INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[ChickenCanoe]

Ok sounds good - we've got tractor supply and a local feed store to choose from here in town. Just didn't know if there was anything people preferred or disliked compared to others. Thank you!
Ok I'll check it out...typically I go to TSC more often
So flock raiser will work for all ages?

Correct.

Good chick feed:
1-1.5 % Calcium
19% or more protein.
All the trace elements an vitamins

X2

There are basically 2 things to look at. Calcium and protein.
Only birds actively laying should get 4% calcium.
The younger the bird, the more protein they need. Chicks can use from 18-22% protein. As they grow, lower it. 15% is about right for 15 week old birds.
To simplify it, you can do 18% their whole life.
Excess protein will be eliminated and contributes to ammonia in the feces/bedding.

@ChickenCanoe Here is the chicken in question. I have never had an olive egger and some say pullet and some rooster. What do you think?

That's a boy. Pointy hackles and curved sickle feathers on the tail.

Darn feather plucker and eater that is pushy anyway so it would not be a big deal to sell it off to me. The other three olive eggers are pullets anyway so I have plenty.

Feather plucking, I would first consider upping the protein and cutting out treats/scratch.

Got a co-op question for all the "man's men" or ladies too that get blisters on their hands....
I have read not to use cedar shavings for chickens but can we use a dying cedar tree for the wood?(hand planing the boards)

If it's Eastern Red Cedar, (actually a juniper and not a true cedar) then it is likely too aromatic in a closed space. But you have to determine based on how many fumes it emits.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good chick feed:
1-1.5 % Calcium
19% or more protein.
All the trace elements an vitamins

In addition to the nutrient in the bag, IMO it's important to check the mill date You'll find the Julian date stamped on the very end of the bag. I won't buy anything that's older than 30 days old. Some stores are notorious for selling ancient feed.

 

[Akrnaf2]

soup!!!

I will take the recipe

1 good and fat rooster with the skin! ( not cut)
1 big onion diced
2 carotes cut in 3
2 potatoes cut in 4
2 parsley roots pild an cut
1 big cellery root piled an diced
2-4 cellery stalks
Cold water
Salt.
Mo
In a big pot you put 3-4 tbs of vegetable oil put the onion an stire for 2-3 minute, enter the all bird and stire, put all the vegetables, live for 2-3 minutes add cold water to cover the all thing, bring to boil, reduce the flame to minimum and cook to perfaction, fix the flavors.
You can add some biff bone and it will upgrade it!

 

[daxigait]

1 good and fat rooster with the skin! ( not cut)
1 big onion diced
2 carotes cut in 3
2 potatoes cut in 4
2 parsley roots pild an cut
1 big cellery root piled an diced
2-4 cellery stalks
Cold water
Salt.
Mo
In a big pot you put 3-4 tbs of vegetable oil put the onion an stire for 2-3 minute, enter the all bird and stire, put all the vegetables, live for 2-3 minutes add cold water to cover the all thing, bring to boil, reduce the flame to minimum and cook to perfaction, fix the flavors.

Thanks, if it's easy would you PM it to me?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

In addition to the nutrient in the bag, IMO it's important to check the mill date You'll find the Julian date stamped on the very end of the bag. I won't buy anything that's older than 30 days old. Some stores are notorious for selling ancient feed.

Great point.

The Farm & Home keeps their organic feed (a brand I love) in another aisle from the regular feed so most people don't see it. It is all from 1 to 2 years old. I alerted them but it is still on the shelf.
The little feed store by me goes through layer so it is often fresh but, except for springtime, sells little starter/grower. In spring it is fresh. Fall and winter, it is very old.

 

[lazy gardener]

Great point.

The Farm & Home keeps their organic feed (a brand I love) in another aisle from the regular feed so most people don't see it. It is all from 1 to 2 years old. I alerted them but it is still on the shelf.
The little feed store by me goes through layer so it is often fresh but, except for springtime, sells little starter/grower. In spring it is fresh. Fall and winter, it is very old.

Customers need to rise up in protest and refuse to buy old feed. Inform the manager that... "since you don't have fresh feed, I'll be buying it from your competitor until you can provide it with an acceptable mill date", and inform them what you consider to be acceptable.

 

[daxigait]

@ChickenCanoeThey have been on Purina Starter grower. It is also just this bird. I integrated two groups which did not help, and the run is a bit small by a couple of birds. I hoped since they were not full grown to make it until I finish the coop I started yesterday.
No treats except an occasional handful of clover tossed in the pen.

 

[BullChick]

Thank you for your support.

 

[kwhites634]

@kwhites634

Unfortunately I'm coming up empty handed for the Polaris. Anytime I think I might be onto something the website is blocked. Hopefully you can get it figured out or find some dynamite.

Finally got the battery hooked up by employing a time-tested procedure I'd neglected 'til desperation & frustration overcame me: If it don't fit, force it.
I forced the rack up further than I ever had before, not really caring if I broke it or not; I was that mad!

Now that the buggy is out of the way, I can get to my mower, which i'll most likely need to charge the battery on, but at least it's accessible. Then, if it'll quit raining long enough for the grass to dry, I can mow it for the 1st time since last Fall. if it gets much longer, I'll have to bale it!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

So do you guys bury wire around all your coops, or do you have an alternative for coops that may be moved later? This is being built on two 8' and two 10' four by fours. I will use hardware cloth, but I am worried about diggers with this and my other moveable coop. My big one has buried wire.

I can't dig down because I hit rock after only 6 inches or less, so I use a hardware cloth apron for everything - 2 feet on the ground all around (don't forget the corners). For my tractor coops (which I personally don't actively move all the time, but like to be able to reposition), I have the apron stapled to the lower part of the frame, and I can pull it up away from the ground temporarily with zip ties to move them around. The corners are separate pieces that I put down after it's in place (overlapping and attached to the rest of the apron with zip ties). First photo has the apron up, preparing to move it. In the second, the coop is in position and apron is down. The grass eventually grows through it, so to move it, you'll have to free it from that again...




You need to hold it down or pin down with earth staples if it curls up a lot though (sometimes it does), because something could get up under it that way and then dig under...

Quote: CH, that sucks - sorry to hear. But don't give up!

Good morning everyone!!

So put my 6 eggs in lockdown the day before yesterday , they were all still moving well i been hovering on and off waiting for pips , well yesterday i was doing some extreme spring cleaning and when my hubby got home he started welding on his home made smoker ....long story ,short a couple hours after he started working on his grill i went to check on my bators and i realized the temp was wayyyy low humidtiy was way up on the secondary therm , so i look at the built in one and it was blank i was like wth!! Then it hit me, luckily one bator is empty i havent set my april hal eggs yet but i dont think my lockdown eggs will hatch :-( my hubby was so sorry he didnt realized he had unplugged my incubators to plug in his welder :-( i got them both plugged in again and the eggs are still in there in hopes that maybe they will still hatch

Oh, geez. SO sorry to hear - don't give up yet, though - this is the period when they generate a lot of heat on their own, and the internal egg temp comes down more slowly than the air temp in the incubator. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Meanwhile, I definitely recommend labeling the cords - I did that even though the surge protector was right next to the incubator because I was so paranoid about inadvertently unplugging the incubator vs. the automatic turner (separate plugs for the Brinsea). I use these:

Good morning...I haven't caught up on posts...dealing with half a house full of sickies here!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!! And hope everyone affected by those winter storms is staying warm and dry!!

I'd been feeding mannapro chick feed but it only comes in the dinky 5lb bags and we blow through those immediately with how many little mouths there are to feed.

Any recommendations on any good chick feed I can get in LARGE bags at a decent price??

I hope everyone gets better soon! You need to get 50 lbs bags of starter instead (with as many babies as you have, I suspect you will still blow through them, just not nearly as quickly). I use Dumor Chick starter 20% (there's also a starter that is 24% for turkeys that some folks use for meaties - look a the bags carefully). Purina chick starter is fine, too. You should be able to get either at TSC. Whatever you get, though, CHECK THE DATES!!!!! You want as fresh as you can get it. The one that's freshest will just depend on what sells more at your TSC (at mine it's Dumor, but at other TSCs in the area I've seen Purina sell better, so it's a local thing). Odd note - I like the Dumor, but I found that I needed to stick it in a food processor for the first couple weeks because the crumbles are a bit too big for the itty bitty babies. Weird - hadn't had that issue with other starters...

OK, I'd better go. Later!

- Ant Farm