Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

I actually wish I could have gotten a few pictures of at least the silkies. Especially the rooster, I've been looking at pictures since yesterday and the closest thing I can find to his color is a partridge. Due to some of the darker coloring on Chiquita it was suggested that she might be a improperly marked partridge and not strictly buff colored. If so, Branch x Chiquita might produce colors I was not expecting to see thinking Branch came from a Black x Black breeding. I do know Blue will be out of the question from Branch even though there were blue hens. Blue is recessive to black, and even if he had a blue Momma, with him being black he did not receive a copy of the blue gene.

 

[Ponypoor]

Is this considered “Social Media”? Oh no, I promised myself not to peck around in social media. Run away, run away!
Could not run away fast enough, I thought Facebook was lousy social media! tax:
Coco agrees View attachment 2996536

Good morning Coco

 

[Ponypoor]

I was enjoying some personal time with Buttercup when Pangoo decided to photo bomb the session... Then he decided he didn't like me (my apologies for the ooops word!).

 

[featherhead007]

I was enjoying some personal time with Buttercup when Pangoo decided to photo bomb the session... Then he decided he didn't like me (my apologies for the ooops word!).

Wow,Pangoo, what an attention hog!

 

[Ponypoor]

It is one of the reasons that I give them corn on really cold days. The added calories help to keep them warm.

Yep when it's -25c it's -10c in the barn brrrrr! Extra calories to keep them warm!

 

[Ponypoor]

Wow, what an attention hog!

He is getting spring time hormones I guess.. he drew blood he bites hard

 

[Ponypoor]

Fruit and protein! I like it.

I collect a bowl of the beetles and throw them on the barn floor, they go crazy! The beetles that fly off get stuck in the screen doorway so the chickens get entertainment catching those also.

 

[featherhead007]

He is getting spring time hormones I guess.. he drew blood he bites hard

Chicken recepes:
1. Baked with potatoes
2. Fried chicken and rice
3. Broiled honey covered chicken
4. Chinese orange flavored chicken
Yes I’m kidding! Nobody eats Pangoo!

 

[Kris5902]

MJ, do you also ration the pellets or is it available free free choice all the time? I am trying to remember NOT to top off the feed dishes a couple mornings a week so they get a little hungry and gave to dig around to find the spilled feed. But mostly it’s available free choice at all times (outside the coop).

I have been giving lots of produce (some combination of carrot, kale, cabbage, zucchini, apple, broccoli, blueberries, or tomato along with wheat berries sprouted for four days) so could be overdoing it. I scatter it all around the run each day, and it’s fun to watch them forage around the run, being active first thing in the morning. I feel chickens who are confined to a run or even a back yard would fare better on produce than high-calorie, high-carb, and/or high-fat treats, and I’m trying to offer variety. It seems I can see mine getting more active. Now, I don’t know if this is because of their diet, days getting longer, or something else, but I can see it.

Then there’s the whole calcium issue. Calcium biochemistry is delicate, and I am far from an expert on it. I do wonder if calcium from calcium-rich foods might be more readily metabolized than straight calcium supplements in chickens. In addition to free choice oyster shell, I’ve been offering a dairy treat (lowfat greek yogurt mixed with lowfat cottage cheese) a couple times a week. My hope is it is a good animal protein and calcium boost. I just hope lowfat is healthful enough for my little fatties.

I love the idea of a high protein pellet, but have had a few soft shell issues despite constant access to oyster shell, so I’ve been feeding mostly layer. This concerns me for my non-layers, but so far in my flock laying issues have been the top killers, so I’m sticking with it for now. It’s only 17% protein, so I sometimes mix it with 22% protein starter/grower.

I don’t know if my current feeding practices will have good or bad long term effects, but the birds seem healthy and happy, and like I said before, seem to be slimming down. My undertanding is heat and laying hormones can both be factors in fatty liver disease, so I’m hoping to get them in top shape before summer.

My point of this rambling post is that dietary changes can be transformative and just a reminder that I have first hand knowledge of excess body fat killing chickens. So here it is: Bob, I know it’s so cute that your girls love their pasta, cracked corn and meal worms, but I fear it might be killing them. It stings a bit to say that to such a loving, caring chicken care taker as you, but as your friend, I must. Please forgive me. I don’t claim to have the answers, but I hope you will fully evaluate the diet of your flock and consider some tweaks.

I have had a hard time cutting out a lot of the not so good food we let Arduinna eat as well. Her pasta portions are very small and quite infrequent now. Trying to get her eating the least processed foods possible. The chickens I have always been a little more stingy with their treats 100 chickens and a bag of scratch lasts two to three weeks… the human food scraps I’m a little more liberal with, but with the number of people to birds it’s a lot less than I think smaller flocks see per bird. I also let them run totally out of food at times, with hanging feeders they sometimes get messy, and it makes sure they get out and forage. I will let them stand empty for most of the day the refill a few hours before bed.

As to liver function/condition, I don’t know as much as most here, but what I can say from working at the abattoir, there’s a pretty big difference. I’ve never seen one downgraded yet by the inspector (not for human consumption) but I have seen a marked difference in colour and texture. Some of this was birds from different farms and you could literally see the fattiness. They were yellowish and splotchy looking, and a lighter red as opposed to the deep blackish red. This was almost completely due to different producers, and more common in layer culls than meatbirds, although I have seen it in my own older meatbirds that have been holdbacks. I asked the inspector about this and he’s not sure as to why, but the physical differences, although quite apparent, aren’t what they are looking for in “fit for consumption” liver markers. I’ve only seen this in my own older meat birds and the one processing batch I shared of cockerels with my hatching buddy. Who feeds scratch almost exclusively because it’s “better for them, and they don’t like the pellets” The day I worked at the abattoir we processed a little over 300 birds, so I saw a lot of livers that day.

 

[RoyalChick]

I have had a hard time cutting out a lot of the not so good food we let Arduinna eat as well. Her pasta portions are very small and quite infrequent now. Trying to get her eating the least processed foods possible. The chickens I have always been a little more stingy with their treats 100 chickens and a bag of scratch lasts two to three weeks… the human food scraps I’m a little more liberal with, but with the number of people to birds it’s a lot less than I think smaller flocks see per bird. I also let them run totally out of food at times, with hanging feeders they sometimes get messy, and it makes sure they get out and forage. I will let them stand empty for most of the day the refill a few hours before bed.

As to liver function/condition, I don’t know as much as most here, but what I can say from working at the abattoir, there’s a pretty big difference. I’ve never seen one downgraded yet by the inspector (not for human consumption) but I have seen a marked difference in colour and texture. Some of this was birds from different farms and you could literally see the fattiness. They were yellowish and splotchy looking, and a lighter red as opposed to the deep blackish red. This was almost completely due to different producers, and more common in layer culls than meatbirds, although I have seen it in my own older meatbirds that have been holdbacks. I asked the inspector about this and he’s not sure as to why, but the physical differences, although quite apparent, aren’t what they are looking for in “fit for consumption” liver markers. I’ve only seen this in my own older meat birds and the one processing batch I shared of cockerels with my hatching buddy. Who feeds scratch almost exclusively because it’s “better for them, and they don’t like the pellets” The day I worked at the abattoir we processed a little over 300 birds, so I saw a lot of livers that day.

Think of foie gras (or dont if you are squeamish!). Those birds are fattened specifically to make a fatty liver. So I am not surprised the meat inspector wouldn’t worry about a fatty liver from the perspective of ‘fit for human consumption’.