Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I feed my birds cracked corn, Half crimped milo and half whole milo, oats or wheat whichever is cheaper. (They like the wheat much better,) and a 36% poultry supplement which they had to order in. You an also use Hog40% in place of the poultry supplement but it is much finer and harder to manage. I increase the amount of corn in winter and use less in summer because it produces more fat on the birds.
I supplement my feed with calcium, greens, garden produce, peanuts, Black oil S Seeds, or mixed wild bird seed. Those things are often given as treats at night to convince them it is time to go to the coop. The calcium is there for them all the time.
The poultry supplement comes in 50 pound bags. The co-op actually calculates how many bags to put in to make 16% and they mix it for me so I don't have to. I have figured it before to mix special feed but I just let them do it. When I want higher protein I just grab some and throw it in with the other feed.
I feed everything the same feed: ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, doves, guineas, peafowl etc. Except I use chick starter and game bird starter for the babies. If you have just ducks and geese you will need about 22% or so protein. It really isn't the protein that makes them thrive it is the nutrition they need. Game bird feed is mixed with a higher protein because that is the only way to get the necessary ingredients in their feed. With your geese it would be worthwhile to order a jar of brewers yeast flakes or granules to add to their feed. It doesn't take much but they need the niacin.
I hate processing. It's not the act of doing it. It's just that it is time consuming and messy. The only part I really don't want to do is the actual killing but no one else will do it for me.
I started outside but it is feeling mighty chilly out there.

 

[mommahen10]

But it's hard to get fat on a chicken, and the fat makes it more tender. I don't want it to be tough and dry. But the one we did was perfect that way even being in the big pen so it probably doesn't matter that much in such a short period of time anyway. Maybe I don't need to build another pen. But I still want to separate them to feed them differently. I thank the animal too but it's not really a religion thing for me, just being appreciative for feeding us. It just seemed like the right thing to do. These chickens are part of our family but all along they are also our food, so it's like they are taking a hit for the well being of the family.

Lizzy, I will get the names of the feeds we are using when my dh gets home with it this evening.

Josie, I'm glad the outcome is looking better. It's going to be a long road. Take a deep breath and take it one thing at a time, you don't need the stress right now either. Take care of yourself too.

 

[Trish44]

I can't get caught up right now on reading all the posts since I've been gone, but Josie I did see your post about Lucie, I'm so sorry. It's not your fault, it happens, but I just don't see how people live with themselves hitting a dog & then just leaving them lay there injured like that. I just couldn't sleep at night If I did something like that.

We just got back late last night from going to Missouri to see my DH's family. His mother is back at the nursing home now, but on the regular care side now since she is no longer able to stay in the "apartment". It's pretty obvious by seeing her that her alzheimer's is progressing & she is getting kind of lost & more confused. The family is now having to make some hard decisions that it was apparent they aren't really ready to make. She still somewhat remembers people, especially the ones she sees all the time, but those of us she only sees occasionally are a different story. She didn't remember that my DH lives in Kansas & he has lived there since the 80s & was asking him what he did there. She is kind of reverting back to more child-like now & often sings nursery rhymes. She thinks it's 1945 when you ask her what year it is. It's pretty sad to watch someone go downhill like that & really hard for her family.

I let the guineas out awhile ago & they all were up in the tree above the hoop coop at one point. I took a pic of them that I will post later when I get time, it was pretty funny seeing them all up there lined up in that tree. It seems that all of my birds made it through the cold snap OK, I was kind of worried about the ones in the grow-out pen, but they were fine this morning.

 

[chicken danz]

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.

I'm so glad she has good neural response. I sounds promising. Hang in there Sweety. I'll bet she will be okay! She's got good doggy parents.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

I can't get caught up right now on reading all the posts since I've been gone, but Josie I did see your post about Lucie, I'm so sorry. It's not your fault, it happens, but I just don't see how people live with themselves hitting a dog & then just leaving them lay there injured like that. I just couldn't sleep at night If I did something like that.

I'm pressed for time today too, just have to agree with Trish44. How can people hit an animal and just blaze on down the road? I'm so very sorry this happened and very happy there appears to be no nerve damage! That's just amazing!

 

[HEChicken]

Josie, glad to hear about the neural response. And, as with Fern, since she is young, healing will be fast in the event she is a good candidate for surgery. Being femoral breaks, it sounds like she was lucky that the femoral artery was not nicked too. As others have said, do take care of yourself, and let Tim worry about Lucie.

Trish, sorry about your MIL - it is so hard to watch someone revert, and to have them not remember you, when you have such vivid memories of them.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish it's great to have you back home. Missed reading your posts. I am so sorry about your MIL. I've been through that with a grandparent and it isn't pleasant.
Glad your birds are doing fine. I think the cold is bothering me a lot more than my silly birds!

 

[checoukan]

Josie, I know how you are feeling. My Arnie was hit in April, and I still miss him bunches. You are lucky, you still have Lucie.
Take a deep breath, and keep going forward, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Hawkeye95]

All this talk about guns, I've never shot one. We have them locked up, but if we needed to shoot something my boys are responsible enough and I always call on them. I think I should learn how thhough, they won't always be here.

Our new coop is done, and chickens moved there.

Shooting is a lot of fun. We love target practice. It's a big deal on my side of the family. It's right up there with date night out with a movie and dinner! LOL Will you post pics of your new coop? Glad you are done!

There was surprisingly little odor. I forgot to mention, I put some dried cut grass in the bottom of the container before putting the fox in, and then I covered it with some more dried grass.

Well, I took the .22 with me this morning to go and do chicken chores, but the predator I saw yesterday did not make an appearance. We had our pasture mowed yesterday so the long grass he was standing in yesterday morning is no longer there, and he would have had to come out more in the open. I also had the binoculars with me and I scanned the edges of the hedgerow carefully but didn't see anything. There are so many rabbits in there - I wish they would just content themselves with catching and eating those.

Where did you learn about the whole fox in a bucket thing? I hate to say it, but if we kill a predator, it just gets dumped in the tree line. Maybe the pasture being mowed will help!

.
Oh and HeChicken you just had to remind me. You mentioned roosts. I forgot I still have to mount roosts on the two pens in the peafowl building yet. I'm not as near done as I thought. Darn it. Dh has a bunch of tools stored in one pen as well which I am going to have to move before I put birds in. It's these kind of things that slow me down that I forget about. I'm trying to decide whether to run heat tape on the roosts. I've read about doing that for peafowl but don't know if it is necessary. It sure would be nice for them to keep their little toes warm this winter. But that is another expense. I was thinking how nice it would be to put heat tape on roosts for all the birds but it is totally impractical.

heat tape on roosts! WOW, that is a fantastic idea! Never heard of that, and it seems like anymore, I've heard of a lot of things! LOL

I probably tend to spoil my birds a little more than most. Some of these tiny breeds and some of these imports seem a little more temperature sensitive.

I think my silkies are weenies. My DH told me last night as I was bringing them into the garage to sleep that they are all wusses. They were chilled and shivering! Poor things. They really are sensitive to drastic temps. Sigh. When they get like that, they pile up into huge silkie piles. You can't see heads or anything-- just a fluff mound.

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.

OMGosh. I read this and my heart about stopped! Poor Lucie!! What total asses for the driver NOT to stop!!! I have only hit a dog once. Okay-- I hit 3 dogs at the same time-- it was 6am and totally dark in the dead of winter on my way to work--lots of snow and ice. They landed in the ditch, poor babies. At first I stopped totally panicked and then drove my car to the nearest house and banged on their door. From there, they called the police (I didn't have a phone on me) and I walked back to the ditch and waited until the Sheriff got there. He was able to run the rabies tags and get their owner to come down. No way was I going to let those poor doggies lie in the ditch all alone. I sat there in the snow crying my eyes out with them and covered them with a blanket and pet his head (the one that died). The other two made it. That is just sick they could hit Lucie and leave her.

When does everyone stop using medicated starter on their chicks? I usually do 1 bag then go to unmedicated if they look strong.

I buy a lot of medicated chick starter. I use it up to about 9-10 weeks of age. It takes a lot of feed/time to bring up their immunization to coccidosis. I play it on the safe side. All it would take is for them to get into something outside or get a bit of adult poo and they are fluffed and gone.

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.

I think about every one here eats their birds, or sells them for that purpose. I certainly don't want to butcher my silkies (black meat) but I could do the LF birds. It's been a long time since I have had to. When I was living at home, this was something I had to help my dad do. My brother and I-- my brother chopped heads and I dunked and plucked. Sigh. But I never had a problem eating them. But we raised them for that-- don't even know what kind of bird they were. Great big white birds.

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.

That is good news to hear. Still, I am so, so very sorry for you. Don't beat yourself up about this. Just move forward and concentrate on what to do next. Its nice to hear she can wag her tail.

I hate processing. It's not the act of doing it. It's just that it is time consuming and messy. The only part I really don't want to do is the actual killing but no one else will do it for me.
I started outside but it is feeling mighty chilly out there.

I have an easier time with the processing-- it's the act of killing I can't handle!

We just got back late last night from going to Missouri to see my DH's family. His mother is back at the nursing home now, but on the regular care side now since she is no longer able to stay in the "apartment". It's pretty obvious by seeing her that her alzheimer's is progressing & she is getting kind of lost & more confused.

I let the guineas out awhile ago & they all were up in the tree above the hoop coop at one point. I took a pic of them that I will post later when I get time, it was pretty funny seeing them all up there lined up in that tree. It seems that all of my birds made it through the cold snap OK, I was kind of worried about the ones in the grow-out pen, but they were fine this morning.

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about your DH's mom. Not the best of news. I hope your DH is doing okay. Sounds cute-- the guineas all up in the tree! Glad everyone was okay. BTW, is your DH going to run the Prairie Fire Marathon this Sunday? My DH is going to run it. If so, maybe I'll see you up there.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I feed my birds cracked corn, Half crimped milo and half whole milo, oats or wheat whichever is cheaper. (They like the wheat much better,) and a 36% poultry supplement which they had to order in. You an also use Hog40% in place of the poultry supplement but it is much finer and harder to manage. I increase the amount of corn in winter and use less in summer because it produces more fat on the birds.
I supplement my feed with calcium, greens, garden produce, peanuts, Black oil S Seeds, or mixed wild bird seed. Those things are often given as treats at night to convince them it is time to go to the coop. The calcium is there for them all the time.
The poultry supplement comes in 50 pound bags. The co-op actually calculates how many bags to put in to make 16% and they mix it for me so I don't have to. I have figured it before to mix special feed but I just let them do it. When I want higher protein I just grab some and throw it in with the other feed.
I feed everything the same feed: ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, doves, guineas, peafowl etc. Except I use chick starter and game bird starter for the babies. If you have just ducks and geese you will need about 22% or so protein. It really isn't the protein that makes them thrive it is the nutrition they need. Game bird feed is mixed with a higher protein because that is the only way to get the necessary ingredients in their feed. With your geese it would be worthwhile to order a jar of brewers yeast flakes or granules to add to their feed. It doesn't take much but they need the niacin.

Thank you so much for the information. It is very helpful! Would you mind sharing the ratios for your feed, please? For example, is it 25% corn, 25% crimped milo, 25% whole milo, 25% oats/wheat or are the ratios different?