FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Okay. What are some red flags to look for in the next few days in their poo? Like how do I know they are having diarrhea or are sick? They all laid an egg today and were very active. Maybe ill make their feed a bit drier also

You are going to think I'm being snide but I'm being quite serious.... I've said it a hundred times before, so I'll say it again.....stop lookin' at poop!

Flock active, eating, bright eyes, laying? Then it's most likely they are fine.

Make the feed thicker, drier and watch the flock. It will all be irie....no worries.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I know this is off topic but I'm worried about these invaders that are in my mealworm colony. Anyone know what they are--pics on the link.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/492636/mealworm-farming/6710#post_13255749

 

[Beekissed]

I've never seen anything like them!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I've never seen anything like them!

Me either, I just don't know what to think.

 

[Tikkijane]

Oh, yes, most certainly. But they are simply tendencies in most cases. An except would be the color sex-links, I doubt there is any tendency toward a rooster having the hen colors or vice versa. For example, I read in more than one place (including the person whom we got the Cuckoos from) that Cuckoo Maran's are supposed to lay super dark brown eggs (like dark milk chocolate brown) and do not have the broody tendency left. While our "cuckoos" look like the photos I have seen, neither of them lay dark eggs (just normal brown eggs) and BOTH of them are quite broody. In fact, one is sitting on our clutch of hatching silkies as we speak.

Cuckoos lay the lightest of all the Marans' eggs, fwiw. There is the egg color chart on the Marans site, if that helps any. Out of my shipped kids, they sent a BR that does lay darker eggs, but is clearly a BR (and is now working on spurs after going broody and hatching out the community nest), and I have a CM sitting on a combo of Marans/EE/guinea eggs.

My silkies are broody again (went broody with Rocky 2 months ago) and seem to actually be on the same nests. Lady time they did musical nests and Rocky ended up with all the eggs.....

 

[Tikkijane]

I know this is off topic but I'm worried about these invaders that are in my mealworm colony.  Anyone know what they are--pics on the link.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/492636/mealworm-farming/6710#post_13255749

Eck. No idea. Let us know what you find out.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

From Pico de Gallo, Tucson--THE expert!

They are beetle larvae from the family Dermestidae. It would be hard to know what species they are from the pics and how much of a threat they are to the Tenebrio. Some species are pretty bad to deal with and others are supposedly benign enough to put into a mealworm colony to clean the mess. I would think they'd be in direct competition with the mealworms and would get rid of them. You could either pull out all the dermestids or all the mealworms, depending on what the stages are and which would be easiest. If you try to just remove the dermestids, be vigilant over the next month to find any new larvae.

 

[chickengirl1193]

You are going to think I'm being snide but I'm being quite serious.... I've said it a hundred times before, so I'll say it again.....stop lookin' at poop!     Flock active, eating, bright eyes, laying?   Then it's most likely they are fine. 

Make the feed thicker, drier and watch the flock.  It will all be irie....no worries. 

Okay thank you so much! They all laid again today, perfect eggs, and are extremely active because I gave them a big pile of compost
Thank you for making chicken keeping so simple...

 

[pdirt]

Cuckoos lay the lightest of all the Marans' eggs, fwiw. There is the egg color chart on the Marans site, if that helps any. Out of my shipped kids, they sent a BR that does lay darker eggs, but is clearly a BR (and is now working on spurs after going broody and hatching out the community nest), and I have a CM sitting on a combo of Marans/EE/guinea eggs.

My silkies are broody again (went broody with Rocky 2 months ago) and seem to actually be on the same nests. Lady time they did musical nests and Rocky ended up with all the eggs.....

Good to know on different Cuckoos laying different egg colors.

One of our CMs is doing a grand job being mama, she seems quite healthy. Here is a pic of one of the silkies "helping":

One of the "just hatched"!

 

[Tikkijane]

Good to know on different Cuckoos laying different egg colors.

One of our CMs is doing a grand job being mama, she seems quite healthy. Here is a pic of one of the silkies "helping":

One of the "just hatched"!