Consolidated Kansas

[mommahen10]

HEChicken, how high off the ground was the bucket? Maybe the mowing down the tall grass will be enough to keep them away. They don't have anything to hide in while they scope things out anymore.

Lizzy, we buy most of our feed from a local feed store, it's bagged and a little cheaper than Orcheln's. We do buy it at Orcheln's very rarely, only if we run out when the feed store isn't open but we will only get enough to get by until the feedstore is open.

Maidenwolf, I love your idea to use the dust in teh bottom of the feeders. I usually dump them all completely once per week and just throw that out but as long as it's dry there's no reason why we can't make some mush and put it in something smaller so they can eat it. That will have to save some money.

When does everyone stop using medicated starter on their chicks? I usually do 1 bag then go to unmedicated if they look strong. I had one hatch I kept on it longer but I thought they were over crowded from the beginning and they didn't get pretty feathers for a long time. One more questions. For grow out pens, how many square feet per chicken would be optimal? I'm thinking I don't want those to exercise much and I'm also thinking a short period of time in there, maybe 30 days????? Anyone have input or advice in that area?

Danz, those are great ideas for preventing pasty bottoms. I wonder if a group in the same area could get together and split a custom mix that has a high minimum order. I know I'm pretty far away from everyone but there are some on here that are closer together. Maybe they could get better feed deals that way.

OMGosh Josie, I'm so sorry. That would totally break my heart too. Please keep us updated.

 

[HEChicken]

Josie, I am sitting her with tears streaming down my cheeks at what you are going through with Lucie. Please let us know what the orthopedic surgeon has to say...

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, how high off the ground was the bucket? Maybe the mowing down the tall grass will be enough to keep them away. They don't have anything to hide in while they scope things out anymore.

When does everyone stop using medicated starter on their chicks? I usually do 1 bag then go to unmedicated if they look strong. I had one hatch I kept on it longer but I thought they were over crowded from the beginning and they didn't get pretty feathers for a long time. One more questions. For grow out pens, how many square feet per chicken would be optimal? I'm thinking I don't want those to exercise much and I'm also thinking a short period of time in there, maybe 30 days????? Anyone have input or advice in that area?

In the area where I built my chicken coop and yard, the previous owners had a tether ball and volleyball net. So there are three posts set in concrete that are now being used for nothing. That made it easy to know how/where to tie up the bucket. I chose the one that is closest to the hedgerow so it is in shade for more of the day (this was July). I think the bottom of the bucket is about 3' off the ground but that's just how it came out when I tied the rope through the volleyball net bracket on the post. You could do it lower too.

I used to do the life cycle in the bucket at my previous house too, and there I hung it from a tree branch. It was lower to the ground but worked just as well.

On the medicated starter, it varies a little, depending on how many chicks there are. I buy a bag and the fewer chicks, the longer it lasts. I aim for 6-8 weeks. I have added two dog pens in the past couple of months, to my chicken yard, in order to house groups that need to be segregated for whatever reason. My turkey pen is a 10x6 dog pen with a tarp over the top. My chick pen is a 6x8 dog pen that is only 4" high so I have to duck to go in (since it also has a tarp) over the top, but of course it is plenty high for chicks.

Are you looking for advice for growout pens for meaties and that's why you don't want them exercising too much? If that is the case, I wouldn't worry about that - they will tend to sit in front of the feeder and won't run around that much anyway. In fact, I would advise putting the water as far from the feeder as is practical to force them to get up and walk around at least between the two. If the grow out pen is for layers, I would give them as much space as you can, as the less crowded they are, the fewer problems you will have. While a 6x8 pen seems huge when the chicks are a couple of weeks old, by the time they are 6 weeks old it doesn't seem nearly as large....

 

[chicken danz]

I am sorry not to respond to everyone's posts this morning but we started the day off in a very bad way. With the coyote scare last night I decided to leave Lucie off the tie out all night in case Molly needed help. She has been off a few other times overnight and been fine so I didn't think much of it. When I went to bed I told DH I needed to rustle up her invisible fence collar in the garage and put it on her tomorrow. She usually sticks to the back pasture so it hasn't been an issue.

Well apparently sometime late last night or early this morning she decided to cross the road and was hit by a car. DH hollered up to me in a panic that Lucie was hurt. I raced downstairs and the poor dog was laying across the street next to our mailbox. We got her wrapped in blankets and into the car and gave her two different kinds of pain medications and DH hurried down to Andover with her. She is fairly stabile on fluids and pain medications and she had x rays of her chest and hind end. Her chest is clear but she has bilateral femoral fractures. Essentially she has two broken hind legs. I am just heartbroken and sick over it. I feel like it is all my fault. If I had tied her back up or found her collar this never would have happened. I am so angry that someone would hit her and leave her there on the side of the road. The only people who travel our road at night or early morning are our neighbors. And she has a bright red collar on with a tag with our numbers and address. If they had pulled over they could have looked at the tag and seen she was laying right next to our mailbox. We are waiting to hear back from the orthopedic surgeon to see what his recommendations are. I am devastated. I feel like I failed her in every way. I have never had a dog hit by a car and to see her laying there in the cold, frosty grass with two broken legs. I can't hardly stand it.

Lindsey, that isn't your fault. You have gone to great lengths to provide for and train that dog. I feel angry that someone would have hit her and just left her there without at least knocking on your door. I so hope that she will be okay. Regardless of the problems you've had, I know you really care about her. I am thankful it is her legs and not her internal organs that have been damaged. I do hope that surgery will correct it and she will be fine.
I'm so sorry that you have to add this to your other turmoil these days. Wish I was there to give you a hug.
It makes my heart hurt!!!

 

[mommahen10]

HEChicken, I feel mean talking about eating our birds but it's the reality of it I guess. I can't go in debt on this endeavor. If we eat the extra roosters, not necessarily breeds intended for meat, but evertime we eat one that's taking $5 off of what I spent to keep them. There are also other benefits of course, but they save me more money if we eath them rather than giving them away and someone else eating them. We still have a lot of mouths to feed around here and we are so close financially to getting over a hump but it's a make it or break it kind of thing. I always consider saving money the same as making money. If we save it, we have more for other things. You know how it goes. So specifically what I want to do is remove the 5 mo old roosters from the coop, it's causing a little aggression anyway having them all in the big coop but nothing that has been a problem. I want to put these roosters in another pen and let them have some relax time before the dreaded big day. I still have a hard time with this, I'm thankful the kids deal with it better than I do. I seriously about passed out when we did the first rooster. Then I saw a pic of him a few days later and I lost it. It's hard, but it's life and it's necessary and I hope this just helps us appreciate our food even more.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, I feel mean talking about eating our birds but it's the reality of it I guess. I can't go in debt on this endeavor. If we eat the extra roosters, not necessarily breeds intended for meat, but evertime we eat one that's taking $5 off of what I spent to keep them. There are also other benefits of course, but they save me more money if we eath them rather than giving them away and someone else eating them. We still have a lot of mouths to feed around here and we are so close financially to getting over a hump but it's a make it or break it kind of thing. I always consider saving money the same as making money. If we save it, we have more for other things. You know how it goes. So specifically what I want to do is remove the 5 mo old roosters from the coop, it's causing a little aggression anyway having them all in the big coop but nothing that has been a problem. I want to put these roosters in another pen and let them have some relax time before the dreaded big day. I still have a hard time with this, I'm thankful the kids deal with it better than I do. I seriously about passed out when we did the first rooster. Then I saw a pic of him a few days later and I lost it. It's hard, but it's life and it's necessary and I hope this just helps us appreciate our food even more.

Don't feel bad. Many of us here have processed or do process our birds, and the ones who choose not to, I think understand that it is a reality. The way I look at it is that 50% of chicks hatched are male but at best you need 1 rooster per 10 hens for fertility but since so many people cannot or choose not to have roosters, in reality the number of roosters for whom there is a home is even less than that. The commercial meat industry abounds with birds treated callously and kept in terrible conditions, living miserable lives. So I figure if I raise a cockerel where he has access to sun and grass and bugs and dust baths and good food and water and the company of his flock, until he is big enough to eat, then he has had a much better life than any chicken raised by Tyson. I will never enjoy processing but it is a reality and yes, I eat my excess boys too. So don't feel you need to apologize.

The only thing I would add to that is that IMHO, it is better for the cockerel to get plenty of exercise because that way he is building up muscle rather than fat, and the meat will be healthier for you.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I plan to hatch next spring and I am going to take my extra roos and process. It will not be fun or something I am looking forward to because I am the ultimate animal lady. But the truth is I would rather raise and process my own meat just like HEchicken says and know where he lived and what he ate and that he had a great life and for me in my religion(not sure if anyone else make point to do this) thank that animal with providing myself and my family with meat to sustain our bodies. It kills me everytime and I cry but I feel better serving that meat than store bought,,,,

So I took eat little chick and with a warm wet paper towel soaked the bottom and then cut it with cuticle scissors, it seemed easier to cut that way. Now it is gone and the fuzz is no longer in the way..

Thanks guys

 

[lizzyGSR]

I have my feed custom mixed. I keep a bag of protein supplement on hand that I can add to give more protein for some of the birds that require more. It usually isn't that necessary in the summer because the birds catch and eat lots of bugs and such that give them the added protein. Most of them free range all day. Most co-ops won't mix less than a half ton at a time which becomes problematic when you only need a smaller amount. Of course I have no idea how that works because I feed at least 75 pounds a day. Obviously the best way to do that if you only need a smaller amount, is to find other people in your area to coordinate with who will buy feed with you. This year I am feeding a bird seed feed which is much higher in protein along with my regular mix to gain extra protein. I have a poultry supplement added to my feed calculated out to about 16%.
My co-op will bag custom feed for $2.50 a bag but that just adds to the cost. With the cost of grain going up it has gotten much more expensive but still a far better option than feeding bagged feed.

What kind of a custom mix do you get? What kind of birds do you use it for? Where do you get your protein supplement and how do you calculate protein percentages? I called my co-op last week, and they didn't say anything about a minimum for mixing... I guess I'll have to ask. They said they'd call me back, and I haven't heard from them yet, so maybe I need to call them...

That I know of, there is no one in the area that I could go in with to get bulk feed...

So the co-op doesn't carry bagged feed for poultry? I would ask them to order in some game bird feed. Our local coop didn't have game bird feed and I asked them to order it. They ordered in like 10 bags rather than a whole pallet. I don't use them any more because of some other problems, but they didn't seem to mind ordering. You can also feed some things like calf mana or hog feed if you can't get anything else. You may need to give them some brewers yeast or niacin in addition to the feed but otherwise it should work.

I haven't ever been to the co-op itself, so I don't know for sure, but no one said anything about carrying bagged feeds when I called... Again, maybe I'll have to specifically ask about such things.

Lizzy, we buy most of our feed from a local feed store, it's bagged and a little cheaper than Orcheln's. We do buy it at Orcheln's very rarely, only if we run out when the feed store isn't open but we will only get enough to get by until the feedstore is open.

In this area, the only choices are Orscheln's or the co-op. If I wanted other options, I'd have to drive to Denver (about 4 hours away), and that is cost prohibitive for a small flock like mine. what do you feed your birds? Maybe I could get something similar from the co-op?

 

[JosieChick]

Thank you everyone for kind words. I am an absolute mess over this. She is stable and on fluids and morphine. Running a low grade fever but nothing too bad. We are still waiting to hear back from the orthopedic surgeon but the good news is that she has deep pain (meaning she responds to a toe pinch) and she withdraws her leg and can wag her tail so she doesn't have major nerve damage. There is still a risk that even with surgery she may have a poor outcome but the fact that she still has neural integrity is really good news. A healed broken leg with no neural information is pretty useless. I have seen so many animals with fractures from being hit by cars but I have never had to deal with one of my own. I feel like I am still in a state of shock from it all.

 

[michelleml]

...

I am sorry not to respond to everyone's posts this morning but we started the day off in a very bad way. With the coyote scare last night I decided to leave Lucie off the tie out all night in case Molly needed help. She has been off a few other times overnight and been fine so I didn't think much of it. When I went to bed I told DH I needed to rustle up her invisible fence collar in the garage and put it on her tomorrow. She usually sticks to the back pasture so it hasn't been an issue. 

Well apparently sometime late last night or early this morning she decided to cross the road and was hit by a car. DH hollered up to me in a panic that Lucie was hurt. I raced downstairs and the poor dog was laying across the street next to our mailbox. We got her wrapped in blankets and into the car and gave her two different kinds of pain medications and DH hurried down to Andover with her. She is fairly stabile on fluids and pain medications and she had x rays of her chest and hind end. Her chest is clear but she has bilateral femoral fractures. Essentially she has two broken hind legs. I am just heartbroken and sick over it. I feel like it is all my fault. If I had tied her back up or found her collar this never would have happened. I am so angry that someone would hit her and leave her there on the side of the road. The only people who travel our road at night or early morning are our neighbors. And she has a bright red collar on with a tag with our numbers and address. If they had pulled over they could have looked at the tag and seen she was laying right next to our mailbox. We are waiting to hear back from the orthopedic surgeon to see what his recommendations are. I am devastated. I feel like I failed her in every way. I have never had a dog hit by a car and to see her laying there in the cold, frosty grass with two broken legs. I can't hardly stand it. 
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Josie I'm so very sorry. I hope she will be okay