Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[fuzzybutt love]

treats- mine like

bananas, sardines, tuna, watermelon (roos like this more than my hens for some reason), cantalope, grapes, berries of any kind, broccoli leaves from the leftover garden stalks, dandelion leaves, fresh corn, creamed corn, (mine like cracked too) they will eat my strawberry plant's leaves into oblivion if not fenced away, ditto with rose bush leaves, they even got into the catnip (which i'm pretty sure is on the no-no list) and my mint plant, pumpkin guts (as the ice and snow season begins, before this they are reluctant but when the grass is thin.....) *kefir, *tomatoes, (*both of those are good at combating heat exhaustion) fast food (this was not intentional, mistakenly tried to sit down and eat tacos in front of the birds, found out that they jump really tall!) cat food (i've tried the wet kind)

oh and cat grass..... the cat and the birds had a little war over it, they would zero in on it specifically when free ranging, so must taste really good to them........

weren't crazy about
apples, peaches, pears, lettuce, canned salmon, any hard bread or cookie, (picky little snobs will eat the soft part off the crust!!!)
green beans

 

[NovaAman]

NOOOOO! Potato PEELS are poison for birds. The meat inside is ok, just not the peel. Mine like the occassional left over mashed potatoes. Apple wise, they do like that apples, and I will find peels left over. Not so big on the peels, but again, like the meat of the apple. Breads, noodles, cheese, maters, melons of all sorts, peas, cukes, zukes... Cooked chicken carcass... LOL. Them little canibals.

 

[tjbeckman]

Wait, ok this is an odd question. You can feed meat to your birds? Only cooked? Or raw too? I am confused? I always was told not to do that. Clarification is appreciated.

 

[chickflick]

Either way.. When you see your chicken fighting over a frog and tearing it to pieces, I figured they'd eat meat! I offer lots of fruits and veggies to them.

 

[NovaAman]

OH I KNOW! I guess they like frog legs too! LOL, wonder if it tastes like chicken to them?

I don't feed raw meat. I do feed cooked meat. Today they had an oatmeal turkey treat. I took oats, mixed in some shredded up turkey, raisins, cooked rice, and left over bagel peice from my kid. Yup. They get the chicken carcass and the turkey carcass too. Chicken nuggest are a favorite, and so are fish sticks. I don't fry either, we bake them here. AND HAMBURGERS! LOL. My birds also like hot dogs, the cheesy ones. LOL. I do oatmeal hot dog treats too.

 

[Opa]

Chickens will eat almost anything in front of them so never pass out in a chicken run.
After boning out a deer I often have placed the remaining carcass in the run for a few days. The same with steelhead carcasses. I also give them the fat I trim from deer carcasses. The increase in protein is good for your flock.

 

[BobBry]

I have some cockerels that I don't know what to do with.

Some have feathers that would fit into well dry or wet fly patterns.


I would like to use one or more of the welsummers for breeding, but will most likely need to keep it/them in some other place. Is it feasible to bring a roo in as a breeder but not keep him with the hens for more than just a few days? Or would it work to put the hens with the roo at his place for awhile? If so how long in each circumstance? What I'm asking is how long do they need to be together to assure fertile eggs ?

The guys, hatched Aug 21, are trying to breed the 19 month old hens now. The hens are not cooperating though. Matter of fact they are usually kicking butt. Or hiding.

I feel really stoopid. Oh fudge, If you have something to say about these questions/comments, please do so. Recent shots of some of them.





What's the one in the foreground ?



Anybody identify the two @ right above ?

 

[BobBry]

Opa,

Where is a good place to read about Welsummer standards for show. I'm thinking of trying that. The Welsummer thread on BYC does not have that type of info. from what I read.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

mine don't eat raw meat, unless it's a frog; i had one hen in particular who was fond of them and went through the woods digging out my poor garden toads. The other hens didn't, so now that she is no longer here i guess i will find out whether this bunch is going to eat the toads. I don't particularly like them eating the toads because they can potentially give salmonella, which would be serious and would ruin the hen's eggs for eating!

My neighbor's hen that i took care of also had a thing for mice, but she was a strictly wild bird who's only supplement had been whatever she could get from under the goats when they had been fed; after i had her for a while she eased off the mouse eating, but still killed them if she saw them.

Mine are spoiled so the only fear i have of falling down is waking up covered in bird poop, because when i fell asleep in the lawn chair they would climb on me and i would wake up covered in birds, LOL They liked napping with me. My pet EE hen would climb up by my neck and sleep neck to neck.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

This may help, Bob http://www.welsummerclub.org/Standard.htm