Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[saladin]

One maggot from rotten meat will give a chicken 'limber neck.' I've never seen one recover from that; never.

 

[Rhinoman]

One maggot from rotten meat will give a chicken 'limber neck.' I've never seen one recover from that; never.

No to be argumentative but I'm confused. I'm no expert on chickens but maggots will only eat dead tissue. That's why if you ever find yourself in a horrible situation in the bush with a festerimg wound and maggots grow in a wound, you should leave them alone; they'll debride the wound.

So essentially if a chicken eats just one maggot they'll die?

My flocks daily routine includes swinging by our dumpster and eating all the maggots they can find.

I've lost one chicken this summer (to a hawk).

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
NUtritionally, eating meat is a better use than waiting for meat to feed maggots. IF the maggots were dirived from vegetable matter, then they the maggots improve the protein profile. Otherwise to purposely let meat got o maggots is a waste.

While I have come to beleive my chickens can eat almost anything, there are limits to what even their systems can handle. Why invite problems unnecessarily.

My crew races towrd me when I am headed to the compost pile . . . most are already there picking thru the compost. I also think allowing them to be exposed to all the natural bugs in the area may contribute to their overall health and ability to stay healthy. THey love fermented feed and steal it any chance they get.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
FINALLY saw a hen running around playing keep away with a mole or vole, a young 'un by the look of it, only got a quick look, as the hen was off and running again. THis is the first I have seen of eating other than the usual bugs. Now to get the girls to eat a few chipmunks. Pretty as chipmuncks are, too many is a bother. RIGht now the number is just right; perhaps the girls are keeping it that way.

NOt every peice of rooting flesh will have botulism. IT is a chance thing.

 

[gallorojo]

Look closely, a young Cubalaya cockerel is eating a mouse!
I frankly don't get or relate to these quests to grow your own free protein for poultry. Any half decent pasture , scrub, or woods has all the free protein you need spring through fall. You just have to let the birds find it, and find ways to keep them safe in the process. Obviously you need aggressive foragers and you can't overstock the land with too many birds. What they lack in range is carbohydrates, hence the ancient practice of feeding grain. I raise plenty of cockerels and a few cull pullets each season on nothing but a few handfuls of whole grain a day for the whole free range gang. That's after they fully feather out and are large and smart enough to take care of themselves. Trying to raise protein for poultry is working too hard. They can find that themselves easy enough.

 

[saladin]

Mine love mice, rats and small snakes. I've thrown 5 foot black rats in the hen house after I've killed them and the hens eat them up in no time. I tried a live one once but he was able to escape under the bedding and they couldn't find him.

 

[fowlman01]

This is a rat, not a mouse. This is the one I post when people talk about a vegetarian diet for chickens.

Walt

 

[maryhysong]

YHF wrote:
By chicken-focused, I mean, focus on the birds, focus on the SOP. Harvey Ussery's stuff is great, but he's not chicken-focused. He doesn't have a good chicken in his entire book, which leads me to believe he doesn't breed good chickens, and if he does, he made a good secret about it. He does seem to be a good forage grower, that, once grown, he then happens to feed to a bunch of hatchery higgledy-piggledy. That's cool, but it's only marginally what this thread is about.


That is the most accurate statement you could give these folks J.

You folks need to pay attention to what J. is saying here.

No Harvey does not breed to the SOP. He breeds to his own standard and what he is looking for in a bird and for them to thrive with his management practices. He does have some excellent ideas, tho I don't think I could stand the maggot growing smell, unless it was a long way from the house. But I love his greenhouse/winter coop/earthworm raising set up. I love how some of his pens are compost piles that rotate as gardens. I like how he has his broodies set up and uses them exclusively for incubating. Harvey has a lot of great ideas. As with any book, pick out the good stuff that will work for you and leave the rest.

 

[galanie]

Glanie I remember that I don't think it was Joseph though are you sure, I'm sure he will confirm or deny it here soon)  I'm thinking that was a kid/newbie out in the NWest area Idaho or Oregon I believe I don't think Joseph practices such. I might be wrong I can't call up his username right off but the one I remember was a couple of years back and he wasn't around too long he got heat over that method then.

anyway no biggie on my end I don't care as long as its not a bunch of moldy stuff then I know that is harmful to them for sure. My ones here recycle the cowpies and turn them into eggs and feathers here. I really don't care to view them doing such, but I'm not going to stop them either its repurposing at it best plus the feed that my cousin buys and wastes feeding it to the cows my chickens eat for free(free is always good, well most free stuff is) LOL

Jeff


PS for me here I wouldn't /couldn't practice such as the other critters beside flies and maggots it would bring/call in would me more of a detriment than good for me. I'd have to sit on guard to kill all the meat/carrion eaters out of it + then after they ate it all they'd for sure be going for my stock then. So I for sure don't see the practicality of this method too me, IMO and seriously J/S LOL

Sorry, I was talking about Harvey Usarry or however you spell it. No biggie for me either. Just that I don't trust that guy's advice.

 

[NanaKat]

Grasshopper brigade at work!
They rush out of their pens to an ever-widening search pattern which now includes the front and side yards of the house, all sides of the barn and into the pastures beyond the fences. Each rooster takes a group of hens. They park under the vehicles or return to their respective pens for shade and water. I have water containers outside the pens and have seen birds perched in the bird bathes and on the cattle tanks for water too.