Kat’s Journey into Chicken Keeping

[cavemanrich]

I guess my biggest worry is the calcium. They eat a LOT of Oyster shell.

Your chickens will no OD on calcium from oyster shell. Chickens are smarter than we give them credit . They know what they need. The oyster shells act as grit also, and then pass thru chicken if not needed. Processed calcium like that which is added into feed gets absorbed much more.
A comparison would be eating corn. (peeps and animals alike.). If it is chewed up finely, there are no traces in the exhaust.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Your chickens will no OD on calcium from oyster shell. Chickens are smarter than we give them credit . They know what they need. The oyster shells act as grit also, and then pass thru chicken if not needed. Processed calcium like that which is added into feed gets absorbed much more.
A comparison would be eating corn. (peeps and animals alike.). If it is chewed up finely, there are no traces in the exhaust.

Gotcha!

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I had a beautiful day of sunny warm weather, and I took advantage of it to do a little housekeeping in the Chicken Lounge. I’m not even finished, but I made good headway. I shoveled a lot of sh*t today holy moly. Cleaned the roosts, cleaned the nest boxes. They have a lot of fluffy new wood chips in the coop, and I raked a lot of the old stuff into the run. They had a pretty good time scratching and pecking through the old litter.
I had some pretty good compost on the bottom, I’m saving that for my garden!
Now I am stiff and sore, I guess it’s going to be a Tylenol night.

 

[drstratton]

I had a beautiful day of sunny warm weather, and I took advantage of it to do a little housekeeping in the Chicken Lounge. I’m not even finished, but I made good headway. I shoveled a lot of sh*t today holy moly. Cleaned the roosts, cleaned the nest boxes. They have a lot of fluffy new wood chips in the coop, and I raked a lot of the old stuff into the run. They had a pretty good time scratching and pecking through the old litter.
I had some pretty good compost on the bottom, I’m saving that for my garden!
Now I am stiff and sore, I guess it’s going to be a Tylenol night.

Sounds like you had a busy day! It was warm, but super windy here today! We did the deep litter method in our coop, so it will be awhile before we have to muck it out. I do however clean off the roosting bars and the nest boxes on a regular basis!

 

[Kris5902]

Friends:
I am taking a poll of my seasoned chicken friends (that would be all of you guys, of course)
I raised my chicks on Dumor 20% chick grower.
I never switched food. I looked at the various All-Flock feeds but when I compared ingredients and nutrients, they were basically pretty much the same. Except that they were more expensive. Not a lot, like one or two dollars more for a 50 pound bag.
Well, a dollar is a dollar so I just kept them on the 20% chick grower. I keep a small tin bucket of crushed oyster shell available for them, and they do eat it!
At this point all nine of my hens are laying eggs and the oldest four are nine months old, and the younger ones going on seven months old. They are all healthy and energetic, and they are all laying nice eggs with awesome solid shells. And they are hitting the oyster shells hard.
So I am wondering, if you were me, would you switch them to a layer feed?
I hesitate because I like the higher protein content, they love the food, and their eggshells are all nice and solid.
I give them an evening snack almost every day of “salad” which consists of collard greens, kale, peas, and occasionally whatever leftover veggie and fruit pieces I have.
I throw them a little scratch on cold days.
I just want to be sure they are getting the best diet.
@Ribh @WhoDatChick @BY Bob @cavemanrich @drstratton @Kris5902@MaryJanet @Grammy60 @featherhead007
and anyone I forgot.

Good points. And I do feed the greens I mentioned every evening (since there is currently no grasses or greens growing at this time). I also give them crickets once a week as a special treat. I guess the greens and the small amount of scratch do dilute the total protein intake.
I guess my biggest worry is the calcium. They eat a LOT of Oyster shell.

I like the higher protein feeds. I now feed a 18% protein layer pellet which is available here. Prior to finding the brand I’m now feeding, the store I was purchasing from only carried a 16% layer pellet and 20% stater crumble, with a “special order” for a 20% protein broiler pellet that was a PITA to get in. I was mixing the Broiler and Layer pellets 50/50 to compensate, which both dropped the calcium and increased the protein. It really helps with molting, and as my girls are half free ranging and get regular scratch as a treat, it seems to maintain body condition better

If your girls are chowing down on their OS they are probably doing fine self regulating the calcium, and I would stick with the higher protein feed. It’s not too high in fat, which would be my concern (and was with the broiler pellets @ 7%!)

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I like the higher protein feeds. I now feed a 18% protein layer pellet which is available here. Prior to finding the brand I’m now feeding, the store I was purchasing from only carried a 16% layer pellet and 20% stater crumble, with a “special order” for a 20% protein broiler pellet that was a PITA to get in. I was mixing the Broiler and Layer pellets 50/50 to compensate, which both dropped the calcium and increased the protein. It really helps with molting, and as my girls are half free ranging and get regular scratch as a treat, it seems to maintain body condition better

If your girls are chowing down on their OS they are probably doing fine self regulating the calcium, and I would stick with the higher protein feed. It’s not too high in fat, which would be my concern (and was with the broiler pellets @ 7%!)

Thank you, this makes sense. I probably overthink things more than necessary. I am new to chickens, so I’m learning everything from scratch. (See what I did there? )

 

[BY Bob]

Your chickens will no OD on calcium from oyster shell. Chickens are smarter than we give them credit . They know what they need. The oyster shells act as grit also, and then pass thru chicken if not needed. Processed calcium like that which is added into feed gets absorbed much more.
A comparison would be eating corn. (peeps and animals alike.). If it is chewed up finely, there are no traces in the exhaust.

I like your metaphor. I may use that in the future.

 

[BY Bob]

I had a beautiful day of sunny warm weather, and I took advantage of it to do a little housekeeping in the Chicken Lounge. I’m not even finished, but I made good headway. I shoveled a lot of sh*t today holy moly. Cleaned the roosts, cleaned the nest boxes. They have a lot of fluffy new wood chips in the coop, and I raked a lot of the old stuff into the run. They had a pretty good time scratching and pecking through the old litter.
I had some pretty good compost on the bottom, I’m saving that for my garden!
Now I am stiff and sore, I guess it’s going to be a Tylenol night.

Its always nice after you have cleaned out the coop. I'm going to try and clean ours this afternoon. They will be very excited.

 

[BY Bob]

I like the higher protein feeds. I now feed a 18% protein layer pellet which is available here. Prior to finding the brand I’m now feeding, the store I was purchasing from only carried a 16% layer pellet and 20% stater crumble, with a “special order” for a 20% protein broiler pellet that was a PITA to get in. I was mixing the Broiler and Layer pellets 50/50 to compensate, which both dropped the calcium and increased the protein. It really helps with molting, and as my girls are half free ranging and get regular scratch as a treat, it seems to maintain body condition better

If your girls are chowing down on their OS they are probably doing fine self regulating the calcium, and I would stick with the higher protein feed. It’s not too high in fat, which would be my concern (and was with the broiler pellets @ 7%!)

Thanks for weighing in Kris.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

A CHICKEN STORY
Princess Chicken has her own “coop” in her own run inside the big run.
I originally made it for the younger chicks to integrate them into my original flock of four.
I was going to remove it, but all the chickens enjoyed running through it.
Then Princess had her injury (her crippled leg which twists out). The other chickens picked on her, stole food from her, several would gang up on her (my three red girls), and she couldn’t compete, so I put her in that small coop and run. She is sort of with the flock but yet she’s not. She has her own food, water, grit, oyster shell, and straw, and a small log.
Well, there is a small space where the ceiling wire is gaping from the hardwire wall, and Blanche has figured out how to get inside through this space.
I started finding her in there at some point every day. I usually take her out. But I noticed she likes Princess and she is nice to her. So I let her “visit” a bit.
She has started laying her eggs in a nest she hollowed out in the straw. (I keep straw in there because Princess has to nest, she can’t roost with one leg.)
So now every day I find two eggs in there, each in the mom’s personal nest.
Tonight I went out to close up the coop. I got out there later than usual so it was already dark, and this is what I found...