Sounds like you have nice system set up!
Are you using 5 gallon buckets to keep your FF in? How do you keep the buckets covered? What kind of feeder do you use for each group?
Are you using 5 gallon buckets to keep your FF in? How do you keep the buckets covered? What kind of feeder do you use for each group?
I've done the FF a couple of months now. Started w/ Chick starter, went to Game bird starter when we added the guineas and turkeys and added scratch grains as they grew. Now my whole flock is getting FF. I have 3 different buckets, one just starter for the babies, one 50/50 for the bigger brooders and a layer/scratch for the hens. The hens still have dry available for the days I get in late from work and go straight to bed. They don't eat much of it tho. I haven't kept track of the actual consumption but I still have the same # of hens and am adding all these chicks but seem to be making less trips to the feed store. One of the girls there even commented that our bill was down and asked if we had been selling. Living in West Texas the fact that they have the extra water is a plus, I always worry that they are getting enough water. The babies brooder is in the spare bedroom and my daughter thought we moved it outside after we started feeding FF, she had always hated the smell. Now no worries.
I had started feeding the FF to the hens because I had an EE pen where the hens had alot of roo damage (Roo went to freezer camp) Wanted the hens to have a little help, I really think they started looking better pretty quick. DH thinks its comical the way he gets mobbed when he has the FF bucket, even tho they have plenty of dry in the feeder. You have to give the Free Rangers their share first in order to be able to walk to the pens or they will get up under foot and trip you tho. Everyone knows that bucket!!