Yes, it certainly was COLD! And my Bourkes parakeet decided to nest and hatch two chicks yesterday. They have survived the night - fingers crossed for tonight which is supposed to be almost as chilly. And yes, it's always nice to see a fellow Kiwi on here!
Ouch poor little sods ... not a great day to be born! Any way you can get a heat lamp or even a hottie near them??
About 5 years ago there was that "Once in 80 Years" cold snap? My goat decided to give birth a week early that morning ... both kids survived, but that was nasty ... they appeared to be dead when I found them, they were stiffening already ... it became clear they weren't quite gone when I rubbed them and they started fitting ... never before have seizures been a good sign! ... nothing quite like tucking two wet half frozen kids inside ones shirt to take them home on a morning like that.
Well my goose decided to sit on her eggs tonight ... I think she figures its either sit on them now or freeze them ... sensible choice I'd say.
I use Fiskins Layers Mash which is kibbled grains. It has a little molasses in it but no where near as much as Chook Chow. You wouldn't know it was in there unless you read the bag. My girls ignore pellets. They've always loved their wet mash though so it was easy to start up with FF again (I'd got lazy and out of the habit, but it is worth it). My Mum gave me some different food to try them on that her girls had loved. Mine looked at it and I could see them wondering where their FF was!
I measured out today the weight of what I added to my mix. It came to 1.125kg which is 2.5 pounds. I do add some Blood and Bone because of the quail (and I can't be bothered doing two separate lots).
I often give them a bit of the dry layers mash to pick through in the late afternoon once they've got through their FF. And I sprout wheat for them when I have the time or give them veges and weeds from the garden.
Mine have always loved wet mash. They hate pellets really. I don't blame them ... they can't chew, how much can they really
Taste of that pelleted stuff? How would you like a breakfast of capsules and tablets!!
In saying that I've been feeding whole grains for a few months now supplemented with homegrown veges and meat scraps. All because I went and read the bags of chicken feed (never a good move if you like keeping your head under the sand) and even the 'nicer' ones have the same ingredients list. Literally word for word ... and it doesn't say "Wheat" or "Corn" anymore ... no gosh no its "Grains and grain by products" ... no disclosure on that label at all ... Did a little digging and it turns out most of the companies are importing bulk ready mixed "layer chicken" ration all at once and pelletising or kibbling it themselves.
Thus the ingredients are basically copied and pasted from brand to brand ... and those 'grains' are all grown overseas ... which considering it is mostly corn and soy my thoughts go to RoundUp Ready ... actually it's not the GE that bothers me so much as the roundup itself. I get Gusto wheat and corn from Wrightsons now, which is at least NZ grown, so although not organic by a long stretch, it can't be GE so the amount of glyphosate must be less. It's probably still sprayed with roundup prior to harvest ... yum ... but you can't win it all at once.
Of course the protein is inadequate, but I run my own sheep etc so I have plenty of scraps and offal to mince and cook up for them, I grow them giant radish, mangle beets and turnips too and that is my "Scratch" or in this case Peck, after feeding them all the real stuff. Half my freezer and cellar is full of chook food Lol.
Now I'm beginning to ferment my whole grains too, the feed should be really good for them! They do appreciate having a bit more flavour. Its only half fermented yet, as it is whole grain it is taking a while to ferment, but in the meantime I'm feeding semi-fermented soaked grains and they love it. They are eating less already ... they didn't really want much of their dinner tonight. I think they overate in the morning!!
Bonus if they eat less ... cheaper, and logically, if they eat less physical feed but get at least the same nutrition out of it, any chemical residue going into my birds is less, proportionally speaking. Win/win.
Enjoying the frost this morning??
(or not ...
?)
) semi-cracked grains like Chook Chow (US translation: a type of cracked sweet feed) are somewhere in between.
