Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[gjensen]

kept enough pullets and still have some adult hens that are still laying and keeping me in eggs. even had enough to do the devilled eggs for thanksgiving dinner. I hate buying store eggs.
on the corn, I stopped feeding it to my dogs long ago. they get a lamb and rice or chicken and rice formula. no problems and no vet bills.
corn for chickens and pigs is another matter. I buy a couple hundred lbs. of local grown gmo dent corn at a good price direct from the farmer. I like to finish the hogs before butchering, on this corn, for a few weeks. I also feed to all my chickens in the fall when moulting occurs and egg production drops. I also grow an heirloom blue popcorn that I use for feed supplements that has a higher protein than the dent corn. the chickens do very well on it.

I prefer to have my pullets well into lay so that the size is up before the hens go into molt. I cannot remember a time during the winter month where I have not had enough eggs.

I have always had a hard time with corn in dog feed sitting well with me.

I always liked the idea of the older heirloom corn as a feed supplement, but if I was to grow all of my own feed, I would approach it differently.

 

[gjensen]

I would like to barter my chicken products for other naturally raised products in the community, especially dairy. I don't have the time or inclination to take on more animals/projects. Does anyone here do that or have any advice/stories on how to start. I plan to go to an annual harvest/heritage festival this year and ask around, but beyond that I am fairly clueless. The farmers in my area farm for cash, so I don't think they are even going to be a good place to start.


Thanks

You may find someone. If you keep poking around.

If your chicken products are eggs, it takes a lot to be worth anything, and most people can only use so much. Poultry meat could be another matter, if you are able to produce a quality carcass that they would be happy with.

 

[Beekissed]

I've never had a problem with corn in dog food....my dogs have always loved corn from the garden and would even pick their own~until I fenced them out of it. They also love potatoes, carrots, grapes, apples(I have a dog that can eat 10 apples per minute and do that for most of apple season....poops red all season long), watermelon, and other sundry veggies and fruits. I take it that these items are a normal part of a canine's diet when they have access to them or they wouldn't consume them so readily and eagerly. They are foragers and they will eat meat aplenty but they will not pass up veggies and fruit either.

Just as with anything else, unless it's all corn and has no other nutrients available, it's a balance. A person can supplement that diet with other things to keep it in balance also and doesn't necessarily have to buy high dollar dog food to get that.

I've always fed Ol' Roy and, unless there was an accident that needed stitching, my vets never got to see my dogs. Healthy as horses, one and all, into a normal old age when some things like arthritis or cancer cannot be avoided in some breeds.

 

[gjensen]

I would like to add my personal experience here.

Last year, I was very proud of finding a locally milled chicken feed that was gmo-free, used animal-based protein, organic vitamins and minerals, met all the recommended nutrient levels on the tag, et cetera, and I fermented it to get the very most nutrition out of it for my birds. I thought my birds looked well, but I had horrendous hatch rates, (which can be caused by all sorts of things.) As I was fine-tuning all aspects of egg storage and incubation, I learned that the recommended nutrient levels for meat-type breeding hens included much higher amounts of methionine than for egg-type breeding hens. When I rechecked the feed tags, the methionine which met egg-type recommendations at the beginning of hatching season had been reduced dramatically, unbeknownst to me. So I switched to a Purina formula which contained the recommended amount of methionine. My birds immediately began to gain weight and bloomed right before my eyes. On gmo corn and soy.

Hoping for more vigorous chicks this year,
Angela

I hope that you will have more vigorous chicks also.

There is no question that not all feed is created equal.

I am feeding mine Flock Raiser, even that it is not my first choice. What I prefer by far, is not available to me reliably. I have decided that the Flock Raiser supplemented with Calf Manna (and a few hulled sunflower seeds) during breeding season, gives me satisfactory results. I do not give them scraps or other extras during breeding season.

 

[gjensen]

I've never had a problem with corn in dog food....my dogs have always loved corn from the garden and would even pick their own~until I fenced them out of it. They also love potatoes, carrots, grapes, apples(I have a dog that can eat 10 apples per minute and do that for most of apple season....poops red all season long), watermelon, and other sundry veggies and fruits. I take it that these items are a normal part of a canine's diet when they have access to them or they wouldn't consume them so readily and eagerly. They are foragers and they will eat meat aplenty but they will not pass up veggies and fruit either.

Just as with anything else, unless it's all corn and has no other nutrients available, it's a balance. A person can supplement that diet with other things to keep it in balance also and doesn't necessarily have to buy high dollar dog food to get that.

I've always fed Ol' Roy and, unless there was an accident that needed stitching, my vets never got to see my dogs. Healthy as horses, one and all, into a normal old age when some things like arthritis or cancer cannot be avoided in some breeds.

I do not doubt that corn is fine in dog feed. It has only seamed out of place to me. That is just a personal hang up. It isn't a logically conceived position that I would defend. It was started by a dog with a corn and wheat allergy though.

 

[Fentress]

You may find someone. If you keep poking around.

If your chicken products are eggs, it takes a lot to be worth anything, and most people can only use so much. Poultry meat could be another matter, if you are able to produce a quality carcass that they would be happy with.

I agree. The grow out on the BR I have are slow as molasses, but they might have potential as a large roaster. They are big that is for sure. I would have culled by now if not for some family issues that have come up. But, even if I like their meat qualities, I am going to get a tub plucker and raise some meat hybrids for myself, friends and the freezer. Probably Freedom Rangers.

 

[gjensen]

I agree. The grow out on the BR I have are slow as molasses, but they might have potential as a large roaster. They are big that is for sure. I would have culled by now if not for some family issues that have come up. But, even if I like their meat qualities, I am going to get a tub plucker and raise some meat hybrids for myself, friends and the freezer. Probably Freedom Rangers.

They are slow and slower than they should be. I had considered using some as capons, considering their rate of growth and the age required to get a reasonable carcass. I harvested some very young, and though they lacked a respectable carcass, the quality of flesh was excellent. At later stages, I did not appreciate the flesh as much, but it was superior stew meat.

 

[RedRidge]

 

I agree. The grow out on the BR I have are slow as molasses, but they might have potential as a large roaster. They are big that is for sure. I would have culled by now if not for some family issues that have come up. But, even if I like their meat qualities, I am going to get a tub plucker and raise some meat hybrids for myself, friends and the freezer. Probably Freedom Rangers.

 They are slow and slower than they should be. I had considered using some as capons, considering their rate of growth and the age required to get a reasonable carcass. I harvested some very young, and though they lacked a respectable carcass, the quality of flesh was excellent. At later stages, I did not appreciate the flesh as much, but it was superior stew meat.

I don't mind a shower growth rate IF they forage well and texture and flavor is decent after that growth. I want to be able to hatch in Feb and butcher in Oct. We were able to do that on some this year. Early lasting and fast growth had become a higher priority here.

 

[cubalaya]

I've never had a problem with corn in dog food....my dogs have always loved corn from the garden and would even pick their own~until I fenced them out of it. They also love potatoes, carrots, grapes, apples(I have a dog that can eat 10 apples per minute and do that for most of apple season....poops red all season long), watermelon, and other sundry veggies and fruits. I take it that these items are a normal part of a canine's diet when they have access to them or they wouldn't consume them so readily and eagerly. They are foragers and they will eat meat aplenty but they will not pass up veggies and fruit either.

Just as with anything else, unless it's all corn and has no other nutrients available, it's a balance. A person can supplement that diet with other things to keep it in balance also and doesn't necessarily have to buy high dollar dog food to get that.

I've always fed Ol' Roy and, unless there was an accident that needed stitching, my vets never got to see my dogs. Healthy as horses, one and all, into a normal old age when some things like arthritis or cancer cannot be avoided in some breeds.

ol roy and other cheap corn based dog foods cook the corn at such high temps that it has little nutritional value. it literally runs out of the dog with increased stools and the need to overfeed. I actually can feed less and have less waste to clean up with the dog food I use now. the dogs are healthier and happier.
has anyone experienced problems from feeding whole corn to chickens?

 

[Beekissed]

ol roy and other cheap corn based dog foods cook the corn at such high temps that it has little nutritional value. it literally runs out of the dog with increased stools and the need to overfeed. I actually can feed less and have less waste to clean up with the dog food I use now. the dogs are healthier and happier.
has anyone experienced problems from feeding whole corn to chickens?

Maybe at YOUR house the poop would run out if the dog? Never has happened here. Nice, small, dark stools as a dog should put out. No need to overfeed here either...one 2 c. scoop per day for my large dogs(60-140 lbs). My dogs are and always have been healthy and happy as they come! I hear it all the time how Ol' Roy makes for loose, pale stools and unhealthy animals and I don't believe a word of it...never saw it, so I don't believe it.

Maybe in house dogs that don't get exercise, forage for other foods along with, and can't live a life that keeps them naturally healthy outdoors, people are seeing these things? It just don't happen here, so that dog just won't hunt. It's rhetoric as far as I am concerned. I'm assuming that ALL dog food has to be cooked at high temps and that would mean that ALL nutrients in ANY dog food would loose nutritional value, if we were going to use that yardstick.