Marans Thread for Posting Pics of Your Eggs, Chicks and Chickens

[geebs]

Ya Pinkchick I do the De for internal worming... works pretty good plus it dusts the ground.

And the layer feed... Can't seem to get a good lay w/o it....must be the oyster shell etc... Don't really know why... Asked Res.. He didn't answer yet... Would like to be able to omit that entirely. I do the nut thing and the treat with applesauce and oatmeal thing... Nice for winter blues. (makes me feel good)... I do the same for my horses. We have some healthy dang birds huh??? My babies do really well in shipping... (egg form). Whenever you get a chance on the pix... I just love them!!! I love the blue birds... I just don't keep but a token hen...

 

[le neige homme]

Ooh, I love reading about special feeds/diets!

I've omitted the commercial feed altogether in favor of a custom recipe of whole grains, kelp, flax, BOSS, fish meal, etc. The birds are very happy with it. They eat a lot less and are satiated a lot longer, which has really cut down on the drama.

My numbers are not completely tallied yet, but it looks like I'm spending less money per month than I had been with the cheap stuff.

Does anybody have a recommended dosage for cinnamon, turmeric, etc.? What about paprika? Garlic?

 

[Wynette]

geebs - I feed BOSS (black oil sunflower seed) sort of as a treat - all my chooks love them, and I don't know if it's true, but I've been told that it sort of helps...."lube up"...the laying mechanisms. Does anyone know if that's true?

I'd love to hear the ratio of all the yummy sounding items - do you have a recipe you could share?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Quote:
Ditto!!!

 

[pinkchick]

geebs~

I do use DE just not in their feed. I have a friend here that makes all natural and organic health and beauty products for humans, the one that she makes for human internal parasites and cleansing is a liquid (and NASTY by the way

) but we like to split the sludge at the bottom of the barrel and feed it to the chickens mixed as a cold gruel with crumble and water Once a month on a full moon.....don't ask why on the full moon thing....I don't know that is just what she instructed me to do. I know that it makes the coops smell like Christmas baking and my birds have never had internal parasites. I have found it safe for all ages of birds with no side effects, I love it!
They are happy and healthy birds. I haven't had an ill bird since last year and she wasn't so ill that she didn't feel well, what ever she had turned her earlobes white and changed her egg color to white for a week that is all, she is still doing great and the matriarch of the that breed of birds and egg color went back to normal. I have a feeling that it may have been some sort of fungus.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
KELP is a great addition to anything.....one of my little secrets....I use ground kelp in anything including my horticulture. KELP is a wonderful thing.

I use Cayenne pepper instead of Paprika and I don't measure just kind of add until it looks like enough. I wonder if I started measuring if my baked goods would turn out differently.......nahhhhh, why start now.

 

[geebs]

I use garlic medicinially in the clove form but not as a top dressing... I do use Cayenne and feed peppers as that would be natural to the wild chicken... I use enough Tumeric to make the feed bright yellow and enough cinnamon to make it smell good....I use a big metal garbage can to mix in.... I will use about 1/2 cup of Tumeric and about 1/2 that of cinnamon. My ratio is 1/2 layer and then the rest is equal portions of wheat, oats, and then the rest of seeds/grain mixed for a 3rd rougly... I will add the matzuri last and usually just a cup or so as it packs a real punch... Some ppl will opt for cat food (that is fine also). I then add the fruit...As much as I can afford of the dried pieces...I really like the antioxidant properties of cranberry... and occasional fresh pomegranite as I can afford. I also feed fresh fruit as it is available. I do not feed anythng that isn't what I would eat first hand. I use about two cups of DE to a large metal garbage. My feed bill runs about the same for good food as it does for cheap filler. The benefits speak for themselves. I have been known to include Nijer seed and other goodies found on sale. it isn't always exactly the same...But the ingredients that remain stable are the wheat, bird seed and the BOSS... as well as the tumeric, and cinnamon and the protien (matzuri or cat food). they occasionally get marigold leaves etc... (good for yellow yolks) They seem to really like bugs and have an affinity for dandelions... (gotta love that) I have a recipe archived around here somewhere but I am not sure where... After doing it quite a few times I just wing it. 1/2 a bag of this 1/4 of that etc. Sorry I can't be more specific at this time.

 

[le neige homme]

I've also started making my own version of the cakes. I start with 2 or 3 cups of flax seeds in a bowl and cover them with about a half inch of water. After a half day or so, this becomes a thick, gelatinous blob and I mix in some other ingredients (arbitrarily and inconsistently for the time being). This is where I'd like to think about adding the spices, garlic, DE, etc. along with cranberries, blueberries, pomegranate seeds and whatever else.

I'm also thinking of adding some little bird seed and chopped nuts to this and using a vitamin/mineral supplement in the water used for the cake. All in good time...it's a constant work in progress.

 

[geebs]

Don't you worry about poisoning. High amounts of flax seeds are toxic to chickens so caution must be used. A recipe using them as a main ingredient would concern me.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
So why the koi matzuri instead of the breeder? I have to special order any matzuri none of the stores around here carry it...I was thinking of ordering a case of Res's cakes but someone posted recipe using the matzuri breeder crumbles since you can'r just get Res's crumbles here in CA