Grower/Finisher All Their Lives?

[DesertBird]

On the way! 5 supposed Sicilian Buttercup's and 5 Australorp's. Anyone have any tips or experiences with either of those breeds?

The 10 chicks I got - should be all pullets, but with my luck, they're all cockerel's. About 4 days old, no vaccinations, seem to be healthy and very tired. It must be hard work being that cute.

The bins at TSC.

The two breeds I got. (Only "guaranteed" pullets they had aside from RIR's.)

All of the other breeds! All of them were straight run except the RIR's, so I didn't want to take a chance. Although I wouldn't have minded some of the gorgeous Russian Orloff's or Leghorn's.

 

[DesertBird]

If the pieces are too big for them, you can always put it in a blender or food processor to grind it smaller. Personally, I've never had an issue with even newly hatched chicks eating starter crumble.

I might just do that! The Australorp's have quite a bit of spunk, though, so I don't think anything could stop them. The first time I tried to pick them up to put them in the tub, two of the Australorp's ran at me and started pecking my fingers to stop me from picking up a Sicilian Buttercup. Is this possible cockerel behavior, or are they always this spunky? 4 days old.

 

[junebuggena]

My Australorps are the lowest ranking birds in my flock. They are also the only broodies in my flock. They are all 3 years old now. They don't lay quite as well as my Barred Rocks or Easter Eggers, averaging about 4 eggs a week now. But they are the only ones that lay through the winter.

 

[DesertBird]

My Australorps are the lowest ranking birds in my flock. They are also the only broodies in my flock. They are all 3 years old now. They don't lay quite as well as my Barred Rocks or Easter Eggers, averaging about 4 eggs a week now. But they are the only ones that lay through the winter.

Perfect! I don't want my girls getting hurt, but I have BR's and RIR's - big ol' bullies, so I want some docile breeds that won't be constantly fighting with others. Not sure what breed the red/brown chicks are.. I really hope they're not bullies.

 

[lazy gardener]

I did a bit of sleuthing. Dumor is manufactured by Purina.

Purina/Land o Lakes, is the manufacturer of Dumor at their Harrisburg, Pennsylvania plant.

http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/message...

EDIT: Dumor feeds are manufactured by Purina and sold by Tractor Supply. Please look at the first link provided...."Purina does not advertise "Dumor" on its website".

"Dumor feed is a line of feed made by Purina Mills and is sold only in Tractor Supply stores. They have come a long way and we sell a long line of their feeds from alpacas to horses to chickens with a lot of good results. of course with any feed you may have a case where an animal does not respond well with this feed just like any other feed. They have now come out with 3 new feeds to compare to strategy and omaline 100 and 200.they have equistages wich is a almost exact comparison to strategy except the fiber content is different by about 1%. which means nothing to a horse from ages 2 to 25. so encourage all to try the dumor line of feed.

 

[DesertBird]

I did a bit of sleuthing. Dumor is manufactured by Purina.

Purina/Land o Lakes, is the manufacturer of Dumor at their Harrisburg, Pennsylvania plant.

http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/message...

EDIT: Dumor feeds are manufactured by Purina and sold by Tractor Supply. Please look at the first link provided...."Purina does not advertise "Dumor" on its website".

"Dumor feed is a line of feed made by Purina Mills and is sold only in Tractor Supply stores. They have come a long way and we sell a long line of their feeds from alpacas to horses to chickens with a lot of good results. of course with any feed you may have a case where an animal does not respond well with this feed just like any other feed. They have now come out with 3 new feeds to compare to strategy and omaline 100 and 200.they have equistages wich is a almost exact comparison to strategy except the fiber content is different by about 1%. which means nothing to a horse from ages 2 to 25. so encourage all to try the dumor line of feed.

So is it a good brand then? Other than organic. My chickens seem to love it way more than the other brands I tried them on, but it could just be that they remember it from their chick days. lol

 

[GC-Raptor]

I prefer Purina and Nutrena Naturewise brand of feed. Because I don't ferment and I want Prebiotics and Probiotics in the formula.
I haven't checked Dumor feed since early last year. But I didn't see Prebiotics and Probiotics in the formula on the tag, at that time. GC

 

[lazy gardener]

So is it a good brand then? Other than organic. My chickens seem to love it way more than the other brands I tried them on, but it could just be that they remember it from their chick days. lol

I really don't spend much time wondering about one brand of feed over an other. I buy my feed where ever I find the best price on the formulation I am looking for. I buy almost exclusively from a competitor now, b/c every time I went to my local box feed store to buy feed, they either had feed that was too old, or they did not have the formulation I was looking for, and spent their time trying to upsell me. No thanks. I am not going to spend my money on your pricier feeds simply b/c you can't manage to keep a common, and popular formulation product on your shelves. Even when buying from a competitor, (and I like their feeds better anyways) there is the store brand that they push. Ask for layer... and they trundle out this particular "store brand" bag. But, if you ask if there is a cheaper product, and... lo and behold, there is an unadvertised store brand that is as much as $2 cheaper per bag. Only difference being: it comes in a plain paper bag instead of the pretty plastic tarp bag, and it doesn't have the advertising hype of the more expensive bag. Line for line, the ingredients and nutritional analysis are the same. This store also has a good turn around on their product. Almost always it is 1 - 2 weeks past mill date, occasionally pushing towards the 3 week mark.

 

[barred2rock]

View attachment 1101449

I'd like to get my hands on some of the Russia Orloffs. Looks like a interesting and cool breed.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

On the way! 5 supposed Sicilian Buttercup's and 5 Australorp's. Anyone have any tips or experiences with either of those breeds?

View attachment 1101435 View attachment 1101436

The 10 chicks I got - should be all pullets, but with my luck, they're all cockerel's. About 4 days old, no vaccinations, seem to be healthy and very tired. It must be hard work being that cute.


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The bins at TSC.

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The two breeds I got. (Only "guaranteed" pullets they had aside from RIR's.)

View attachment 1101445 View attachment 1101446 View attachment 1101447 View attachment 1101448 View attachment 1101449

All of the other breeds! All of them were straight run except the RIR's, so I didn't want to take a chance. Although I wouldn't have minded some of the gorgeous Russian Orloff's or Leghorn's.

Chicks at feed store were also shipped and yes it MUST be hard work being that cute! Are you calling them 4 days from the day they were hatched or because they were posted as day olds? Point being, many chicks are at least a few days old by the time they make it to their bin. I don't vaccinate.

This is my first season with Australorp, so far good enough. Buttercups would be fun!

Congrats on your new babies.

I've received plenty a cockerel sold as pullet. But with my high volume, it still does average less than 10%... though some incidents have been 100% male. Most have been 100% female... still well within the average with the mishaps.