Michigan

[teeville5]

Nova- that last pic really cracks me up. He's like 'huh? what?'
I think he's adorable.

 

[sarah92480]

Starting to think about feed for my chicks coming in a few more weeks. Those of you that are familiar w/ TSC - they basically carry two brands of feed. Dumor and Purena. Any endorsements or cautions of either one? Planning on 15 chicks. Will I need a 50# bag of starter? I know they say to feed starter for 4-8 weeks. Do they need the medicated starter for that long or should I just get a small bag of medicated starter followed by regular unmedicated starter? I am not aware of any feed mills near me, otherwise I would probably go that route. I think they have one down by Monroe, but for now, I think I will be going the convenient TSC route. Thanks.

I bought a small bag of the Dumor when I first got them, and it was gone in a week or so. So I bought a 50 lb bag of the Purina Start & Grow. I'm far from an expert & these other folks I'm sure know way more than me! I was just planning to go by what the bag said, that you can feed the Start & Grow up to like week 18 because it's starter and grower feed in one. But maybe I'm wrong. I only have 6 chicks so I planned on feeding it to them that way or until I run out, whichever comes first.

 

[yorkchick]

Starting to think about feed for my chicks coming in a few more weeks. Those of you that are familiar w/ TSC - they basically carry two brands of feed. Dumor and Purena. Any endorsements or cautions of either one? Planning on 15 chicks. Will I need a 50# bag of starter? I know they say to feed starter for 4-8 weeks. Do they need the medicated starter for that long or should I just get a small bag of medicated starter followed by regular unmedicated starter? I am not aware of any feed mills near me, otherwise I would probably go that route. I think they have one down by Monroe, but for now, I think I will be going the convenient TSC route. Thanks.

Have you checked out the Milan Feed Elevator? Not sure what they carry, but I have been in there a few times. The Dexter Mill (closer to me, obviously, and not destroyed in the tornado ) now has organic layer and in season, organic starter/grower. I fed that to my chickens until recently, but they grind it really, really fine. Like baby powder fine. The chickens would eat it but you had to keep an eye on the feeder and shake it down regularly because it didn't flow well--it would get stuck. The chickens are currently eating organic layer from Raub-Rae Farms, purchased from the guy in Superior Township that RaZ found (ourhandmadelife.com). It's not ground nearly so fine, there are recognizable pieces of grain in it, and it settles down in the feeder better. And either the chickens like it a lot more or they're wasting a lot more of it , because I'm going through the bag a lot quicker than the Dexter Mill stuff. But they're laying well, too, and I really think they like the new stuff better. However, the geese Do Not Approve. I put out a feeder dish of the organic layer and a feeder dish of their regular Flock Raiser grumble. Even put the layer closer to their water bucket because they have to have water after every nibble of feed (part of their secret recipe for making soup... grumble plus mud...mmmmmmm). Anyway, they ignore the layer, eat a little Flock Raiser, waddle over to the water bucket, add to the soup recipe, waddle back to the Flock Raiser, repeat.

Hey York, I see you peeking in the window!

Hello!

 

[Farmerboy16]

Thanks everyone! This is my mom's second sister to lose. The first sister was killed in a car crash with a semi truck 30 years ago. She was expecting her 4th child, and her son was killed too, but 2 other kids were at home with their dad when that had happened.




Today did not start off right for me, as I found my best 6 1/2 months old BCM roo that I hatched from Wynette, dead. The others looked fine, and when I picked him up to see how and why he died. I looked at his vent, and saw MITES! Lots of them! I have never had mites in my flock before! Just lice and worms, but had not seen them since my old flock last year. I will have to treat the ones that I want to keep for a few months more tomorrow, and not treat the one that I do not want to keep, but sell as meat birds.

On the cow issue, since the all this is going on, we have postpone on seeing the heifer for almost two weeks. But I got the temporary fence almost done, so I can move the calves off the newly seeded field, so the pasture can grow.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

farmerboy,

b737drvr Those of you that are familiar w/ TSC - they basically carry two brands of feed. Dumor and Purena. Any endorsements or cautions of either one?
both are made by purina, the dumor is their "value" brand. I have not tried the regular purina chick starter, but i tried the dumor my first time around, and i was not impressed. My chicks had the runs until i switched their food.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I just used the pyrmethrin drip on the back of the neck to treat mine for lice. Taprock was going to try it for mites, i don't know it she did it or not. The pyrmethrin is around $7 at TSC, and it gets diluted, and can be used as a coop spray too. I treated for the lice, and it takes about 3 days for them to die, and i didn't do anything but drip it on each bird, not the coop or anything. Basically, if it bites, it dies. can't eat the eggs for a long time, though. Unless you buy the ivermectin instead.
PM me if you need the instructions for my remedy.

 

[NovaAman]

I was reading somewhere, and I maybe wrong, doesn't happen often (har har), that some people do still eat the eggs even after the pyrmethrin...

 

[NovaAman]

You are just having a real crap of a week aren't you farmerboy... double

 

[taprock]

I will have to treat the ones that I want to keep for a few months more tomorrow, and not treat the one that I do not want to keep, but sell as meat birds.

Sorry to hear about your aunt and all that means to your family.

On the mites, you might want to rethink that if they have any contact or are near each other. If you don't stay on top of it the mite population can explode and they can kill your bird or weaken them so they don't grow well.

My DH got all the walls up on the garage tonight after work. He also managed to take off the tip of his thumb with his hammer.

I didn't look, just handed him a wash rag and electrical tape to tape it up. Later on I handed him band aides after he cleaned it up, but I still didn't look, my son's descriptions were enough.

I put my broody hen in a small animal cage, the kind that has a plastic bottom and a wire top, on the floor of the coop. I went out to the coop an hour later to see how she had settled in and she had escaped! Somehow she got the cage apart and was back in the nest box. If she had just been that determined when it came to taking care of her chicks we wouldn't have this problem.

Last night at bedtime I noticed my smallest chick getting pecked on. She had a spot on her beak that they pecked and made bloody. I took her out and trimmed off the lose part of beak and cleaned it. It still looked bloody and I didn't want her to get pecked more so I put a drop of blue kote on her beak and darkened it. However that made things worse, I put her back in to have three showgirls tackle her as soon as she was in. I pulled her back out and washed her beak again. I put her back in with no problems and checked on her a couple times. No problem so far. She is much smaller than the rest but she is an OEG and I know our rooster is the smallest that we have. She seems healthy, just small. All of their little wing feathers are coming in so I tried the feather sexing and we will see if it turns out accurate. It would be great if it did because only 3 looked like roos.

Off to bed, that wind is nasty again tonight!

 

[fuzzybutt love]

OK, got a daffodil i'm trying to I.D. anyone know what kind this is? only info i have is that the few people that had them were also trying to ID, but supposobly this type is super old Has anyone seen a daffodil go to seed? these would be viable seeds if it did.

edited to add that this one has no "cup", just lots of petals!

The eating of the eggs would be if you sprayed the COOP, not the BIRD !!! it would probably make you super sick!