Consolidated Kansas

[OkieQueenBee]

I have a couple of questions - what type of incubators does everyone like to use? We are using the styrofoam Hovabator and we're not having the best of luck. Would like something bigger, too. Any ideas on where to find a good one?
I've been feeding FF for about a month and my birds seem to really like it. I mix scratch, flock builder and some calf manna in water to cover, I don't add the ACV because I read that if you do the water you don't need it(?). My mix bubbles and doesn't smell bad, but I want to do it right. Do chickens eat soybeans? I keep their feeder full of egg layer pellets. Mostly they free range all day.
One of my turkeys has a swollen head, it started with a runny nose and the next day it's head was swollen like a balloon. I rubbed VetRX on it, a little of the swelling has gone done. What to do?
Enough questions for now. It's a beautiful day so I'm gonna go get stuff done like you all do.

 

[ChickieWickies]

Today my daughter took our ADHD puppy Daisy to Ag class for animal day. They checked their vitals, took them on a run around the track, and checked their vitals again for a lab. I walked her up to the school (or rather she walked me and I kept her from chasing the wild birds). Daisy then ran around the track with Abbie (or rather she dragged Abbie around the track). The football players wanted to take a turn with her then. So she ran around the track again with them (she drug one through the grass chasing a bird), and then they went inside to fill out their lab reports. Daisy wanted to run again! She was ready to go, but the boys opted out! We decided Daisy should be the new conditioning coach for the team--if you can outrun the dog then you can score a touchdown easily! We actually have a really fast football team. The sad thing is Daisy is just FASTER!!

But, boy did she have a great time at school!!

 

[ChickieWickies]

Oh, and not that it helps you QueenBee, but my incubator is our Lacey cochin!

My mother-in-law uses those Styrofoam ones and disobeys all the rules of where to place them and gets pretty good results--but they are fickle. She's looking into getting a counter height incubator that has a brooder on the bottom. Budget-wise it's high, but she hatches out and sells all year to a guy that MUST have a restaurant or something. He buys all our extra roos every 2 months or so (the ones he buys are about 5-6 months old). She's also gotten into selling pullets. One lady swears she bought one that lays white eggs, but we don't have ANYTHING that lays white--they are all brown layers other than my son's EE pen and those aren't being sold (and they don't lay white either). But we also noticed she came back to buy more!

I'm curious about the FF. It seems like a lot more work than dumping in feed sacks--does it really save money once you add in all the ingredients? Danz?

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I'm just jumping in for a little while, browsing through posts quickly. Have been busy the last couple of days. Just hired a new person to fill a position in the office so I'm training her to bring her up to speed. We also have a new VP so we are trying to figure out his management style. Been busy in general.

I will have to catch up on posts in detail later when I slow down some from work.

I hope everyone's birds are doing well. Some of my birds are recovering from the molt, some are going into molt . I seem to always have some molting at any given time. Egg production is slowly recovering. I think most of the chicks I got in March are now at the point of laying, if not already started. This should help some.

Anyway, enjoy the nice fall weather. If the wind will stay calm, it is much better. The dirt roads are dusty that's for sure, especially with cars zooming by every so oftern.

 

[22qZoo]

Yikes ! I've seen a Golden eagle scopeing out our place the last two days. It's huge, I'm keeping everybody in so no harm yet, would be nice if he would just keep on going on his way.
This is NOT a drive-thru.

 

[lizzyGSR]

It is rather windy here today, and things have been blowing around. Well, I just looked out the window to see a cardboard blowing across the yard. My birds just so happened to be in the box's line of travel. You should've seen the birds panic as they noticed the box coming straight towards them!

Even my geese were freaking out.

For having a reputation of being such "tough" birds, they sure are pansies at heart!

Silly, silly birds!!!!

 

[ChickieWickies]

Yikes ! I've seen a Golden eagle scopeing out our place the last two days. It's huge, I'm keeping everybody in so no harm yet, would be nice if he would just keep on going on his way.
This is NOT a drive-thru.

A drive-thru would be bad, but hopefully he doesn't think it's an All-you-can-eat buffet!

 

[chicken danz]

I have a couple of questions - what type of incubators does everyone like to use? We are using the styrofoam Hovabator and we're not having the best of luck. Would like something bigger, too. Any ideas on where to find a good one?
I've been feeding FF for about a month and my birds seem to really like it. I mix scratch, flock builder and some calf manna in water to cover, I don't add the ACV because I read that if you do the water you don't need it(?). My mix bubbles and doesn't smell bad, but I want to do it right. Do chickens eat soybeans? I keep their feeder full of egg layer pellets. Mostly they free range all day.
One of my turkeys has a swollen head, it started with a runny nose and the next day it's head was swollen like a balloon. I rubbed VetRX on it, a little of the swelling has gone done. What to do?
Enough questions for now. It's a beautiful day so I'm gonna go get stuff done like you all do.

I have 5 of the big GQFs. One of them is a hatcher. I've never run less than two incubators at a time even when I'm "not hatching". If you don't hatch much the Rcoms or Brinseas are great but you pay for them. I believe the best bang for the buck are the GQFs if you are a serious hatcher. Actually any incubator can do a decent job of hatching once you know what you are doing. But with some it takes several egg experiments before you get it tweaked just right.
I put water and feed in my FF but it always start it with ACV. If you don't have high enough acidity, germs can grow and cause mold spores or other harmful bacteria to grow. You can however do it like you are if you get the right bacteria going. Personally I like the control I get from the ACV. And as long as I add a little feed and water and stir it every day it does wonderful.
Chickens will eat soy beans but most don't like the whole seed. Soy beans can go rancid once they are cracked as well. The safest thing to do is use soybean meal because it is a dried product. My ducks like soybeans but not the chickens.
Quote:

Oh, and not that it helps you QueenBee, but my incubator is our Lacey cochin!

My mother-in-law uses those Styrofoam ones and disobeys all the rules of where to place them and gets pretty good results--but they are fickle. She's looking into getting a counter height incubator that has a brooder on the bottom. Budget-wise it's high, but she hatches out and sells all year to a guy that MUST have a restaurant or something. He buys all our extra roos every 2 months or so (the ones he buys are about 5-6 months old). She's also gotten into selling pullets. One lady swears she bought one that lays white eggs, but we don't have ANYTHING that lays white--they are all brown layers other than my son's EE pen and those aren't being sold (and they don't lay white either). But we also noticed she came back to buy more!

I'm curious about the FF. It seems like a lot more work than dumping in feed sacks--does it really save money once you add in all the ingredients? Danz?

When you start FF the chickens either avoid it or eat it like there is no tomorrow. Once they start eating it you will use a lot of feed. More than normal. But in time it tapers off. I can honestly say I use probably 1/2 to 2/3rds as much with FF than regular dry feed because there isn't all that waste and powdery stuff left like with dry feed. Like I said you have to put fresh feed and water in every day and stir it. If you don't have a few hundred birds to feed like myself it wouldn't be much more work. It is heavier than regular feed if you fill a bucket with it.
Originally Posted by 22qZoo

It is rather windy here today, and things have been blowing around. Well, I just looked out the window to see a cardboard blowing across the yard. My birds just so happened to be in the box's line of travel. You should've seen the birds panic as they noticed the box coming straight towards them!

Even my geese were freaking out.

For having a reputation of being such "tough" birds, they sure are pansies at heart!

Silly, silly birds!!!!

I saw that a cold front was supposed to move into your area today and probably even end up with rain.

Busy busy day. I've got to get back to it.

 

[Trish44]

I have a couple of questions - what type of incubators does everyone like to use? We are using the styrofoam Hovabator and we're not having the best of luck. Would like something bigger, too. Any ideas on where to find a good one?
I've been feeding FF for about a month and my birds seem to really like it. I mix scratch, flock builder and some calf manna in water to cover, I don't add the ACV because I read that if you do the water you don't need it(?). My mix bubbles and doesn't smell bad, but I want to do it right. Do chickens eat soybeans? I keep their feeder full of egg layer pellets. Mostly they free range all day.
One of my turkeys has a swollen head, it started with a runny nose and the next day it's head was swollen like a balloon. I rubbed VetRX on it, a little of the swelling has gone done. What to do?
Enough questions for now. It's a beautiful day so I'm gonna go get stuff done like you all do.

I used a Hovabator just for hatching until this year when I got my matching GQF hatcher to go with my GQF cabinet incubator. They stryo incubators are hard to control, I had to rig mine just to hatch in it. I know there are some who have the R-Coms & love them, it just depends on how much money you have to spend. I have really enjoyed my GQF cabinet once I replaced a part on it, but they are a big investment. It depends on how much hatching you're planning on doing.

I do the FF & use the ACV in mine, it's good for the birds. I use scratch & layer pellets to mix my FF & I also feed sunflower seeds for treats in cold weather for extra protein.

From what I read your turkey has rhinotracheitis & it is caused by a virus so antibiotics aren't really effective unless there is a secondary infection. Chickens can get it also, so you should isolate the turkey away from your chickens.

 

[michelleml]

Good evening everyone it's been a very long time sense I've been on. We are all doing okay my hubby is still hanging on still doing chemo. He was medically retired from military end of June. I went back to work part time to help ends meet but still struggling we are doing our best.
It's very frustrating that after serving 18yrs in army and going to Iraq three times retirement pay would be a little more but i guess that's how it goes. I'll keep working part-time till i find full time work and hope things get better.

The reason I'm on this evening is i have two hens that are acting weird. One we've quarantine for about three days she was acting disoriented, falling over she is more alert now but still a little disoriented. No diarrhea is eating some i did notice on her she had either lice or mites not sure which so i treated her. My second hen we noticed yesterday she isn't moving around much and is starting to stumble when she walks. No mites or lice on her and she is still eating and drinking they are houses in separate coops but free range together. they are both young born this spring just started laying the only thing that i can think of is that i noticed they were drinking dirty water that they found in old bucket could this have something to do with it?


Michelle