Consolidated Kansas

[TakenBackBre]

I'm pretty well stuck home. We live in the country on a paved road. Our road gets a lot of traffic and it seems to be people lack sense when it comes to driving anywhere. To make matters worse the county hasn't salted the roads yet here. I'm only 3 mins from I70 but it might as well be 30 with all the ice caked road between me and it. Thought I might brave it today. Went out and de-iced my van just in time for it to start raining. I finished the job and got all the doors opening at least. Young kid slid into my driveway/ditch right as I was going back inside. They were both okay so we pulled/pushed them out and he went on his way. I'm pretty sure he was on his cellphone . So with the new baby I think I'll just stay home until they salt my road and make it so brakes become useful again haha.

 

[chicken danz]

I stood up too fast in the chicken run (the 5 year old one) and broke a head sized hole in my netting. The ice is 1/4" thick out there, and I suppose the netting itself is just brittle from age. Once this nasty ice melts off, I'll patch it for now and then I suppose there is replacement netting in the future. It is an odd shape with a tree in the middle, so that is NOT GOING TO BE FUN. If we are going to have to replace the netting, I'm going to try to talk my DH into moving one fence so that the run is a rectangle instead of a weird triangle. That would get a tree IN the run rather than next to it. Maybe invest in some different fencing, too. the dog panels are working great on the newer run, and the 6' height is much better than the 4' fencing we have now on the old one.

I had to pour hot water on the stepping stones at the door of the new coop because the ice was so thick the door no longer cleared them. Everyone was slipping and sliding down the ramp, too.

This stuff is awful. AT this point we still have electricity though it flickered a couple of times last night.

OK, I'm done with winter. Bring on the spring.

Depending on what the netting is made of you can repair it with a piece of leftover netting or you can "sew" the opening together with some cord or something. Unless it is plastic. Then you probably need new netting.
I am also done with winter as well as my birds, dogs, and cats. No one is happy right now.
Quote:

I'm pretty well stuck home. We live in the country on a paved road. Our road gets a lot of traffic and it seems to be people lack sense when it comes to driving anywhere. To make matters worse the county hasn't salted the roads yet here. I'm only 3 mins from I70 but it might as well be 30 with all the ice caked road between me and it. Thought I might brave it today. Went out and de-iced my van just in time for it to start raining. I finished the job and got all the doors opening at least. Young kid slid into my driveway/ditch right as I was going back inside. They were both okay so we pulled/pushed them out and he went on his way. I'm pretty sure he was on his cellphone

. So with the new baby I think I'll just stay home until they salt my road and make it so brakes become useful again haha.

I would do that. If it's any thing like it is here I would just stay home. Of course it's the weekend so the road grader hasn't come this way and won't before Monday. I have some limbs down but more than that have many broken smaller limbs still up in the trees. When the wind blows again we'll probably have a limb shower. Between the feathers and the ice you'd think we had snow on the ground. Pretty white looking out there.
I need to get out and check to make sure all the heated bowls are working. I was hoping DH would take care of it all yesterday but he didn't. So that means like it or not I'll be out there today trying to care for birds. My new x hoses were shipped yesterday so they should be here Monday unless UPS is running slow already. Those will give me an additional 100 feet. I'm hoping to use those when I am home alone so I don't have all that extra weight from the other hoses. I guess I'll see if it's a pain to carry them in each day.

 

[Trish44]

Ugh, I'm with the rest of you, I'm done with winter already! I went out yesterday afternoon to do chores & I was doing great till I went over to sit a bucket down that I had used for water to thaw my hook latches on my hoop coops. Then I slipped on some ice right by my Lavender Orp pen & fell. Of course I twisted my bad knee again. I couldn't get up & I was sitting in mud so I called my DH on my phone to come out of the house & help me. I'm a danger to myself on ice & snow. Danz you be careful out there, you don't want to end up in surgery again! I'm kind of sore today in more than one place, I agree it would be nice sometimes to turn back the clock, at least with our aging bodies. Some things I would not want to do over but just maybe turn back the clock on that part.

I got a call this morning that our lamb is ready to be picked up at the locker so we'll have to get that next week one day. We'll see how many pounds of meat we got & I'll let you all know how it is when I cook some. I guess we won't be grilling any this time of year.

So far, knock on wood my heated dog bowls are all working but today will be the true test. I did go ahead & order 2 more for extras just in case. I have heated 5 gallon buckets out for both the sheep & the goats. Sometimes this time of year I just want to move much further south, somewhere where there is no ice & snow, ever.

 

[sharol]

@Danz my netting is UV resistant multifiliment nylon (according to Amazon). It is fairly light weight compared to the netting you use. We were noticing last summer that some of it was getting a little brittle, so I think I'll patch for now and plan to replace it next summer It was pretty cheap at the time I bought it (a 50x50 was only $40 at that time) so it isn't a huge loss. It is just the time and hassle of replacing it.

Radar looks like we are about to get another round of this crap, so I suppose I'd better go shut in the birds. They are probably safer away from the icy trees and netting, but they will be really hard to get it if it is actively raining/sleeting/misting out there.

 

[Champoux]

How old are they? What is the protein content of their feed? What other things are they fed besides chicken feed?

She is a 7 month old pullet. The one I think was attacking her is a 2 year old hen.

I have my feed made 16-18% protein corn/soy meal/poltry mix/ oats & sunflower seed.
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[ChickenCanoe]

How old are they? What is the protein content of their feed? What other things are they fed besides chicken feed?

She is a 7 month old pullet. The one I think was attacking her is a 2 year old hen.

I have my feed made 16-18% protein corn/soy meal/poltry mix/ oats & sunflower seed.

[/QUOTE]

16-18% should be good but it depends on how much oats and sunflower seed make up of the total intake.
If the sunflower seed still has the shell on, it will be about the same protein % as the oats which will be about 12%.
So just consider that if the feed is 16% and that is only half the diet, then the total intake will be 14%.
It isn't just total crude protein but the amino acid makeup. A couple essential amino acids have to be added to feed to make up what is missing in vegetative sources. Lysine and Methionine being two of them and that is usually just enough to maintain body. If more vegetative sources of protein are added, some of the essential amino acids are drawn down below that critical threshold.
We often misjudge how much of the diet is made up of scratch.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
Soybean meal is one of the highest sources of vegetable amino acids. I have a poultry supplement added to my feed for vitamins and extra protein so mine get plenty. But if @Champoux 's birds are able to forage at all they should be good.
Personally, @ChickenCanoe , you could be missing the obvious here. Yes diet is important, but we don't know the whole situation. If the pullet was recently added it would be a normal reaction to her. Otherwise, it could also be a pecking order thing. If one bird, say the 2 year old hen picked on her and drew blood that would make the other birds pick on her as well. It's not always as simple as diet.
Also if the other birds are in molt they may be needing a little more calcium as well. That's an easy fix.
Just saying we probably could use some more information.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The primary reasons for feather picking are protein intake, crowding and boredom.

How old are they? What is the protein content of their feed? What other things are they fed besides chicken feed?

Soybean meal is one of the highest sources of vegetable amino acids. I have a poultry supplement added to my feed for vitamins and extra protein so mine get plenty. But if @Champoux 's birds are able to forage at all they should be good.
Personally, @ChickenCanoe , you could be missing the obvious here. Yes diet is important, but we don't know the whole situation. If the pullet was recently added it would be a normal reaction to her. Otherwise, it could also be a pecking order thing. If one bird, say the 2 year old hen picked on her and drew blood that would make the other birds pick on her as well. It's not always as simple as diet.
Also if the other birds are in molt they may be needing a little more calcium as well. That's an easy fix.
Just saying we probably could use some more information.

We could use more information. In my original post above, I noted that there could be other issues as well as feed. I never considered adding a new bird as a cause since the OP never mentioned that was a possibility.

True, soybeans and other legumes are among the highest vegetative sources of crude protein, however they're still lower in at least 2 essential amino acids than chickens need and supplemental AAs are necessary.
Rather than trying to achieve a high total crude protein percentage, we're trying to manage the lowest concentration of limiting amino acids.
Simply increasing crude protein can cause excess nitrogen excretion while still having deficiencies.
http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informa...rmationmodule=1017786502&topicorder=3&maxto=7

http://ajinomoto-eurolysine.com/lysine-requirements.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3447140
https://www.ncsu.edu/project/swine_...itionguide/protein and amino acids/protaa.htm


I don't understand how calcium can contribute to regrowing feathers. Feathers are 93% protein.
Extra calcium during molt when no egg shells are being produced can be damaging to the kidneys. On the contrary, calcium should be cut back at this time.
Excess calcium during non laying periods can damage the parathyroid gland by increasing gut pH. The damage to the parathyroid would be permanent and would affect the bird's laying cycle afterwards
http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2097&context=etd

 

[chicken danz]

A chicken does not maintain nutrients like a mammal does. There are a whole set of nutrients that are used to produce feathers and just because the outcome is mostly protein that has little to do with all it takes to produce the feathers. Calcium is one of those. If a bird doesn't receive a certain percentage of usable calcium in their diet, their own systems will deplete the supply from their bones.
I read the article you highlighted but found nothing about damage to kidneys and parathyroid. The only place in fact I found that was on stuff on BYC. And some articles about humans and mammals. This article was about forcing birds into molt and didn't really address this subject at all other than to possibly support the fact that those given calcium during molt produced better when they started laying again.
I guess we have to agree to disagree.

 

[Champoux]

Chickencanoe & Chicken danz, you both may be on to something. First feed... Oats and sunflower seed (black oil) are just 10% of mix. Kind of a treat for them. Corn is the main ingredient then soy meal. Poltry supplement is added that has minerals, proteins, and other stuff. Also oyster shell is provided free will.
Now, the pullet has been in the coop with 7 siblings for a couple months but the 2 year old hen (suspect) is newer. I got 5 hens from someone who wanted out of chicken raising.

I have not noticed any other problems with my flock.

The pullet has healed and I put her in a smaller coop with another chicken and they are doing fine right now.

Thank you all for some really good advice. this sight has been invaluable sorce of information.