Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[aart]

For anyone who celebrates Yule traditions/winter solstice of any form, dont forget Yule/solstice is on sunday

The ones who do celebrate...don't need reminding

Wishing a Blessed Winter Solstice to everyone!


The SUN is out!!!
It's blinding after so many cloudy days.....pretty chilly out tho, 17F in the coop this morning, 24F now.

 

[1muttsfan]

Scratch, BOSS and corn are best fed as a side treat, and in small quantities. As you found they will pick through their food and waste a lot. In addition they are not balanced in nutrition and very high in fat to use as more than a treat.

 

[aart]

Scratch, BOSS and corn are best fed as a side treat, and in small quantities. As you found they will pick through their food and waste a lot. In addition they are not balanced in nutrition and very high in fat to use as more than a treat.

Ditto Dat!^^^

I like to feed an 'all flock' 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat and have calcium available at all times for the layers, oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

The higher protein crumble offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer.

I've found tossing some BOSS on the pine shavings in the coop gets them to mix up the packed down shavings nicely.

 

[SillyChicken]

I keep layer pellets and the scratch/boss etc separate.. other wise they just waste the layer pellets digging for the other feed. So the pellets are inside the coop and I toss the scratch/boss on the ground outside in the run. Gives them something to do outside.

 

[mindylee]

Pretty bummed here. I have a hen that has been wasting away all week. I'm gonna have to cull her tonight after work. She has been on corid and no improvement. No super skinny and green/white stinky poop and no energy. This sucks cause it came from nowhere and she's my sq best mottled Cochin.

 

[birdman55]

good food tips I shall try...having forty chickens they seem to just run around getting into things..my roof...the top of the grape vines...silly birds

 

[aart]

I too only give scratch by scattering it out in the run mid afternoons fills the crops for night time.....and bonus is it.gets them out of coop so I can clean.

I've been using this no waste(I truly believe it is NO waste) trigger feeder for about a month now, it's working great..I see no more crumbles on the coop floor and am going thru a bit less feed.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I can't read downloads on my phone! Idk why, but most of mi info is posted online as downloads! Found out the office is only open tues, wed, and thurs a few hours. So i'll have to stay in suspense. So far it is a local thing. No way of telling yet whether it was the individual or a witch hunt (sorry poor humor ) to begin with. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. I wonder how long it takes to get swab results back? I doubt half of these guys know what is at stake....

 

[M.sue]

Hello Fellow Chicken Michiganders. I have a question with hopes someone will reply. I have a bantam hen approx. 4 yrs.old that I want to add back into my current flock of standard egg layers (approx. 16-18 months) About 6 wks. ago some of the standard hens decided to pick and bully her. They beat her up pretty bad plucking the back of her head bald. She is fully mended and all her head feathers have grown back but I would really like to get her out of my garage and back in the the flock again. They have free ranged together a few times but but she really keeps her distance. Will they decided to target her again if I integrate her slowly back and place her in the coop one night? I do not want to come out and find a dead hen. Opinions and suggestions appreciated.

 

[preciouskitty]

I keep layer pellets and the scratch/boss etc separate.. other wise they just waste the layer pellets digging for the other feed.    So the pellets are inside the coop and I toss the scratch/boss on the ground outside in the run.  Gives them something to do outside.

Exactly what I do...when they are free ranging, at about 4pm when come out to put them in, they KNOW it's treat time & run right to the pen cuz they know I'm gonna throw some of their bedtime snack all over the run...& in the coop a little too...they definitely scratch around & turn the shavings for me.

@mindylee
So sorry. I feel you...DH will most likely be culling my OE pullet, Kaia, tonight (if nature doesn't take care of her this afternoon). Don't know if you've seen my posts, if so, is your girl going thru the same thing as mine? Just reread yours...sounds similar, except mine can't even stand/walk...