Consolidated Kansas

[pikeman94]

Konza,

Congrats! I had hour new hens this year and the first egg never gets old.

Congrats again!

Rob (Pikeman94)

 

[Ivywoods]

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We feed our dogs regular dog food, but we do supplement with raw meat. For our raw meat we use venison. My hubby and I both hunt, and process our own deer. For a while we were averaging 5-6 deer per year. I am picky about my meat, so anything bruised or that I didn't want got trimmed off and saved in a baggie for the dogs. I kept it all in the freezer, and then would pull out what I wanted to give them now and then. They also got the bones to chew on. I saved the livers and hearts for the dogs, too, and gave them portions of that now and then. There were times when a deer would get hit on the road near our place. If we knew the deer was freshly killed, we would call the sheriff or game warden and get a salvage tag. Many times much of the meat was good, but often there was a lot of bruising. The bruised meat would all get saved for the dogs.

Since the kids have moved off to college, we don't use near as much venison. We will probably only do 2 this year.

KONZA-CONGRATS ON THAT FIRST EGG!

 

[Hawkeye95]

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BIG CONGRATULATIONS on your first egg!!!!

 

[rittert3]

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I'd be cafefully my do was having some health problems and my vet said that raw animal fat can really mess up their pancreas.

 

[chicken danz]

Konza, Great to see you back on here. Congrats on that first egg. That is such an awesome feeling. It only gets better!
TNTBlake, As far as dog food goes it is very important that you feed based on the size and type of dog you have. Different dogs have different needs. Raw chicken is probably the best thing you can feed a dog. Never feed a dog cooked chicken with bones. But raw chicken with bones has some major components to help build connective tissue and promote strong muscle and bone growth. Personally my dogs won't eat raw chicken. I've been told to simply seer the outside just a tiny bit and they will learn to eat it. I haven't forced the issue cause I don't want them used to eating chickens. I give them some raw liver and organ meats particularly in the winter when it is bitterly cold. Liver in particular has a lot of fat. Organ meets shouldn't be over 20% of a daily diet. My dogs love raw grain, particularly corn. They steal from the chickens. They also love eggs, but you have to be careful not to over feed raw eggs. Milk is also good.
As far as dog foods go, Blue is a great dog food particularly if you are trying to build a dog up. Loyalle is excellent especially for bigger breeds. Nutro is probably the best all around food you can buy. Here is the problem. It is all very expensive. I often cook my dogs a concoction of meat, rice, and veggies when it is really cold. I normally use the poor cuts from home butcher meat I don't want to mess with myself, and any leftover fresh or slightly freezer burnt veggies. For an upset stomach sweet potato is probably the best food you can give your dog. It is settling, good for them, and they love it.
I'm not a dog expert by any means but my daughter is. She makes her living caring for, showing, and training dogs. My dogs mostly just get dog food. I check ingredients to make sure they get enough fat, protein, and calcium but more than that, I check price and if they like it. If they don't like it it's wasted money and the chickens end up eating it. Right now they are eating Loyalle only because it was on sale. I normally feed Diamond because it is made by the company that makes Nutro and it is reasonably priced.
I guess the biggest problem with a raw diet would be getting them to eat it and being able to afford it.

 

[Katy]

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I know Diamond makes TOTW but are you sure they make Nutro brand also?

I feed TOTW....I used to feed Diamond Lamb and Rice which they ate well, but they eat much less of the TOTW so even tho a bag costs more so it pretty much evens out as far as cost.

 

[rittert3]

I worked at a pet store for 3 years and the only dog food we sold was nutro, I gave it a shot when I got my beagle but it quickly broke the bank so I went back to Ol' Roy and now occaisionaly country fare from Hyvee. (my vet (who I used to job shadow for fun in my early teens) chews me out for feeding ol'roy every time we go in) but my dog likes it better (the taste anyway) and so dose my wallet. Raw eggs now and then will make their coat shine like nobodys bussiness. Konza glad to here about your first egg. I went to high school there in alma I'm glad to here that there are BYCers that close by. I'm from Wamego but in Riley now.

 

[msjfrizzle]

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Congratulations! it's SO exciting!

 

[Hawkeye95]

more work on the coop last night! I'm starting to feel less stressed. If we work on it every night, surely we can be done in 2 weeks??? Riiiight?

I mean, it's only taken us ALL summer to get to this point.

I think my poor turkey is really tired of being in her little pen under the deck all day. I cant' let her out too often- she wants to go explore the back pasture. That is where all the coyotes are hanging out right now. She is losing a LOT of feather! I should take a picture of this. She herself doesn't look like she's lost any... but the ground all around her pen is covered in feathers. It's crazy!!

 

[Ivywoods]

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Right now my barn looks like I've been butchering chickens in a windstorm. Feathers of every color EVERYWHERE!