Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Kassaundra]

did you try to grow sunflowers from the seeds? a feed store on my island just brought boss and my chickens love it. I am thinking to plant some seeds near the fence so it will not me disturb at all and I might get some seeds for free.

Sunflowers are beautiful and planting them is a great idea, however, if you are thinking of harvesting your own seeds from them to feed to your chickens, be advised wild birds LOVE them more then your chickens do. I and the birds plant them every year, but I have yet to "harvest" any.

 

[Pensmaster]

Great idea...  does it affect taste of their meat though?   You reminded me of how some gamebird folks would feed their exotics fish feed, as in trout or catfish pellets.  Hm, bet they are horribly expensive though?

Lots of protein there though. I don't know what's in the fish food or if it affects the flavor. I feed my goldfish dog food.

 

[DesertChic]

Thank you, thank you! Do you feed them through the summer? I'm wondering about the long 110-120F summers here.... saw a suggestion of feeding them fall-spring if not year round..

Yes... I believe in OPTIONS. Make VP *and* AP feed readily available. You want to be vegetarian, fine I don't care one bit.. just don't force it on me, thankyouverymuch!

As for the moral part I notice another irony regarding chickens... so many people are horrified when they find out I butcher and eat my own chickens.. even the hardcore meat eaters.

I could not give them bison treats.... because I would eat them myself lol I love bison! so good!

Scraps is a great idea however it is just me here and I already have a good habit of making just enough so there;s no leftovers. The other issue is lots of chickens separated into many pens.. I have to buy several melons, pumpkins just to get enough sizable pieces to divide amongst the different pens. Something dry and in bulk would be the most efficient/convenient.

OMG! I've had people condemned me to hell for this very thing! One woman asked, "Why don't you just get your chicken from the grocery story like everyone else. It's the HUMANE thing to do!" When I pointed out that someone has to butcher the chickens that wind up in the grocery store she called me a heathen and chastised me for trying to confuse her.

The feed I use contains fish meal as one of the primary protein sources and I've never tasted it in the meat or eggs. I did taste it once when I gave them raw salmon belly scraps, but it was only one egg. I tend to feed my birds a higher protein feed (18-20%) during the cooler months since insects are harder for them find, and then back off to a standard 16% layer ration once it's warmer....except with the birds I plan to breed. They stay at 18%. I also give my Flocks bales of alfalfa hay during the cooler months...something they very much appreciate. I did use some leftover powdered milk in the fermented feed once...and the chickens loved it! I think they were actually mad at me when I ran out. Beyond that I'm running out of ideas for protein. If you're not going the roadkill route, cat food might be your best option.

Oh....and one correction to what I previously posted...they're dried Bison LIVER treats....not the meat itself. That may or may not make a difference for you. (I personally can't stand liver.)

 

[Pensmaster]

Sunflowers are beautiful and planting them is a great idea, however, if you are thinking of harvesting your own seeds from them to feed to your chickens, be advised wild birds LOVE them more then your chickens do.  I and the birds plant them every year, but I have yet to "harvest" any.

X2 the wild ones do love them so when I plant I just figure they get them. I do raise pumpkins for the chickens though and they seem to survive most things although this year a squirrel or rat would eat into the pumpkin for the seeds.

 

[DesertChic]

I am not an expert in nutrition but I do have some experience. I was vegetarian for 11 years till I got some nasty virus that literary ate my blood. my doctor told me to eat some red meat as soon as possible or i would die. I didn't want to but when I got worse I had no choice.

I've had a few friends who were die-hard vegetarians until they had similar problems and had to start consuming animal protein. Most of them stick to eggs, poultry and fish, but at least one of them confessed to feeling her best when she consumes grass-fed only beef at least one day per week.

I had to go vegetarian for three months one time under doctor's order to try to heal an inflamed liver. It was the worst three months of my family's life as it made me unbearably grumpy.

 

[DesertChic]

I have given up on gardening.. if the heat or cold does not kill a plant, the gophers will kill it. I try to keep my yard as weed free as I can but the next door neighbor lets the weeds go wild so there hundreds of gophers in her yard(it is like walking on a sponge over there) and they tunnel over into my yard.

Made a raised bed with wire under it but it is so dry here it needs watering every day, not a good thing with the serious drought in California.

The only things that aren't weeds are some trees and poisonous bulbs- white squill(they used to make rat poison from it) and strangely they don't seem to bother pomegranate trees however last season all the fruits were totally spoiled by a strange bug with long legs. Fruit trees(apples, apricots etc) have been killed off long ago by borers.

It often feels like I'm being given so many signals not to consider plants anymore lol

OMG! You sound so much like me! I was born with a black thumb and have fought like hell to turn it brown...edging towards green. If you ever want to try your hand at gardening again I've got a few suggestions that may help in this insanely dry desert environment....

1 - The book "Extreme Gardening" by Dave Owens. I learned a lot from this guy and managed to make a few tweaks that have proven relatively successful.

2 - Big galvanized water troughs used for cattle. These are my raised beds. I know the metal sides can get really, really hot in the summer, but I wrapped one of mine with a recycled grass shade screen that my neighbor was throwing out, and another with that flimsy silver insulation stuff you can buy from the home improvement store. Both methods worked wonders at keeping the temp down.

3 - Fill those troughs with a combination of compost, potting soil and coconut coir. The soil and compost provide all the nutrients....but the coconut coir...even a little of it...works wonders at retaining water for the plants to utilize and substantially cuts down the amount of water you need to use. I used the coarse coir in the troughs/beds and the fine for starting seedlings. (It also works great as animal bedding...but it's rather expensive for that.)

4 - Whenever you plant something, cover the surface of the soil around the plant with mulch, straw, or coarse coconut coir to help retain the moisture in the soil and keep the temperature down.

5 - And finally...shade cloth....lots and lots of shade cloth.

I've also found a very few crops that grow exceedingly well in the extreme heat...like Armenian cucumbers and Egyptian spinach. My cucumbers were over a foot long and 2-3 inches in diameter and grew in full sun.

 

[hellbender]

OMG! You sound so much like me! I was born with a black thumb and have fought like hell to turn it brown...edging towards green. If you ever want to try your hand at gardening again I've got a few suggestions that may help in this insanely dry desert environment....

1 - The book "Extreme Gardening" by Dave Owens. I learned a lot from this guy and managed to make a few tweaks that have proven relatively successful.

2 - Big galvanized water troughs used for cattle. These are my raised beds. I know the metal sides can get really, really hot in the summer, but I wrapped one of mine with a recycled grass shade screen that my neighbor was throwing out, and another with that flimsy silver insulation stuff you can buy from the home improvement store. Both methods worked wonders at keeping the temp down.

3 - Fill those troughs with a combination of compost, potting soil and coconut coir. The soil and compost provide all the nutrients....but the coconut coir...even a little of it...works wonders at retaining water for the plants to utilize and substantially cuts down the amount of water you need to use. I used the coarse coir in the troughs/beds and the fine for starting seedlings. (It also works great as animal bedding...but it's rather expensive for that.)

4 - Whenever you plant something, cover the surface of the soil around the plant with mulch, straw, or coarse coconut coir to help retain the moisture in the soil and keep the temperature down.

5 - And finally...shade cloth....lots and lots of shade cloth.

I've also found a very few crops that grow exceedingly well in the extreme heat...like Armenian cucumbers and Egyptian spinach. My cucumbers were over a foot long and 2-3 inches in diameter and grew in full sun.

My son Turk has 'ganggrene' Thumb. He thinks if he plants stuff, they are on their own from there on out.

 

[Pensmaster]

OMG! You sound so much like me! I was born with a black thumb and have fought like hell to turn it brown...edging towards green. If you ever want to try your hand at gardening again I've got a few suggestions that may help in this insanely dry desert environment....

1 - The book "Extreme Gardening" by Dave Owens. I learned a lot from this guy and managed to make a few tweaks that have proven relatively successful.

2 - Big galvanized water troughs used for cattle. These are my raised beds. I know the metal sides can get really, really hot in the summer, but I wrapped one of mine with a recycled grass shade screen that my neighbor was throwing out, and another with that flimsy silver insulation stuff you can buy from the home improvement store. Both methods worked wonders at keeping the temp down. 

3 - Fill those troughs with a combination of compost, potting soil and coconut coir. The soil and compost provide all the nutrients....but the coconut coir...even a little of it...works wonders at retaining water for the plants to utilize and substantially cuts down the amount of water you need to use. I used the coarse coir in the troughs/beds and the fine for starting seedlings. (It also works great as animal bedding...but it's rather expensive for that.)

4 - Whenever you plant something, cover the surface of the soil around the plant with mulch, straw, or coarse coconut coir to help retain the moisture in the soil and keep the temperature down.

5 - And finally...shade cloth....lots and lots of shade cloth. 

I've also found a very few crops that grow exceedingly well in the extreme heat...like Armenian cucumbers and Egyptian spinach. My cucumbers were over a foot long and 2-3 inches in diameter and grew in full sun. 

That reminds me of my sisters tomato plant. She lives in Vegas she took good care of that plant. Moved it everyday to keep it out of sun. Actually had two tomatoes on it. Then one day she saw a rat eating one of them. Like my brother in law says he wouldn't want to have been that rat.

 

[chickengr]

I will try to plant sunflower seed and watch. I have sparrows, doves and magpies but they come morning and evening only when I am out and try to keep them away from chicken feed.

my garden has some hope in winter but last summer was completely burnt by heat. I will try to plant earlier this year so just maybe I will have something before the summer.

as for proteins for chickens, did you know that dried nettle has 40% protein (fresh 9% only)!!!!!

 

[Phill98]

Here is a pic of my yard where my chickens free range after rain and before another one