Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

You

Can you explain this?  Certainly one can't be sure what chickens eat when ranging but if you're talking of purposely feeding mice to chickens that is very dangerous and unhealthy. 

This from an article in Hobby Farms by Mike Wilhite. You can find the entire article online just google "mice and chickens" it will pop up. 

[COLOR=555555]Rodents are responsible for more than a quarter of all [/COLOR][COLOR=6C8D82]farm fires[/COLOR][COLOR=555555] of unknown origin, but the main risk from infestations is [/COLOR][COLOR=6C8D82]feed[/COLOR][COLOR=555555] contamination and disease exposure to both you and your flock. A rat can produce more than 40 droppings per day and a gallon or more of urine per year, while a single mouse can produce more than 80 droppings per day and more than a quart of urine per year.  A variety of human and livestock diseases are spread through contact with rodent excrement, which include cryptosporidiosis, toxoplasmosis, leptospirosis, [/COLOR][COLOR=6C8D82]brucellosis[/COLOR][COLOR=555555] and salmonellosis.[/COLOR]

seriously not necessarily to call me out twice. No I do not need your assistance in running my farm. If my chickens and I die from rat born illness I guess your right and I'm wrong.

health due to the fact my birds eat rodents. People have been eating chicken eggs much longer than we have been making chicken feed. Chickens are omnivorous, they NEED MEAT in their diet for best health. As I said in my original post, for my flock it's what works best. I am not telling everyone to stop feeding processed chicken feed. I just got excited about finding a way to have fat happy chickens while spending less money. Being as I am now running an actual farm not a hobby farm, saving money is important to me. I have to be able to cover all overhead costs. All of my customers know what my birds eat and how we raise and process them. I give each new customer the run down of risks they are taking by purchasing from me not the grocery store. In 18 months we have yet to make 1 person ill or lose a bird due to illness. Thank you for your concern @rancher hicks however the birds eating the rodent helps reduce the risk of excrement and urine born illness. I have done my reading and research over the last several years. That's how I am able to run a fully functional farm with just my husband and 5 kids help. No I don't make a fortune but I do make enough to pay for everything "farm" without taking money from my family needs. My farm income also adds a nice bit to my family savings. I would not risk my farm or family over a rat.

There is posted in both places to make sure you see my response.

 

[Beekissed]

I was considering a double barrel type stove when I found this one. By the time I bought barrels and the stove kit it was may more than this stove cost. I will need to invest in a few lengths of double wall stove pipe but not too much

We don't have a double barrel stove, just a single barrel....they only cost around $25 around here and we already had the stove kit, have had the same one since the 70s. I don't know what folks do with the double barreled stoves...I guess it's an afterburn type thingy, but I think they look hideous.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quote: We do have double barrel stove pipe
We bought this 80 dollars knowing what type a stove we have (it is complete)
I want safe over sorry

 

[Beekissed]

So I have been running an experiment with my chickens. I have 3 ages so it was fairly simple. I split all 3 age groups into 2 groups. Half of each group has been free ranging from sun up to sun down with feed available all day. The other is on a very strict diet of only store bought feed.

My purpose for this was to see how the birds grow better. Well hands down the free ranging birds win. The 2 months Olds are huge and fully feathered, the teens are laying already and the "old" hens look great with minimal feather loss and still laying daily. My "feed only" group looks blah. The 2 months Olds are small and still not fully feathered, the teens are not laying yet and skinny and the "old hens" have Pink combs horrible feather loss and lower egg production.

My conclusion!!!! Grow forage and fodder and any kind of bug farm I can over winter. Catch mice and other critters that my flock eats in warm months and feed during winter. Chickens (at least mine) can not thrive fully on a factory feed.

Excellent experiment! I've found the same thing to be true...the birds I've held in a spare pen and fed on just grain based feeds had very little gain and didn't look well, but let out on range it wasn't long until they started looking sleek, shiny and healthier.

You
seriously not necessarily to call me out twice. No I do not need your assistance in running my farm. If my chickens and I die from rat born illness I guess your right and I'm wrong.

health due to the fact my birds eat rodents. People have been eating chicken eggs much longer than we have been making chicken feed. Chickens are omnivorous, they NEED MEAT in their diet for best health. As I said in my original post, for my flock it's what works best. I am not telling everyone to stop feeding processed chicken feed. I just got excited about finding a way to have fat happy chickens while spending less money. Being as I am now running an actual farm not a hobby farm, saving money is important to me. I have to be able to cover all overhead costs. All of my customers know what my birds eat and how we raise and process them. I give each new customer the run down of risks they are taking by purchasing from me not the grocery store. In 18 months we have yet to make 1 person ill or lose a bird due to illness. Thank you for your concern @rancher hicks however the birds eating the rodent helps reduce the risk of excrement and urine born illness. I have done my reading and research over the last several years. That's how I am able to run a fully functional farm with just my husband and 5 kids help. No I don't make a fortune but I do make enough to pay for everything "farm" without taking money from my family needs. My farm income also adds a nice bit to my family savings. I would not risk my farm or family over a rat.

There is posted in both places to make sure you see my response.

Amen to that! You aren't doing a single thing wrong or misguided in any of that, so just brush it off.

Mice are vastly different than rats and I don't know of a chicken out there big enough to choke down a rat. All needless drama and huff over a simple statement about chickens catching mice while free ranging.....and that's been done since chickens and mice were created, so anyone saying it's dangerous and unhealthy hasn't got their thinking caps on.

They also eat lizards, snakes, frogs and all manner of excrement they find will get a good pick through too....and not a bit of it's going to transmit salmonella, e.coli or any other disease to the meat or eggs of those birds. Just a bunch of over dramatic hooey to even comment on it.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Excellent experiment!  I've found the same thing to be true...the birds I've held in a spare pen and fed on just grain based feeds had very little gain and didn't look well, but let out on range it wasn't long until they started looking sleek, shiny and healthier. 


Amen to that!  You aren't doing a single thing wrong or misguided in any of that, so just brush it off. 

Mice are vastly different than rats and I don't know of a chicken out there big enough to choke down a rat.  All needless drama and huff over a simple statement about chickens catching mice while free ranging.....and that's been done since chickens and mice were created, so anyone saying it's dangerous and unhealthy hasn't got their thinking caps on. 

They also eat lizards, snakes, frogs and all manner of excrement they find will get a good pick through too....and not a bit of it's going to transmit salmonella, e.coli or any other disease to the meat or eggs of those birds.  Just a bunch of over dramatic hooey to even comment on it. 

thank you.

 

[KlopKlop]

We don't have a double barrel stove, just a single barrel....they only cost around $25 around here and we already had the stove kit, have had the same one since the 70s.   I don't know what folks do with the double barreled stoves...I guess it's an afterburn type thingy, but I think they look hideous. 

The second barrel is supposed to help transfer more heat to the room, but I agree not exactly going to get you in the front page of home style magazine lol

 

[Beekissed]

The second barrel is supposed to help transfer more heat to the room, but I agree not exactly going to get you in the front page of home style magazine lol

Neither will ours....barrel stoves aren't considered the most sleek and attractive stoves out there.

We like it because it's a cheaply built stove and it holds a ton of wood, so banking it up for the night is easy to do.

Here's a pic of our "old black sow" stove.....she ain't perdy, but she's hot!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quote: and solid as can be looks great

 

[lazy gardener]

Neither will ours....barrel stoves aren't considered the most sleek and attractive stoves out there.

We like it because it's a cheaply built stove and it holds a ton of wood, so banking it up for the night is easy to do.

Here's a pic of our "old black sow" stove.....she ain't perdy, but she's hot!

I think your black pig is beautiful. I especially like the fact that you can set a cook pot on it. Tell me how well you can cook with that stove, purdy pleeze! My brother made one, and had it set up in a house he was rehabbing. Someone broke in and stole the stove. That's the only thing the thieves took.

 

[Beekissed]

Cooking is easy on it, though you can't really control the temps or cooking time other than using the dampers to shut it down or open it up a little. Mostly we use it for simmering soups and such, but have used the skillet for cooking this or that on there in the past. If it's something that has to be watched and stirred a lot, you'll be hot and sweaty before you are done.

The flat surface comes in handy for that big ol' teakettle on top, which helps us keep moisture in the air all winter long.