EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[LittleLakePhil]

My dogs have been barking for an hour nonstop, now there is a helicopter circling very close and it is so loud and making me nervous! My over-active imagination wonders if there is some escaped convict or someone like that hiding in the woods around my house and they are searching by helicopter.

be careful....

 

[LittleLakePhil]

be careful....

Did you ever hear what was going on?

 

[Lucky Lemon]

Did you ever hear what was going on?

I did not. The helicopter was so loud and close I thought it might land in my yard! Crazy!

 

[Lucky Lemon]

Good morning all!

 

[kajira]

Good morning all!

Morning! how are you doing today??

 

[BullChick]

Ok goodnight. Hope she listens.

She did not.
I set up the baby monitor so I could talk to her. She wasn't happy, but she also has not gotten enough sleep.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:

No I don't! They reduce their production while molting.
In my opinion there is nothing natural in them, a bird that lay 280-330 eggs/year is an extraordinary laying machine! All made by human selection. The red jungle fowl wich is the major ancestor of chickens lay 2-3 clutch of 10-15 eggs each, so we are talking about 30-45 eggs annually most of chickens breeds lay MUCH MUCH MORE! only Asils, that are the closest to the RJF and some
other breed lay about 30-40 eggs annually. So were is the rest?
Did you know that 100 years ago, befor the comercial feed, and when people grow chicken onl on table scraps the avarege layer laid 100-150eggs annually? So in my opinion give them the best food and conditions and let them lay.

I knew. It wasn't until this selection for laying machines that calcium became important in the diet. And that huge amount of calcium they now need is why people have to be careful with roosters and non-layers and to not allow those regular access to layer feed.

Quote:

I hand raked my whole run

Nice job on the cleanup.
It's a shame the chickens don't have access to all that pasture outside the fence.


If I had your climate, they would always have pasture to forage in. We have almost nothing growing here for 4 months of the year.
Here's mine part of the year.





But here is what they have access to the rest of the year.






























Once they're down to bare ground, it's difficult to get things growing again because of the compacted soil and high phosphorus.
Then their feed is of utmost importance because there is no forage for supplementation.
The key is to keep their pasture rotated or lower stocking density.

we are getting some stuff to put all over the chickensummer and cleaning the coop and dosing the coop

What is a chickensummer?
Is it a time of year?

Quote:

I wish I could find someone local with seramahs

Don't know what those are but if you're talking about Seramas, I'd get my 4 Ps under control before wishing for more birds. parasite, predator, production, pasture problems.

O my God it's not mites it's poultry lice

Probably both and more than one type of mite.

Um it's all over even my silkies the have been in cages of the ground.and also I think they have the mites course some have scales popping up on legs and some have sores

Do you give your cage birds access to a dust bath? Those things crawl so a cage won't protect them. They're sitting ducks in a cage.

I suspect that he has an infestation of several types of mites *and* lice, and I think they can get sores from excessive preening due to the infestation.

-Kathy

X2

I think and we been getting only 1 to5 a day all year

What feed and supplements are your layers getting and how much?
Please don't answer in piecemeal fashion though. I'm asking specifically for all the following. The type of feed (layer, starter, grower), brand, protein %, is it available free fed or rationed, other things like scratch or scraps and what % of the total ration does that make up.
Because getting 1-5 eggs a day out of 50 hens ranging from 6 months to 2 years indicates a real problem and nutrition is the first suspect.

the flood.staying stuck in the coop for a week straight. All kinds of breeds and 6months to 2 years old

Well the flood is over.

My dogs have been barking for an hour nonstop, now there is a helicopter circling very close and it is so loud and making me nervous! My over-active imagination wonders if there is some escaped convict or someone like that hiding in the woods around my house and they are searching by helicopter.

Entirely possible. Pay attention to the dogs.

 

[BullChick]

 

[BantyChooks]

Good morning Abi!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Quote:
I knew. It wasn't until this selection for laying machines that calcium became important in the diet. And that huge amount of calcium they now need is why people have to be careful with roosters and non-layers and to not allow those regular access to layer feed.

This is why my entire flock is fed grower feed year round (along with free range/forage spring-fall). I keep a dispenser of oyster shell for the ladies for when they decide need it. Works great