Consolidated Kansas

[TakenBackBre]

@chicken danz This is one of the pullets out of the chocolates I got from you. She's 20 wks in the picture. I only ended up with one cockerel that hatched out clean legged and then grew some fluff on his shanks. But I culled everything that has any shank feathers right out of the brooder. Anyway. I think she turned out okay. I kept three pullets two are going to have good size and one is either smaller or from the later hatch. I would have had a lot more but my dang barn cats played quite a few babies to death one night

. The bird in back is a cockerel I had shipped from Daniel Velezquez. He's turning out really nice but honestly not any more special than the cockerel I hatched and kept.

 

[chicken danz]

@chicken danz This is one of the pullets out of the chocolates I got from you. She's 20 wks in the picture. I only ended up with one cockerel that hatched out clean legged and then grew some fluff on his shanks. But I culled everything that has any shank feathers right out of the brooder. Anyway. I think she turned out okay. I kept three pullets two are going to have good size and one is either smaller or from the later hatch. I would have had a lot more but my dang barn cats played quite a few babies to death one night

. The bird in back is a cockerel I had shipped from Daniel Velezquez. He's turning out really nice but honestly not any more special than the cockerel I hatched and kept.

She looks really nice. I had some leg feathering that would just stop growing as they aged. I have no idea what the original English lines were bred to to get the chocolate gene. I honestly think by breeding back and using some good blacks for better form would help that . Looks like Daniel's boy is a bit darker. ( or it could just be a shadow.) I've bought several birds from him and his quality is usually outstanding.
I spent a good 3.5 hours out today feeding and watering. It seems to take so long when it's cold and snowy out. I got some treats for the birds and gave them all some extra goodies today to help battle the cold.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Chicken Relish Plate treat for tonight baby carrots rough chopped red pepper with seeds corn bread and mashed soft banana

 

[coco mama]

I am done buy the heater pet bowl. They seem to work one year and then they don't heat up. Since the bottoms are sealed it is hard not break the bowl to see what's going on in here.
I cut the end so now I have 4 bowls for watering during the summer. This winter, I found laying in the barn, a drop-in deicer for stock tanks. It sets on 2 bricks in a rubber tub that has the side not to high for the chickens to reach the water. It is plugged in a timer that turn it on every few hours. The deicer would probably warm the water pretty good if left on all the time since the tub is so little!
It has work perfectly and I don't use too much power since it is on only a few time a day.
I am looking forward warmer days this week. I am ready to cut in a trap door in the new coop so the chicks that are almost 2 months old can enjoy the nice sunny days also!

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Coco mama,
Yep we are in the same boat ww can't wait for this weekend to cut our chicken trap door stop that oyr 10 wk old chicks can go outside and play they were really curious yesterday but as it kepy threatening rain decide to wait until this weekend when its surpost to be all sunny.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I am done buy the heater pet bowl. They seem to work one year and then they don't heat up. Since the bottoms are sealed it is hard not break the bowl to see what's going on in here.
I cut the end so now I have 4 bowls for watering during the summer. This winter, I found laying in the barn, a drop-in deicer for stock tanks. It sets on 2 bricks in a rubber tub that has the side not to high for the chickens to reach the water. It is plugged in a timer that turn it on every few hours. The deicer would probably warm the water pretty good if left on all the time since the tub is so little!
It has work perfectly and I don't use too much power since it is on only a few time a day.
I am looking forward warmer days this week. I am ready to cut in a trap door in the new coop so the chicks that are almost 2 months old can enjoy the nice sunny days also!

I've heard others having the same problem with the heated pet bowls. I've actually had good luck with the green water bowls. I have 2 of the green pet bowls from Orscheln's in my duck yard. I've been using them 24/7 year-round since the first winter we had the birds (probably winter 2012) and have only had to replace one bowl in that time. I have no idea why they've worked so well for us and so poorly for other people. I had to eventually put cages around my bowls to keep my birds from BATHING in them. The holes in the cages are like 4x4, so plenty large for them to get their head in but not quite big enought o allow the whole bird through.


I've heard of several people fermenting chicken feed. I've ordered my first group of chickens (hatch/ship date is March 7th! and am doing some research on fermenting feed). Can someone who's more experienced with this send me more info?

 

[Trish44]

I've heard others having the same problem with the heated pet bowls. I've actually had good luck with the green water bowls. I have 2 of the green pet bowls from Orscheln's in my duck yard. I've been using them 24/7 year-round since the first winter we had the birds (probably winter 2012) and have only had to replace one bowl in that time. I have no idea why they've worked so well for us and so poorly for other people. I had to eventually put cages around my bowls to keep my birds from BATHING in them. The holes in the cages are like 4x4, so plenty large for them to get their head in but not quite big enought o allow the whole bird through.


I've heard of several people fermenting chicken feed. I've ordered my first group of chickens (hatch/ship date is March 7th! and am doing some research on fermenting feed). Can someone who's more experienced with this send me more info?

I use the green ones & usually get two years out of them before the heating element fails. I just figure on buying a few new ones every year & get them on sale. I don't however use them for the ducks & geese due to them playing in the bowl & pooping in it. I need to find a better water system for the waterfowl, it just hasn't been on the top of my list.

I do the fermenting, it's really pretty simple. You just kind of figure out for the amount of birds you have how much dry feed you would need. You put it in a container that you can loosely cover, it needs to breathe & cover it with enough water to make it like thick oatmeal consistency. On the first batch you add some glugs of the natural vinegar with the mother in it. Our Walmart here sells it in the vinegar section. It takes about 3 days at least to get the fermentation process going good. You always will want some extra feed left in the bottom for the "starter", kind of like friendship bread. That all being said though I wouldn't feed fermented feed to brand newly hatched chicks. I would just feed them chick starter for awhile till they get started well. I don't put my chicks on it till they're old enough to stay outside. You can find a lot of opinions on the fermented feed on here on the fermented feed thread. There are varying ones I'm sure. I just feel like my birds do better on it & their feathers are nicer. Besides that I use much, much less feed which matters a lot with how many birds I have.

I'm going to be starting my outpatient therapy today with the taskmasters. I always say that PT stands for pain & torture, isn't that how it goes usually? I'm still trying to get past the first part of recovery & am still having some low grade fever & chilling at times. I have a lot of swelling still in my knee & it gets worse the longer I'm on it. That causes me more pain of course so it's kind of a circle.

 

[chicken danz]

Chicken Relish Plate treat for tonight baby carrots rough chopped red pepper with seeds corn bread and mashed soft banana

Lucky chickens!!!

Quote: I don't like the green water bowls. Those are the ones that have quit working for me. I have had the best luck with the Allied brand blue pet bowls. The heat element is removable from the bottom. I've had some of these around 6 years and they still work great. I remove the heat element for summer and put it back on when the weather starts freezing. I have some I've used for over 6 years. I buy them when I find them on sale. I've paid as little as $12 each to a maximum of $19.99 when they weren't on sale.
I've also used fermented feed and was very happy with it, other than the amount of work it required. Since I use around 250 pounds of feed a day it just got to be be more than I could handle. And winter was always a problem with it. I could probably start doing it again if I did it in the building other than I would have to replace the galvanized food pans I use in there.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz,
Thanks they loved everything but they only would eat the mashed banana from my finger not from the tray lol

 

[zigzag45]

Thanks @chicken danz - missed being connected. Didn't know about Gardner but hadn't looked. I put it on the schedule, hope to make it. That will probably be a pretty cold day. Kiddos are good. Keep us on our toes - that's for sure.

I do have to confess that I'm going hatchery for this year's babies. I had such horrible issues with illness and roo's last year that I took the lazy route. I much prefer working with breeders... maybe next year. I am excited that I managed to connect with Cackle at the right time and am on their Feb 1 hatch date.

My nipple on the bottom of a blue heated bucket worked really well until the temp hit 1. But, I think my entire heated bucket wasn't working. Once I reseated the plug it kicked on. I wish they had a red light on them to show they are working. Still want something with more capacity.

I don't want to have to mess with emptying mine out daily so I'm not interested in the heated buckets on the ground. Too much dirty work. So, once again, I've taken the lazy route and use the poultry cups and poultry nipples which means I just add water every day or two to the bucket - and do a dump/refill every month or so. I can do the water add in my work/dress clothes which is a huge plus.

I ferment my feed in a 5 gallon, food grade bucket (the red ones at TSC are supposedly food grade?). Like @Trish44 said, it's super easy. I haven't found that using vinegar as a starter helps much. Somebody said vinegar is a pre-biotic, not a pro-biotic -whatever, just didn't help mine. I have some goat type probiotic powder that I dump a scoop in when I remember or I think it needs it. Probably a pretty good placebo. I stir it twice a day (super important - at least for how mine works), and every few days add more feed. My problem is that crud builds up on the edges of the bucket so I have empty/clean it every month or so. Which means starting over. If your mush starts looking gray, either stir more often or add fresh feed to it.