transport cage is a 2 ft x 4ft x 2 ft tall wire crate. I think it is enough room for a while for one small leghorn. She is active enough it is hard to catch her and I am sure stressful on her since she is not seeing well. This way I think she may do better.

For being a twitchy leghorn she has figured out that when I enter the coop there is food in a frisbee for her. She is willing to get close to me while I scoop her food into the dish.

Just need to figure out how to do water for her since her aim stinks right now. Needs to be a wide open dish but I don't want her spilling it then being wet all day.

The fermented feed is going over like gang busters with all of them that I have had a chance to give a bit to. To busy to get everyone switched right now.

That and I have that stupid sinus cold that is going around where no meds even begin to provide relief.



LS,
Did you check your memo box for time off requests from the hens??? There are days all of mine take a day off too. Unusual but not impossible.

 

[Latestarter]

No memo in the memo box or inbox... did get additional empty shells in the nest boxes again today...

2 first thing when I went out to feed them early this morning. Even my best layers are letting me down with production and eating them when they DO lay them.

I've boosted their protein and don't know what else to do aside from baby sitting the nest boxes to get them as soon as they're laid. Grrrrr.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Maybe try a couple of those flock block things in order to give them something else to peck on.
If you have done everything, protein, calcium, flock blocks and hay or something, I guess they will have to go.
I don't know what else to tell you to try besides the fake eggs so maybe they don't spot the real ones. I don't know if the mustard thing works.
Maybe you can buy some eggs

, bait the nest and mark the egg eaters when you get a chance. IDK......

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks for the suggestions Margie. I'm just pretty much at my wits end here. I'm thinking now about installing those sloped nest box floors so the eggs will roll down out of their reach. Won't help with the buff orps as they abandoned the nest boxes from the start and think they're turtles. They bury nests in the floor litter. Luckily they are normally in the same general area as opposed to changing the location all over the square footage available.