Consolidated Kansas

[KsKingBee]

In fact, yesterday, I wound up dumping a bucket of horse manure on her because she was right under my feet and I couldn’t see her with the bucket in the way.

You reminded me of this story!

A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who ***** on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of **** is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep ****, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

 

[HEChicken]

You reminded me of this story!

A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who ***** on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of **** is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep ****, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I have two poultry lots; one on the East side and one on the West. The one on the West side has more open pens and my yard light keeps it well lighted. The hens on the lighted side are laying regularly, even when the temp is below freezing. But the ones on the darker side have quit completely, and they have far better shelters. I need to move all my roosters to the darker side, because they crow all night long. If it wasn't for being so disorganized, I'd have no organization at all. LOL

 

[Trish44]

I have two poultry lots; one on the East side and one on the West. The one on the West side has more open pens and my yard light keeps it well lighted. The hens on the lighted side are laying regularly, even when the temp is below freezing. But the ones on the darker side have quit completely, and they have far better shelters. I need to move all my roosters to the darker side, because they crow all night long. If it wasn't for being so disorganized, I'd have no organization at all. LOL

I have one pen that is directly across from a big yard light on a pole, so whatever rooster is in that pen wakes up in the middle of the night & crows because he thinks it's morning. Yeah my hens that are in unlighted coops & pen aren't laying either. The ones in the main coop are laying some because they have a light on a timer, but a lot of them are still in molt & aren't laying.

LOL, KKB!

Well I've been out trying to get things done outside while the weather is still decent. Friday is supposed to be miserable, so here we go again. I best get back out there, I just came in to check on something & wait for an area to dry that I cleaned before putting shavings back in. Everyone have a good day!

 

[HEChicken]

I have two poultry lots; one on the East side and one on the West. The one on the West side has more open pens and my yard light keeps it well lighted. The hens on the lighted side are laying regularly, even when the temp is below freezing. But the ones on the darker side have quit completely, and they have far better shelters. I need to move all my roosters to the darker side, because they crow all night long. If it wasn't for being so disorganized, I'd have no organization at all. LOL

I have one pen that is directly across from a big yard light on a pole, so whatever rooster is in that pen wakes up in the middle of the night & crows because he thinks it's morning. Yeah my hens that are in unlighted coops & pen aren't laying either. The ones in the main coop are laying some because they have a light on a timer, but a lot of them are still in molt & aren't laying.

How interesting about the mention of light but just today I read this:

"The importance of green food in poultry feeding was first observed because of the response to birds when allowed to range in the spring after being confined during the winter. The resulting sport in egg production was due probably to the warmer weather and exposure to the sun as well as access to green food. Again, it was observed that production was retarded late in the summer and in the fall when the natural supply of green food became low."

That's the opening paragraph to Chapter 8 (Poultry Feeds, Green Feeds and Vegetable Products) of Heuser's book FEEDING POULTRY, available at this link: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003011545;view=1up;seq=254

Although the quote concedes the importance of "exposure to the sun" it is ALSO suggesting that it is the availability of greens in the spring that contributes to the increase in egg production. That really makes sense if you think about the nutritive value of greens compared with what they are able to find when foraging over the winter. So basically, all we need for egg production over the winter is more light and about 10 greenhouses that we can overseed with a variety of grasses and clovers, and rotate the birds through the greenhouses to allow them to forage on greens throughout winter. Sounds doable, yes????

 

[KsKingBee]

HEChicken, or you could buy a compressed bag of chopped alfalfa at the feed store... I bought that for the peas and a bag of alfalfa pellets, they really go for the chops, not so much for the pellets so OQB mixes the pellets into the FF for them.

 

[Trish44]

How interesting about the mention of light but just today I read this:

"The importance of green food in poultry feeding was first observed because of the response to birds when allowed to range in the spring after being confined during the winter. The resulting sport in egg production was due probably to the warmer weather and exposure to the sun as well as access to green food. Again, it was observed that production was retarded late in the summer and in the fall when the natural supply of green food became low."

That's the opening paragraph to Chapter 8 (Poultry Feeds, Green Feeds and Vegetable Products) of Heuser's book FEEDING POULTRY, available at this link: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003011545;view=1up;seq=254

Although the quote concedes the importance of "exposure to the sun" it is ALSO suggesting that it is the availability of greens in the spring that contributes to the increase in egg production. That really makes sense if you think about the nutritive value of greens compared with what they are able to find when foraging over the winter. So basically, all we need for egg production over the winter is more light and about 10 greenhouses that we can overseed with a variety of grasses and clovers, and rotate the birds through the greenhouses to allow them to forage on greens throughout winter. Sounds doable, yes????

HEChicken, that's a really interesting book. I signed up so I could read the whole thing. They won't let you download the whole book from there, but maybe I can find it elsewhere. If not I can just read it online at that site. I would like to read more of it. It talks in the first section about proteins & how buttermilk powder is a really good supplement to add to the feed. It said that egg production was improved with the addition of that. That might be interesting to try just for an experiment. You can buy the buttermilk powder in the grocery store. I wonder how much you would need to add though. I would love to have a greenhouse, but with all of the chicken housing I have to keep building I probably won't ever get it done. you could potentially build one like the hoop coops only cover it with plastic all around, but you would have to have venting too in the summer.

I had a wrestling match with the goat this evening trying to get into the pen to let them in so they could eat. Penny thinks now she can push through the gate without waiting for me to get it all the way open. She kept coming over & trying to push me out of the way & I would grab her collar & pull her back & tell her no. We went through that about 4 times before I finally was able to get the gate unlatched so they could go in. HEChicken, you have to keep letting that billy goat know you're boss or he will push you around for sure. You remember what the lady said that we got the goats from, she has had to actually knock him over the head with a big board to teach him not to be so pushy. I think the males are much worse than the females, but even mine are getting a little pushy. Patches will usually back off if I threaten her, but Penny isn't afraid of me at all because she was the bottle baby & she is very tame.

 

[22qZoo]

KsKingbee-loved the ****y storey, Do the birds seam to like the green stuff mixed in ? I've been thinking about doing something like that mixed with the FF?
Ralph - you need to move roosters to the "dark side " ? I thought most of them were allready there. LOL.
It was nice to be out there today getting some work done . I let the birds out around 11:00 since I was out there with them all day. I think they enjoyed having the whole day to cruise around the place.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, or you could buy a compressed bag of chopped alfalfa at the feed store... I bought that for the peas and a bag of alfalfa pellets, they really go for the chops, not so much for the pellets so OQB mixes the pellets into the FF for them.

A lady at my barn was feeding alfalfa to her horses so I decided to see if the birds would like it and I could NOT get them to eat it. This was in the middle of winter 3-4 years ago and I thought they'd go crazy over the alfalfa but they were totally uninterested. It wasn't pellets but may have been "chops" - I don't know. I tried giving it to them dry and they ignored it so then I tried wetting it and they didn't like it that way either, so I dunno....

HEChicken, you have to keep letting that billy goat know you're boss or he will push you around for sure. You remember what the lady said that we got the goats from, she has had to actually knock him over the head with a big board to teach him not to be so pushy. I think the males are much worse than the females, but even mine are getting a little pushy. Patches will usually back off if I threaten her, but Penny isn't afraid of me at all because she was the bottle baby & she is very tame.

Yeah, so far I just don't let him push me around. If I just keep walking and he gets in my way, he gets a knee to his chest or abdomen, depending on what he presents, as I keep walking. He still likes to test me but so far I don't think he's ever gotten to feel like he "won". He has never totally threatened me but usually when he is getting pushy I just exaggerate an exasperated tone to my voice and tell him "Smoky, cut it out" and so far he backs down when I do that. Mostly its just funny listening to the grunting sounds he makes, and watching him think he's king of the flock.

 

[KsKingBee]

A lady at my barn was feeding alfalfa to her horses so I decided to see if the birds would like it and I could NOT get them to eat it. This was in the middle of winter 3-4 years ago and I thought they'd go crazy over the alfalfa but they were totally uninterested. It wasn't pellets but may have been "chops" - I don't know. I tried giving it to them dry and they ignored it so then I tried wetting it and they didn't like it that way either, so I dunno....

I can't really say about chickens, the Peafowl really like it though. By 'chops' I am referring to finely chopped up alfalfa compressed into a feed bag. They eat it stems and all. The pellets must be a bit too large for them but when OQB pus it into the FF they disentergrate so the peas still get to eat them.