Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

For a new menorah

Well, beings it is for such a good cause, I will run right out and shoot an eagle...


Wanna come over for sunday dinner? How do you like your Eagle?

 

[Cyrus83]

burnt to a crisp, and kosher

 

[duluthralphie]

burnt to a crisp, and kosher

With bacon laid on the top to keep the moisture in?

 

[Cyrus83]

Absolutely!! Love bacon!!

 

[KlopKlop]

KlopKlop Im interested in your forage set up  you attempted. It makes sense that the chooks took advantage of the sprouts before they got to fibrous.  In the winter sometimes I'll do a tray or two of BOSS sprouts for my chooks.  They go nutso...but also they haven't seen green usually in months and they love anything green, then. I just assumed it was for that reason only but the lack of fiber in the greens would make for easier digestion I guess.

In 2006 B.C. ( Before chickens.) DH did a deer plot on a loop we have in the woods. He put it in clover and rye.  Rye to grow up fast until the clover took hold.  One side of the loop has held the clover but the other hasn't as well due to sun/shade issues I'm assuming or soil acidity.  There's a few conifers in there.  I think clover needs more basic soil.  He should probably get some lime on it.  IDK.  For certain.  anyways the chickens do forage through there...bug/frog hunting and harvesting grass seed heads later in the summer.  Its fun to watch their grazing habits as the season progresses. 

Theres a portion of our lawn that the grass always grows gang busters and I've been thinking I need to start raking grass and putting it in the run for the birds to have for greens to peck through in the winter.  I scythed some longer wild grasses for run bedding along our road and brought those in and they started eating it like crazy in the middle of winter.  The longer grasses make me  nervous.  Short chopped off lawn grass goes through the crop easier. 

Basically it started with me trying to get something to grow where it was bare ground. This particular area is closed off from the rest of the run, so I can grow in it undisturbed. At the time I think the food plot mix was cheaper than actual grass seed which is why I did that.

I plan on trying sprouts this winter to for diversifying their diet. I have barley and oats but didn't know BOSS would sprout too. I think I will do a mixture of grains. I found a guy near here with red wheat and hope to get over there and get some before it is gone.

 

[duluthralphie]

Absolutely!! Love bacon!!

Great, I am going to CUB now and will pick up some kosher Bacon for you...

 

[Minniechickmama]

So I tried to share this info with the general public but nobody cares, maybe you guys might be interested.

Early this year I bought a 'deer feed plot mix' from fleet farm to seed my chicken yard. It was a mix of buckwheat, ryegrass, and radishes. I planted as soon as the ground was warm and let it grow until it was over a foot high before i let the chooks on it. Long story short they ended up trampling it and killing it all except the radishes which they seemed to like at first but then eventually ignored. The radishes bolted and grew several feet high and provided shade at least. I wrote my experiment off as a failure.

Fast forward to last week or so. That patch of dirt was bare and I had left over seed mix so I thought I would try again. I tilled up a good portion of my enclosed coop and planted the same buckwheat, rye and radish seed. I watered it daily and let it grow for a week and a few day and it was about an inch tall or so. I let my 22 layers onto it for the weekend and they ATE IT ALL!
They went bonkers for the young and tender stuff.
After doing Research I basically learned that since chickens aren't ruminants they won't have interest in the high fiber 'stalks' when the grasses get tall since they can't digest them. They need it to be young and tender. Also since buckwheat is an annual, it won't grow back after it goes to seed which will never happen since the chooks ate it all. These are things I should have though about the first time around
I plan to keep seeding the area and letting them at it and keep learning. Once this seed is gone I will try and find a different mix. I haven't noticed radish flavor in the eggs but I don't want to risk it since I do sell them. I will probably try a perennial legume like alfalfa and clover so that it will grow back after the ladies 'mow' it

I have also considered adding 'grazing frames' (google it) to a small portion of the yard just to keep them from scratching up ALL the plants

You are basically providing them sprouted plants which are super-rich in nutrients. You can also do the same thing in more compact for by making fodder trays that you sprout in and can do this year around. I want to try it this Winter after I have to put them in for the season and see if it helps them in any way to be better on fertility and laying, or at least richer colored yolks.

Even cows prefer grass at a certain stage(height) to graze from and will ignore fodder that is too mature over the more tender stuff.
Even us. Look at zucchini for instance. If you eat the stuff, do you want to eat the big 2-foot long fruit, or do you take the 8" squash to cook up?
Younger is almost always better for fodder.
The exception is if you let it go to seed. In fact, my turkeys will strip anything with seeds on it. If I leave the fence open and any wander out, the first thing they go after is the grass or weeds that have gone to see.

As for radish, I hate that stuff when it becomes stalky! It is a royal pain to pull out and so is wild parsnip AND if none of you have heard, keep an eye out for the wild parsnip because you can get some wicked burns and blisters from touching that stuff!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I wouldn't really worry to much about an eagle sticking around to try and pick off a chicken. They feed primarily on carrion and fish.

I beg to differ. I have had them hang around and lost a young Buckeye a few years ago to bald eagle. I think they run more on the opportunistic. They do prefer to eat what others kill and to some are even more of a scavenger than hunter, but they will kill too when they feel the need. Which is why Ben Franklin was right, we should have had the noble turkey as our national symbol, they are hardy and foragers that have lasted much better than the bald eagle has on their own.

 

[duluthralphie]

Look at zucchini for instance. If you eat the stuff, do you want to eat the big 2-foot long fruit, or do you take the 8" squash to cook up?
.

Do people really eat that....errrr.. batcrap?

 

[bantiesrule]

If anybody here mixes their own grains/scratch Mills fleet farm has whole and cracked corn for 6.50 a bag right now which is as cheap as I ever see it.

Here is my scratch recipe:
10 parts whole corn
5 parts whole Oats
5 parts whole barley
2 parts black oil sunflower seeds

In my case '1 part' is about 10 lbs and I mix it in a steel garbage can in my coop. That mix lasts me over 6 months with daily use to about 50 chickens. They love it and alway come running when I rattle the grain scoop

I found wheat and shelled corn on craigslist if anyone is interested: http://stcloud.craigslist.org/grd/5159494190.html


Hey Ralphie, kinda late but I'll chime in anyway. We always said "scared the pants off". I don't see how this would be any different than LMAO or any other such saying.