best advise in the world. bee. i am always watching my birds. after sometime with your flock . the birds will tell ya. with feed it is funny. some days i can put the evening feed it will sit til the morning. other days them birds will clean it up. so it an always " go low go slow, and stay somewhere in the middle ". it just is. i guess it all depends on the bug supply that day.. you are absolutely correct in say there is no insta fix. it is all adjusting here and there and paying attention to the birds.Put down what you are reading and erase that information from your mind.What each bird or flock needs cannot be found in a book because each bird and flock are different. Bantam breeds won't need what standard breeds need and layers won't need what meat birds need, free rangers won't need what confined birds need, etc.
That is a standard that someone dug up somewhere from some USDA recommended source, I'm thinking, because I simply cannot imagine anyone thinking that this standard holds true in a backyard flock. For one, you simply cannot insure that each bird is going to receive her quarter pound unless you are feeding each bird individually...if you're not, Suzy Orpington is going to eat half of Betty Australorp's feed and get tremendously fat, have laying issues because of it and die an untimely death.
They will always camp outside your door like refugees...even right after filling their guts with an enormous meal. I've never once seen one of my flocks sated in their hunger...a chicken's appetite is never really put to rest for long and they are opportunistic eaters, so they are constantly on the watch for opportunity. Always. There never really is "enough" in their world. Ever. Trust me on this.
This is what I have found about feeding FF...use the same scoop and feed the same amount that you fed dry. As the grains are swollen with scoby fluid, they are displacing more area than a dry kernel or feed fragment. Half again their normal size in most cases, depending on the grain. So, try just feeding the same number of scoops you fed as dry ration and it's likely you will get approximately the right amount. But, I never encourage anyone to stick to the same feed rations day and day out each day, like a robot that has no reasoning.
Look at your birds for general condition and laying performance. Look at their mobility and if they are quick on their feet~ or if they are running like linebackers instead? Do they waddle when they walk, pushing themselves forward like it's a chore to take that next step? They are too fat. If they run from side to side on their feet instead of in a quick scissor motion with their legs, they are too fat. If they only range a little bit around the coop and don't get very far from the food source of the coop...they aren't hungry enough to truly forage and hunt.
Are they looking a little slim, with their full crops fully noticeable on their chest when normally you can't see their crop that distinctly? Could be they need a little more. When their crops are not full, do you notice a big overlapping line of feathers on the chest? Could be they need more. Other than young birds that are not mature, when you pick up your birds do their breast bones feel abnormally sharp? Could be they need more food. When you pick them up and you can't feel their breast bone at all, they are either a CX ready for butcher, or your gals are too fat.
It's these little adjustments that I encourage people to do and not to hold some standard in a book as the starting point of what is accurate for a bird. If your birds are confined, they do not need continuous rations...they aren't doing anything, so why are people feeding them like a workhorse? They are couch potatoes getting very little exercise, so their needs for more nutrition isn't real.
If they are free ranged,it will be according to the amount of food they can forage, so let them forage all day and then feed them and you will get a realistic idea of what their nutritional needs are throughout the year. But adjustments must be made for optimal health...not just for optimal nutrition amounts.
Sorry...you probably didn't need to hear all that but that's been bugging me for some time now, these so-called amounts per bird. It's so standard when we are dealing with anything but the standard conditions on this forum...those amounts are for confined feeding operations for battery hens, where the companies have to have that formula to set it into their machines for dispensing.
Order as much feed as you think your flock will go through in a month or two and store it somewhere it will stay fresh and dry. That's my very best advice!
oh yes I know this will be the hardest part for me. I just pray one day I WILL be able to do this! I cant very well throw the dirty work for lack of a better word, off on someone else to do. We were talking about this on our state Facebook page yesterday or the day before because someone has got to cull some and they're dreading it. I was telling him I don't judge people for doing this but I just can't do it yet but hope to be able to one day. I can't stand to see one suffer BUT don't want it to get to THAT point before I do something though. My stomach starts to churn just thinking about it. What's soooo weird is this, was raised by my grandpa which was a commercial fisherman and trapper so we were ALWAYS cleaning fish or some animal he trapped. BUT I never had to kill the animals they were already dead except for the fish and also I never had to feed anything we ate.Congrats!!! Now...when you get rid of your cockerels, you'll have to tweak it again!It never really stops when you have an active, managed flock.
I was just eye ballin' my gals tonight and noticing that the oldsters are too fat and the youngsters at good condition from all the foraging they do..but I'd still like to put just a bit more fat on them before winter without the oldsters hogging the food. Difficult..hmmmm....
Going to do some culling soon. Rose, I think that will be the hardest bridge for you to cross with natural husbandry, as it is for many. So many want the rest of the solutions but that one is the key to it all, really, as it is for any natural husbandry that counts on the human to provide natural selection.
Most of the time, the best preventative measures are judicious culling of birds that are not laying well, are not thrifty on feed, or not maintaining good feathering or healthy appearance, etc. Without this valuable tool, there will always be a time when a bird will suffer...with it and you eliminate these birds before they get to the suffering part.
bee is it not funny how people get offended by your tone of voice..Thank you! I was waiting for the blast of "how dare you use that tone with me, who do you think you are" kinda post (I've gotten those before when I lose my mind in the question and answering process and don't use the right "tone" for folks). Thank you for being so receptive!
I don't mean to sound bossy but I go off on a tangent and then I don't know how to change the tone without changing the tenor of the information given...you know? Bless yer pea pickin' heart!
1. yes i ferment my feed
