Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Arielle]

Quote: 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!

Quote: 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.

Quote: 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.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: 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!





When I bend over to pour FF into my trough, the food aggressive hens will dart forward and even place their heads right into the bucket as I'm trying to pour..at which time I grab their heads, give a little shake until they are squawking and trying to get away and then I give them a little flip to the side. Just the same thing they do to another hen trying to get to the feeder. It's a language they understand.

Then I stand over the feeder and note anyone climbing into the feeder or trying to run anyone else away from the feeder and just poke them in the side or on top of the back sharply until they get off the feeder and act like they have manners. When everyone is eating side by side and calmly, without pushing or pecking aggressively, then I step back and leave them be.

This only has to be done every once in awhile when a flock member forgets the pecking order...top hen is ME, then comes the rooster, then the rest of them. Sometimes I'll stand over the feeder, pecking them away lightly if they try to approach(tap with the edge of the fingers on the side or back), until they are all standing back politely and waiting, then I let them come in more calmly and in an orderly fashion. These things only happen once or twice a year, usually after a disturbance in the flock matrix/pecking order when birds have been culled, new pullets come into lay and start feeling like big girls. Sooner or later someone needs a lesson on who really rules the roost and I'm not passive about that...it creates a very calm, quiet flock that never has pecking, fighting, injury issues like so many I've read about on these forums.

Just like dogs and children...they seem more secure when someone gives them boundaries and limitations and is consistent on those.
THe CHicken WHisperer!!!

Yah, being top dog is a lot of work. My dogs try to question me-- to be expected from a Rottie-- and then my kids try it------ I learned well from my ROtties to maintain control even if my kids get choices. THen when they have a problem, guess who they confide in??

 

[Kassaundra]

Kassaundra, are you planning to breed that columbian patterned hen on the right with a naked neck? As I was looking at these pictures, I could just imagine her with a naked neck and full beard!

She would be SOooo cute!



You can just wet the pellets but they need to be used very quickly, like within 12-18 hours. I used to use them and they would get this super mildew smell to them if not used right away. My birds did not like them at all. I would mix them (all broken down) into their food and somehow, the birds manage to leave only the alfalfa in their feed pans! So, I quit and started using alfalfa cubes instead. I chip them into very thin layers and then soak in hot water for 20 minutes to a couple hours, depending on how long til feed time, and the girls all clean them up lickety split!


Hu? My birds have. Points that were lost last winter got more frost bite this winter. I've never had one lose just the skin so I don't know.

I am trying to put together a large live catch mouse trap. I want to catch as many as possible overnight and then in the morning, dunk the whole thing in a bucket of water til they're all drowned. Then I'll lay them out on a baking sheet and freeze them. Then I'll take my cleaver and chop the little boogers into smaller chunks and mix them into my evening feed. They really need to start earning their keep. I would do all of that so that each bird was sure to get some.


I tried making a comb cap last year. I got some felt and some wax paper. I put wax paper between two layers of felt and traced the shape of my rooster's comb. Then I cut out and sewed together each side, attached tie down straps and put it on him. While I was holding him, he kept it on without any problem. Once I released him into his pen however, even though I had waited until dark, he scratched and clawed at that thing til he got it off. Took about two seconds!

Bee, how do you do this? I read your description before but don't know how to get the attention of the one being overly aggressive like you described. I don't have many that do this but there's one or two that make me really mad sometimes!

My only boys I'm keeping are NN, so yes she will be bred by NN, most of my NN had beards in their genetics, now it is about 50%

 

[Kassaundra]

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!

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.

Mine aren't interested if it is already dead

 

[Beekissed]

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!




THe CHicken WHisperer!!!

Yah, being top dog is a lot of work. My dogs try to question me-- to be expected from a Rottie-- and then my kids try it------ I learned well from my ROtties to maintain control even if my kids get choices. THen when they have a problem, guess who they confide in??

I think they already have a Chicken Whisperer show out there...it was bound to happen with all this uprise in chicken ownership.

I do like to experiment with what works on behaviors of chickens and often mimic what works within the flock to get results, so I guess it is a lot like Cesar Milan's using the pack to learn dog psychology.

 

[Lacy Blues]

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!




THe CHicken WHisperer!!!

Yah, being top dog is a lot of work. My dogs try to question me-- to be expected from a Rottie-- and then my kids try it------ I learned well from my ROtties to maintain control even if my kids get choices. THen when they have a problem, guess who they confide in??

Ok. I'll look for packages. Hope they survive the trip!

The rottie?

 

[Kassaundra]

~~Spent the last few days gardening w/ the flock, and observing. I made an observation I was wondering if anyone else had noticed. I have 2 young roo's just now getting their big boy hormones started. These 2 I know maternal parentage, and neither were raised by their bio moms. First is Shakespear



Shakespear is the head roo, calm cool collected, every bit the "man in charge"





His mother was Mensa, calm, thinking, high in the pecking order





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?

 

[Scott H]

It's deja vu all over again....;-)

 

[Kassaundra]

It's deja vu all over again....;-)

Yes, I posted on two threads to get multiple opinions / observations.

 

[sarahsunshine]

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!