Colorado

[maggiemo]

Tdog, have you contacted Fehringer Farms? http://www.fehringerfarms.com/organiclivestockfeed.html
They do mixed feed and I am pretty sure they sell whole grains too, and custom mixes. Everything they have is organic, non-gmo.

LS, bummer about your egg situation. I don't have any advise for egg eaters.

I processed 8 hens today. I was going to process at least 10 but I just couldn't kill birds who are still laying. The 8 I killed were 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old. 1 bird was just mean and I was tired of her pecking me to the point of drawing blood. 1 was young and has never laid, she had no visible eggs in her when I gutted her, so I felt ok about processing her.
I am left with 14 large hens (ten 2 1/2 year olds and four birds from this year), also 3 bantams and 3 polish and 1 old girl who has always been the matron of the flock and I just couldn't kill...I swore I wouldn't keep any birds for sentimental reasons, but, there you are..... I got 13 eggs today. So, from what I am hearing from this group I should feel pretty good about getting that many!

I am cleaning the coop tomorrow. Have a great beautiful Colorado weekend.

 

[COChix]

Hello All again.  We are in the process of switching our chickens over tow a whole grain fermented diet and right now getting prices and locations for said grains.  We live in Eastern CO and all of the sources around me only carry non organic.  Depending on final prices we may incorporate some non organic but we will have to see.  Azure has s drop ship point in Brush that we can order from but I would love to find something out East here or even along the Front range as we visit at least twice a month.  Golden Organics is the only option I have found that carries a good assortment in Wheat Ridge.  Sooooo

[COLOR=FF0000]Where are some options for me to call and try of find our grains?[/COLOR]

We are going to be out butchering all day and I will check back in this afternoon and hopefully some of you can provide a little insight for a Colorado Crew.  Thanks, Travis

We get our organic non-soy/corn, non gmo feed from Happy Hens Biz out of Brighton. They have prices based on #of pounds. Last time we got 300lbs of feed @ .53 a pound. They get the feed from Ferhingers.

 

[TDog77]

Thanks, Maggiemo and CO chip! I will call both of them tomorrow. Unfortunately today I am going to be heading to town to pick up some Sevin Dust......My neighbor nicely brought over some roos for us to butcher yesterday for him and one laying hen to give to the kids and unfortunately they were infested with lice

. Needless to say no nice deed goes unpunished...lol. We are going to hit the crew today to try and whack them before they get a foothold.

 

[COChix]

They are16 months. Hatched end of may 2014. They never molted last year so this is their first molt. Hard to tell they're molting as most of them are bare back from the roosters. I have a lot of folks who want my eggs. I don't mind them taking some down time, but it really bugs me when they eat the few they do lay.

Our flocks are pretty close in age, ours hatched 4/2014 and did not molt last year as well. Well we have been in molt land since August, it was hard to tell because of the barebacks from our roo as well. This year everyone molted even the roo. We have sporadic egg production from the original flock. Poor Saffron our Welsummer had the hardest molt and minimal feathers. She now has feathers, her comb is still shrunken and pale, not sure when she last laid, maybe a couple months. We get anywhere from 2-6 eggs from the seven 16 month olds. I did make three molt meatloaves over the course of about 6 weeks that the flock gobbled up. Luckily we are starting to get 5 or 6 eggs a day from the seven pullets.

Tdog, have you contacted Fehringer Farms? http://www.fehringerfarms.com/organiclivestockfeed.html 
They do mixed feed and  I am pretty sure they sell whole grains too, and custom mixes. Everything they have is organic, non-gmo.

LS, bummer about your egg situation. I don't have any advise for egg eaters.

I processed 8 hens today. I was going to process at least 10 but I just couldn't kill birds who are still laying. The 8 I killed were 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old. 1 bird was just mean and I was tired of her pecking me to the point of drawing blood. 1 was young and has never laid, she had no visible eggs in her when I gutted her, so I felt ok about processing her. 
I am left with 14 large hens (ten 2 1/2 year olds and four birds from this year), also 3 bantams and 3 polish and 1 old girl who has always been the matron of the flock and I just couldn't kill...I swore I wouldn't keep any birds for sentimental reasons, but, there you are..... I got 13 eggs today. So, from what I am hearing from this group I should feel pretty good about getting that many!

I am cleaning the coop tomorrow. Have a great beautiful Colorado weekend.

Good job Mo! That has got to feel good to have gotten those taken care of. Of course I think we all have a few favorites that probably will spend their retirement years with us.

 

[maggiemo]

tdog, rub some coconut oil around the vents of the birds for lice. It dissolves the eggs and smothers the lice and it isn't toxic to you or the birds. ALso, you can see who you applied the oil too.

Thanks for the support Cochic

it isn't easy to process the old and unproductive girls, but I am always so happy with the health and vigor of the remaining flock I know it is the right thing to do. Right isn't easy...

Looks like there is some rain in the forecast this week!

 

[suncatcher]

Well, I ended up buying eggs from the store this past week, and now three are laying again! Yay! I know is not a big thing to be excited about, but I was missing my morning farm fresh egg! lol

My barnyard mix pullets from this year still are not laying..... but I did sell my earlier hatches, so lesson learned, keep at least a few for when the older girls molt!

Going to be another beautiful day, enjoy!!!!

I know nothing about Organic Feed sources on the front range, but have heard of Ferringer Feed, not sure on the spelling, that orders and then delivers to a specific central area.

Always a good feeling to get your flock down to a manageable number for winter!

 

[COChix]

tdog, rub some coconut oil around the vents of the birds for lice. It dissolves the eggs and smothers the lice and it isn't toxic to you or the birds. ALso, you can see who you applied the oil too.

Thanks for the support Cochic  it isn't easy to process the old and unproductive girls, but I am always so happy with the health and vigor of the remaining flock I know it is the right thing to do. Right isn't easy...

Looks like there is some rain in the forecast this week! 

it is never easy, once it becomes easy then you need to get out of Chicken keeping, IMO. It is always gratifying to feel the instant dynamic change within the remaining flock. It makes it hard to stay feeling bad for long, for me I always feel that the overall balance of the flock is something that is always changing. The more experience I get the easier it is to diagnose the dynamics and make changes as needed, never allowing the flock to remain stagnant. They are live creatures it is not like you can can just set them on auto pilot and expect them never to need tweaking as they age, molt, seasons change and such.

 

[coop410silkies]

Hello All again.  We are in the process of switching our chickens over tow a whole grain fermented diet and right now getting prices and locations for said grains.  We live in Eastern CO and all of the sources around me only carry non organic.  Depending on final prices we may incorporate some non organic but we will have to see.  Azure has s drop ship point in Brush that we can order from but I would love to find something out East here or even along the Front range as we visit at least twice a month.  Golden Organics is the only option I have found that carries a good assortment in Wheat Ridge.  Sooooo

[COLOR=FF0000]Where are some options for me to call and try of find our grains?[/COLOR]

We are going to be out butchering all day and I will check back in this afternoon and hopefully some of you can provide a little insight for a Colorado Crew.  Thanks, Travis

You might try googling Ranchway Feeds in Ft. Collins to see if they have retailers near you. They do have organic grains for sale, and you can compare prices for them online. Haven't researched them and am not vouching for them, just saying they might be available to you.

 

[emptynesters970]

You might try googling Ranchway Feeds in Ft. Collins to see if they have retailers near you. They do have organic grains for sale, and you can compare prices for them online. Haven't researched them and am not vouching for them, just saying they might be available to you.

 

[emptynesters970]

I have tried both Ranchway organic feed and Nutrena Nature Smart. Our ladies preferred the Nature Smart. I looked it up for you and see they have many retailers in the Denver area. (We get it at Jax in Fort Collins) Hope this helps.