Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

Good morning, my FF friends!     If you live in the NE right now you are no doubt getting snow, snow and more snow.  Hope everyone is keeping safe and warm, keeping their FF and water thawed and accessible and no one is falling on the ground....ahem..coughTWcough....not mentioning any  names or anything but try to stay upright out there folks! 

Going into the polar vortex again this week so some might see more frost bitten combs....someone on another thread was suggesting comb caps made from baby socks but I can't imagine any self respecting rooster not clawing that off in about two seconds, but if you have a particularly docile roo that wouldn't, it might be handy in a pinch. 

Dats not funny. :/ I'll have you know my football shoes, so far, are working like a dream. As long as I don't trip over my own feet... LOL

 

[Beekissed]

Neat about the personalities. I can't wait to have a couple generations of chickens to be able to do that with!!!
I haven't been around for a while, because I've been tryingto get sane and do work (like a good girl)...


Well, last summer I got the chicken fever - this year I'm going serious!

So we are moving to Vancouver Island in April/May (DH got transferred), and I am looking into getting chickens and being home with the kids! Yippee! Last year we got some 4 week old broilers (that ended up being more like Leghorns), 5 1yo Leghorn layers, and 2 ISA brown layers that were 8 mo old. We kept the layers and broilers separate, and ended up eating all but the ISA browns at the end of the summer (had to move back into town, and a friend took the ISAs).

This year I have already found a Heritage chicken breeder near our new home (we haven't sold our current house, so we don't exactly know for sure where we will hang our hats, just close), and I am hoping to start up a flock of dual purpose birds - and probably have some broilers too (CX).

Where would be the best place to get a basic understanding of the best way to start a flock? My personal feeling is to find a couple broody hens, let them settle in for a couple weeks. Then get some hatching eggs to put under them. Not only do I think that would be cheapest, but I think we would all (myself, DH and the 3 little ones) enjoy it most. Others probably have opinons on the success of this, though, and I would like to hear the experience of others to help educate me!

Also, I need to do some research, but I was wondering what other's experiences were with what type of breed would be good to aquire for a broody hen, and what breeds of chicks would be good dual purpose birds.

The hatchery nearby has a bunch of heritage breeds so they have:

Bielefelder (super expensive)
Red laced Blue Wyandottes
Cream Legbarelefelder

Euskal Oiloa
Olive Egger
Silver Sussex
Wheaten Ameraucana

• I'm sure that there's someone else on the island that has chickens too... but this is the first I've found.

Ohh! I just found another that has:
Buff Orpingtons
Speckled Sussex
Americanas
Cuckoo Marans
White Chantecler
Rhode Island Red


Thanks!

I'm not familiar with a lot of those breeds, so cannot venture an opinion on them. I do like what I've read about the Chantecler and RIR I've had and liked, and I've heard great things about the Marans as a dual purpose bird. I'm not too impressed with BOs or SS, though the SS is a nice breed they are no great shakes on laying.

Getting a chicken that is a known broody may be a hard thing to find...most are not letting go of a gem like that, but you could advertise and see if someone has one they are sick of always going broody on them. I always advise folks to get some point of lay dual purpose chickens of a breed/breeds known to go broody and then arrange to get hatching eggs from someone in the spring when/if you have a bird or two who actually go broody. That gives you time to know your flock and decide what breed you'd like to hatch out under your broody hens and buy some eggs from a quality heritage line breeder who is trying to breed to original traits...I've heard there are some such Chantecler breeders in Canada.

I always try to choose birds for the flock that are straight up good layers and will lay well in the winter months and mix those with birds that may not lay well in the winter but they lay like a machine for the rest of the year...that way you have eggs no matter what time of year and some are always laying while others are taking a break. I like a dual purpose bird for no other reason than I eat the old hens when they are done with their laying life and I don't like to waste time on processing small carcass birds.

 

[Beekissed]

Dats not funny.

I'll have you know my football shoes, so far, are working like a dream. As long as I don't trip over my own feet... LOL

Awwwww, TW...I were only funnin'....

How's this? I'll let you laugh at me the next time I fall down? I'm sure I'm due for one soon....I'm pretty darn clumsy.

 

[sarahsunshine]

I'm not familiar with a lot of those breeds, so cannot venture an opinion on them. I do like what I've read about the Chantecler and RIR I've had and liked, and I've heard great things about the Marans as a dual purpose bird. I'm not too impressed with BOs or SS, though the SS is a nice breed they are no great shakes on laying.

Getting a chicken that is a known broody may be a hard thing to find...most are not letting go of a gem like that, but you could advertise and see if someone has one they are sick of always going broody on them. I always advise folks to get some point of lay dual purpose chickens of a breed/breeds known to go broody and then arrange to get hatching eggs from someone in the spring when/if you have a bird or two who actually go broody. That gives you time to know your flock and decide what breed you'd like to hatch out under your broody hens and buy some eggs from a quality heritage line breeder who is trying to breed to original traits...I've heard there are some such Chantecler breeders in Canada.

I always try to choose birds for the flock that are straight up good layers and will lay well in the winter months and mix those with birds that may not lay well in the winter but they lay like a machine for the rest of the year...that way you have eggs no matter what time of year and some are always laying while others are taking a break. I like a dual purpose bird for no other reason than I eat the old hens when they are done with their laying life and I don't like to waste time on processing small carcass birds.

Now, I've only read about broody hens... what does a broody hen look/act like? I'm really wanting to put this reading into experience (and it's interfereing with my job!)!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Then there is Eurkle (formerly cool j, but he couldn't keep that name w/ his personality), he as afraid of his shadow, very flighty, if he sees a leaf blow he literally jumps up, yells and puts his head down and goes at a dead run, I swear if he had arms they would be flailing as he ran. His broody mom is very high in the pecking order, calm, cool and collected.







Bio mom, of Eurkle, a bit of an outsider, flighty, never trusts anyone ever no matter how many treats you come with or how juicy the treat is. She was the only true survivor of my big massacre, she was in the same yard as all the carnage and got and stayed high and survived, all the others who survived were in a separate area.


Anyway it struck me as interesting how close the boys personality is to their bio moms, not like their bio dads, or broody moms.


So is this a fluke or a thing?

The only thing I'm thinking about this is... dependent on how old he is, he may settle down.

Your flighty girl stayed alive because she is flighty. There's something to be said for it but I like it more when my birds trust me more. They don't walk up and expect to be picked up but they don't fly up to the rafters trying to get away from me either. They're calm enough but plenty flighty if the situation warrants it.

I'll be watching my birds this year and knowing their pecking orders, try to remember when I get around to evaluating offspring temperaments.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Now, I've only read about broody hens... what does a broody hen look/act like? I'm really wanting to put this reading into experience (and it's interfereing with my job!)!

A broody hen will act differently than the rest of the birds. Whereas she used to cluck a deeper, shorter sounding and more seldom cluck, as a broody she will cluck more often and it is louder and a bit more musical. She will walk around with all her feathers fluffed out and walk kind of slow, clucking all the while.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Totally not with in my capacity to do--- no no no, cannot do this. I cannot drown a creature. I'll sent my mice to you though!

Taking mice Far away with the catch and release method will require going at least 10 km (6 miles). I am a wildlife biologist and I used to work at a wildlife station where we ear tagged all the live-trapped mice we caught. Even after driving them across the river (2 miles away), they would be back in a few days. Only after 6 miles did they not return (that we know of).

Live trapping does make a person feel better, generally, but lots of animals actually die due to being relocated to a new place where they don't know the area for predators, have to compete out already existing individuals that call the place home. They tend to get eaten, injured, or starve. I know it's not what you want to hear, but after seeing the statistics, I have come to grips with the fact that snap traps are best. Quick and no poison. Peanut butter is the best bait.

And Lacy - do you have any expert advice on getting a hen to go broody? (taking notes for when the time comes)

 

[Triple Willow]

My girls free range--open coop door, go where ever they want, woods, lawn,e tc. For soon reason the whites are runny. Certainly the pellets have become a higher percent of their feed and they have been wormed . . . IDK?  IF anyone has a clue, please speak up!

I don't know Arielle, I'm still a newbie. This Amish lady's eggs seem like old eggs - but I don't know why she would have any old eggs on hand. This morning I broke two of hers and then one of my ff eggs. The two from her were just pretty much a runny slpat, yolk and all. Then I broke the ff egg and you can see the difference in the pic - her egg on each side and mine in the middle:

Mice don't have any more diseases than any other animal. And most are not comunicable to chickens or people-- only a few rare zoonotic diseases fortunately. 

We drop off the mice waaaaaaaaayyyyyyy down the driveway 500 feet away in the winter at the hay storage or 1000 feet away in the summer under rocks with little caves. We are trap and release by principle.

I"m all for it-- I just can't killl a cute face with HUGE black eyes quivering in front of me-- must be for the same reason I had mice as pets as a kid.   Dead ones can go to the birds-- not sure anyone knows what to do with it though I keep trying.
I caught another mouse today and I took it out to the chickens. Holy cow! I thought I was gonna get hurt! You never seen such a chase. LOL

 

[Kassaundra]

Taking mice Far away with the catch and release method will require going at least 10 km (6 miles). I am a wildlife biologist and I used to work at a wildlife station where we ear tagged all the live-trapped mice we caught. Even after driving them across the river (2 miles away), they would be back in a few days. Only after 6 miles did they not return (that we know of).

Live trapping does make a person feel better, generally, but lots of animals actually die due to being relocated to a new place where they don't know the area for predators, have to compete out already existing individuals that call the place home. They tend to get eaten, injured, or starve. I know it's not what you want to hear, but after seeing the statistics, I have come to grips with the fact that snap traps are best. Quick and no poison. Peanut butter is the best bait.

And Lacy - do you have any expert advice on getting a hen to go broody? (taking notes for when the time comes)

Oh I KNOW the mice I live trap die, b/c my chickens eat them when I take the trap and mouse to the chicken yard.

 

[Triple Willow]

Awwwww, TW...I were only funnin'....     How's this?  I'll let you laugh at me the next time I fall down?  I'm sure I'm due for one soon....I'm pretty darn clumsy. 

I'm over due too ...sigh. I just don't fall as well as I use to. It hurts! LOL