tlzimmerman
In the Brooder
Hi everyone, just introducing myself. I am Thomas from Western Kansas. We tried keeping chickens last year and well, we have a serious raccoon problem. All we have left from our first season is one barred rock hen, who is doing great still and has given us 5 or 6 eggs a week all through winter. While I am well versed in cattle and their husbandry practices this was my first go at chickens.
I have been working on the coons all winter with much success, I'll spare you the gory details, but its about spring time and we are trying again. We are going a little bigger this year, plans and lumber are gathered and we will be building a new coon proof coop. 25 Chicks will be here the first week of February, and we are going to be keeping a couple roosters and starting to hopefully hatch our own flock as well. My oldest daughter (6) got an ebay incubator for Christmas and my oldest 3 are really looking forward to hatching some chicks. Probably try to keep our own flock between 30 and 40 in the end and sell the rest, and also do 2 batches of 50 meaties for eating.
The plan is for the chickens to be primarily free range if I can deal with the hawks, and coop them at night. I have a large wooden crate for a brooder, and it is set back up and ready to go.
Just a little background on me, 31 and married for 9 years, have a drop dead gorgeous wife and 4 kids ages 6, 4, 3, and 6 months. Work as part of the family farm operation farming about 8000 acres, family used to run small feed lots for cattle, but no longer do that. We do still have a good sized working cow/calf operation, as well as the farming.
I am lucky enough as a farmer to have access to a bunch of whole grains, and I am versed in calculating rations for our cattle, so I am hoping to do the same thing for our chickens. Last year we used commercial feed, this year I have brought in a couple ingredients to the feed store (barley and Soybean meal), will be working up a ration to put them on once I get them out of the brooder. I've done some quick first calculations and I think I am going to be around 7 cents a pound for good 20% protein feed blend, and a little less for 17-18%. Ration will contain distillers grains, cracked corn, wheat, barley, milo, and silage, along with plenty of animal protein scraps throughout the year. Planning on supplementing with oyster shell or whatever other calcium source I can find.
So thats me, looking forward to being part of the community. I am sure I will come up with questions for ya'll as we get going again. OH....I am also a professional landscape photographer who specializes in agriculture, so I take a lot of art photographs and sell them. Here is one of my Cornish X last year. I actually got to eat him before the coons got him!
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/spring-cornish-cross-thomas-zimmerman.html
I have been working on the coons all winter with much success, I'll spare you the gory details, but its about spring time and we are trying again. We are going a little bigger this year, plans and lumber are gathered and we will be building a new coon proof coop. 25 Chicks will be here the first week of February, and we are going to be keeping a couple roosters and starting to hopefully hatch our own flock as well. My oldest daughter (6) got an ebay incubator for Christmas and my oldest 3 are really looking forward to hatching some chicks. Probably try to keep our own flock between 30 and 40 in the end and sell the rest, and also do 2 batches of 50 meaties for eating.
The plan is for the chickens to be primarily free range if I can deal with the hawks, and coop them at night. I have a large wooden crate for a brooder, and it is set back up and ready to go.
Just a little background on me, 31 and married for 9 years, have a drop dead gorgeous wife and 4 kids ages 6, 4, 3, and 6 months. Work as part of the family farm operation farming about 8000 acres, family used to run small feed lots for cattle, but no longer do that. We do still have a good sized working cow/calf operation, as well as the farming.
I am lucky enough as a farmer to have access to a bunch of whole grains, and I am versed in calculating rations for our cattle, so I am hoping to do the same thing for our chickens. Last year we used commercial feed, this year I have brought in a couple ingredients to the feed store (barley and Soybean meal), will be working up a ration to put them on once I get them out of the brooder. I've done some quick first calculations and I think I am going to be around 7 cents a pound for good 20% protein feed blend, and a little less for 17-18%. Ration will contain distillers grains, cracked corn, wheat, barley, milo, and silage, along with plenty of animal protein scraps throughout the year. Planning on supplementing with oyster shell or whatever other calcium source I can find.
So thats me, looking forward to being part of the community. I am sure I will come up with questions for ya'll as we get going again. OH....I am also a professional landscape photographer who specializes in agriculture, so I take a lot of art photographs and sell them. Here is one of my Cornish X last year. I actually got to eat him before the coons got him!
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/spring-cornish-cross-thomas-zimmerman.html
