Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[Kassaundra]

southdakatan, I was thinking about your forever long cold problem the other day and wondering if you had the area, or if it is even possible in your area to raise cold loving fish for a protien source for your chickens?

I don't know enough about chicken food needs to have an informed opinion about the recipe, but to me it looks good, not sure where the protein % is in the older bird formula is?

 

[SouthDakotan]

Southdakotan, I can't imagine such cold for so long! You are hit w/ a double whammy w/ keeping chickens through that, both the horrible cold and the long length of cold/short growing season. The amount of food you would have to stock pile would be huge. I would think the most obvious way of dealing w/ that situation in a more "natural" or "old time" method could be to treat them as a "seasonal crop" only winter over a core group of layers (breeders) grow out during the temperate season, "harvest" the meat so there wouldn't be such a food need over winter.

Yes Kassaundra, I am basically looking at "seasonal". Even then my layers have to get thru the winter months and not be so stressed that it takes them a great deal to start up their egg production again. I am trying to make sure my new coop is designed with all their needs firmly in place, for the conditions we deal with. I've been watching our skies far more than normal this winter, though winter is far from normal this year! I want to pay attention to whether we have cloudy skies or clearer skies in winter. Clearer skies would work nice for creating double pane/window systems with "Solar" heat added via some low tech solar panels. I am thinking of placing shutter doors on the solar panels so that I can control heat production in summer months.

My understanding is its not the cold but light that determines poultry production. So, my thought is regarding how I can produce some extra light for my hens, without adding to my electric bill.

I've considered solar lighting, but even that would have some down sides since they never shut off at night and I want my birds to sleep sometime! But if nothing else I may have solar lights that get carried out into a bucket each day to recharge and into the hen house as afternoon/evening (3pm) feeding takes place. Then later I take the bucket out again closer to 8pm. This wouldn't produce as much light as say 100 watt lights, but I feel for the hens being cooped up in a shed that gets dark by 4:30pm every day during winter months! Heck I suffer from the lack of light!!!

so I sympathize with my birds.

 

[SouthDakotan]

southdakatan, I was thinking about your forever long cold problem the other day and wondering if you had the area, or if it is even possible in your area to raise cold loving fish for a protien source for your chickens?

Yes, this was something I was thinking about too. My thought was to learn more about the flathead minnow's requirements. I know I can get them in quantity year round due to ice fishing and that would allow me to obtain them to restock any tank I may have that I'm raising them in, if it were to take place. Not sure about other possible fish.

 

[galanie]

Yes Kassaundra, I am basically looking at "seasonal". Even then my layers have to get thru the winter months and not be so stressed that it takes them a great deal to start up their egg production again. I am trying to make sure my new coop is designed with all their needs firmly in place, for the conditions we deal with. I've been watching our skies far more than normal this winter, though winter is far from normal this year! I want to pay attention to whether we have cloudy skies or clearer skies in winter. Clearer skies would work nice for creating double pane/window systems with "Solar" heat added via some low tech solar panels. I am thinking of placing shutter doors on the solar panels so that I can control heat production in summer months.

My understanding is its not the cold but light that determines poultry production. So, my thought is regarding how I can produce some extra light for my hens, without adding to my electric bill.   I've considered solar lighting, but even that would have some down sides since they never shut off at night and I want my birds to sleep sometime!  But if nothing else I may have solar lights that get carried out into a bucket each day to recharge and into the hen house as afternoon/evening (3pm)  feeding takes place. Then later I take the bucket out again closer to 8pm. This wouldn't produce as much light as say 100 watt lights, but I feel for the hens being cooped up in a shed that gets dark by 4:30pm every day during winter months! Heck I suffer from the lack of light!!!   so I sympathize with my birds.

But can't solar lights be put on a timer some way? Or aren't there ones that come with a timer?

 

[Kassaundra]

Finished my LAB, and have to say next time I make it, I'll do it at a time of year that I can make it outside! They don't tell you how smelly it is to make, how smelly it is for the week it is fermenting, then the removal of the "cheese". The first thing I am going to use it for is the chicken coop floor, see if it really works to break down the poop w/o releasing amonia gas smell.

Guess I ought to check on my IMO 1 too, it's been a couple of weeks now.

 

[kathyinmo]

I am on a recruiting mission (to win a prize) .

Please join the annual Mahonri Easter Hatch, and go to this thread and tell them I recruited you.

 

[galanie]

I am on a recruiting mission (to win a prize) .   

Please join the annual Mahonri Easter Hatch, and go to this thread and tell them I recruited you.

lol I did. what a shameless plug to get silly pink underwear! But you go girl!

 

[SouthDakotan]

Good question about the timer. I hadn't thought about that! My bad! LoL

Great idea. I will have to look into that option. I know some people may think I'm being silly about going solar, but its just a matter of my husband and I trying to reduce how much electricity we are dependent on. The problem we see for the poultry is the same we see for our selves. In the grip of winter, its more than merely "uncomfortable" to loose electricity... it can be damaging to equipment, etc. So we thought it may be smarter to try to find alternatives that would work instead and not wire the poultry houses or depend on outdoor extension cords. Mind you our brooding area still has to have its heat lamp, but we're aware there are gas based brooder that we could convert to. But not really feeling those are "better", its just a different energy company we'd depend on, but at least it would operate if the electricity went out.

Anyone have gas brooders that might share their experiences with them?

 

[400constantne]

You can buy a solar yard light at walmart ($2). Hang it in a window as to where it only gets enough sunlight to power the light for a few hours.

 

[rebel gardener]

Apologies for going off feeding and to suggest ideas against

Frozen water !!!


Quote:
I had an idea that came to me when reading an old gardening book about heating greenhouses.

I saw what could be easily described as a hot bed. If you create a compost heap/manure pile inside a frame with good mixture of dung to straw/sawdust and moisture the pile really does heat up. So the basic design was a thick wooden rectangular frame variable heights and lengths filled with fresh manure and on top of this they placed 6 inches soil grit mixture etc for starting off seeds in winter, another design just had a freshly made heap in a frame open to greenhouse.If you dont turn it every week or sooner you will find airation of the pile is greatly reduced and heat will go down.

Now you could place your drinker on top or just in the same insulated place as the pile as the ambient temp would be higher.

Another idea would be to have an auto drinker setup where by the header tank was buried up to rim with fresh manure with an insulated lid and the heat and insulation this provides should keep it from freezing.
The outlet drinker may freeze.
A way around this, that I might try is using if weather worsens is to adapt something I have recently started using.
I have recently started using nipple plugs in base of buckets or along plastic pipes to offer clean water to my birds .
If I used a narrow gauge piping and inserted the nipple plugs into the pipe I could still fit pipe insulation around my pipes thus reducing the freezing risk of water in the plastic pipe once it has left the compost surrounded barrel.
You could also run the pipe through the compost but it may arrive to the birds too hot. I know compost heap showers can pick up quite a temperature in a freshly stacked pile with coiled black pipe inside it.

These are only ideas and does rely on having enough fresh compost materials.

If the weather around me is going to be very cold for a a few weeks or more I will tend to try and deep litter my chooks in the run up to it and throughout it so that the composting affect in the litter helps heat the coop a little,also taking the drinkers into the coop whilst doing this helped but over prolonged minus temps did still freeze..