Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[perchie.girl]

Quote: LOL it doesnt happen all at once but once is enough to realize what one should have done. Mountain lions here have snagged people here.... an 80 pound cat can drag a human several hundred feet off the trail. Since those incidences there have been educational programs as well as Population monitoring. Happened about 30 years ago.

deb

 

[IAFarmGirl]

But how do they plan for going to work the next day, remember to charge the cell phone, take driving lessons before getting a license, or plan for the arrival of a baby? Do they just fling themselves into each day without preparing for it at all? It's like living in a world full of lemmings!

You'd think this would just be a run of the mill thought process whenever you obtain a creature with which you are unfamiliar....you try to prepare yourself by garnering knowledge so you can best take care of them, right? Or am I just lost in time on that one?

Bee,

I have met many people who do just exact that...they just jump in and expect everything to go the way they envision. They never believe anything bad will happen to them. You see it everyday and many think it is just the kids but it's their parents also. Many of the people you meet on here are like you and me trying to obtain information to do the right thing for any creature in our care and many are not. I don't think you are lost in time...just that the times changed and some of us didn't follow that path. I think that is what we are seeing in the world today. Very divergent paths and only the Lord will know who chose best.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee,

I have met many people who do just exact that...they just jump in and expect everything to go the way they envision. They never believe anything bad will happen to them. You see it everyday and many think it is just the kids but it's their parents also. Many of the people you meet on here are like you and me trying to obtain information to do the right thing for any creature in our care and many are not. I don't think you are lost in time...just that the times changed and some of us didn't follow that path. I think that is what we are seeing in the world today. Very divergent paths and only the Lord will know who chose best.

I agree! But I don't think we need look very far to see who chose best....just look around at who is desperately posting for help with their animals on a frequent basis~what a horrible way to do things, always being frantic and worried, feeling helpless and hopeless. There is no doubt in my mind that being prepared and circumventing problems is always best when it comes to caring for a living, breathing creature. If not, we are fumbling and bumbling while they suffer.

Frankly, some of the threads on these forums horrify me and it's all I can do to just move along, not post, don't say it....but mostly I just want to ask, "WHY?????". I'm not a mushy animal activist kind of person by any stretch of the imagination, but I do feel a distinct sense of responsibility towards creatures in my care.

I feel the same way when I see someone getting poor medical care in a hospital or nursing home because of nurses, aids and doctors who are equally unprepared to care for their patients and are in "fix it after it has happened" mode instead of "let's not let it happen in the first place" mode. I simply call it laziness and inconsideration for those in your care. Never a good path to choose.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I am one of those "Jumpers" fortunately for me though When I realize I have done something soo stupid I JUMP into education. I am an avid reader. And I dont take everything I read hook line and sinker.... I verify by talking to real experts.... My dad for one.... but others who have done it before.

When I bought my first Americanas at the feed store I also bought a book on raising chickens at the same feed store. Lots of pictures but some good basics. I figured I would loose at least one of those little fuzzballs before I got them up and out of the brooder.... Nope. I soon had eggsies comeing out of my ears.

I think one of the things that gets people into trouble is reading a thing then trying to implement it without realizing that Exceptions to the rule do occure. And Variations due to climate can throw the whole concept out. LOL

When I had those first four chicks brooding up in A Guinea pig cage out on the back porch I relized I needed some place to put them when they were older... Now I had raised Parakeets for a while.... and the cage I had them in was self supporting six foot tall by four by three. Large enough to get in if I needed to. They were on my front porch infront of the picture window.

So I figured I would make a chicken sized version.... I got a roll of welded wire. Enough to make a six by eight by six coop/run. So with my enginnerring hat on I carefully cut the pieces of wire the proper length. Then, disreagarding the fact that the wire wanted to roll right back up figuring that when I fastened the edges together they would straighten out, I proceeded to zip tie my "parts" together. It worked or so I thought. I got to a point where I needed to lift the wire up and start fastening one last strip on. Thats when the wire "Remembered" it wanted to be in a roll. By the time it was done I was encased in a mass of rolled up partially fastened wire.... It took me half an Hour to extract myself..... giggling the whole time. So.... what did I do? I went to the store and bought 1 x 1s and laid them under the wire and stapled them on. I further had to secure it all by using plywood for one wall.

Eventually it was sturdy enough to drag into the yard and put in perches. Now I was used to using Dowling for perches so I bought closet rod installed lag bolts into the ends with washers then fastened them to the wire using the washers as clamps. Worked famously.... My dad looked at it and laughed his butt off. My girls were still pullets and light weight so I didint know why he was laughing. I asked him and he said just wait till they get older..... Later on I realized why.... They would hop up on thier perch and I could see the closet bar trying to twirl.... But by golly they had figured out how NOT to be dumped off their perch.

deb

 

[LindaB220]

Ok, got my first order going. Delawares and White rocks. 3 pullets and 2 roos each. Meyer has minimum of 15 so I made up the rest with mixed heavy roos. Delivery date 3/20. Yea!! I placed my other order of Light Sussex and New Hampshires and White Dorkings from Sandhill but who knows when they will show. Up to 4-5 mo. And that's it. I promise. Yeah. We'll see.

 

[Beekissed]

Exciting!! Can't wait until you get them and start out with these various breeds and get to compare traits on them. To a lot of folks, a chicken is a just a chicken, a dual purpose a DP and a layer a layer, but they all have such distinct traits that I often wonder if people ever really look at their chickens at all. I love the variety of the breeds and what they bring to the table...literally.

 

[Triple Willow]

Chickens... ahhhh! I've been trying to intergrate my three 12 week old youngsters in with my youngest flock. I've had them in their coop in a big wire cage for about a week. I've let them out twice and it's just not going good. LOL The big fat buckeye roo is trying to breed them. He's 3X as big as they are! Poor pullet was just flattened out on the ground. hahaha The roos are trying to breed them and the ollder pulllets are beating them up. I took one of them and tried it in with the older pullets. Got her butt kicked their too. Poor little thing was sitting in front of me looking at me like "HELP!!!" I don't know how she did it but she flew up on my shoulder. LOL Ahh...I put them back in their cage. I guess they will get their own pen until they are the same size as the others. Crazy dang chickens.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Ok, got my first order going. Delawares and White rocks. 3 pullets and 2 roos each. Meyer has minimum of 15 so I made up the rest with mixed heavy roos. Delivery date 3/20. Yea!! I placed my other order of Light Sussex and New Hampshires and White Dorkings from Sandhill but who knows when they will show. Up to 4-5 mo. And that's it. I promise. Yeah. We'll see.

That's all???? Right.....what ever you say.....no more chickens....yep.......we believe you.....

 

[LindaB220]

That's all???? Right.....what ever you say.....no more chickens....yep.......we believe you.....

That gives me 40 already. Of course some will be caponized but I'll still be keeping them for 6 mo or so. My daughter is getting very nervous. She's afraid that I'll get down in my back for something and I'll want her to feed them. Dang it, she's a dog groomer but scared of chickens. (Their feet she said)

 

[Triple Willow]

Ok, got my first order going.  Delawares and White rocks.  3 pullets and 2 roos each.  Meyer has minimum of 15 so I made up the rest with mixed heavy roos. Delivery date 3/20.  Yea!!  I placed my other order of Light Sussex and New Hampshires and White Dorkings  from Sandhill but who knows when they will show.  Up to 4-5 mo.  And that's it.  I promise. Yeah.   We'll see.  

I have some of those Delawares from Meyer. They ain't fancy but they do lay good!