Nevadans?

[saym]

Following the thread for boosting feed for the cold..I just read an article in that poultry magazine on winter feeding for internal heat...Along with the corn ,it suggested especially black sunflower seeds (and/or other bird seed) coated with olive or vegetable oil infused with garlic..Just out of curiousity I mixed up some oil/garlic and last night fed it to them in their treat bowl..they scarfed it (usually anything with onions in it, they ignore) I only fed maybe a cup of seeds with 3 tablespoons oil, so that's not bad for major immune/warmth booster. I went ahead and bought a 50 lb bag of seeds for 20$...beats the heck out of 10$ for 10 lbs.
I put together my cookie tin water heater yesterday and put my big 5 gallon waterer on it last night . It was warm this morning!!!! I am strutting around like a banty rooster...
The cookie tin heater is super easy to put together and I don't think I need a thermostat here as it just stays cold when we get into the thick of winter..if you anchor your waterer and I put mine on a slender cinder block, and if you're mindful of any water from other sources, it should be as safe as the manufactured heater shown in this thread.

 

[NevadaRon]

saym what is the cookie tin water heater?

Could you elaborate? Maybe with a pic, too?

 

[Knemeyer]

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It's so exciting, when you're first start laying! It seems like we've been waiting forever! I'm thinking my Silver Laced Wyandottes will probably be similar as the barred rocks. I also have Welsummers which I believe will be darker and then the marans. Are your's laying pretty consistently? My EE that lays the blue lays just about every day but they are small and the other EE laid two defective ones and one small-medium olive green one, but it's been 3 days since that one.

yep and I'm pretty excited about it too! So far three are laying and I am getting at least two eggs a day. My orp has just begun squatting but my e.e. Isn't anywhere near laying, I don't think.
Someone layed an egg last night on their perch and it fell all the way to the ground and didn't even crack!

I'm soooo jealous of your blue eggs. Hopefully when mine lays they will be blue. They'll probobly be green which is fine, I'll probobly just be dissapointed if they turn out to be khaki colored

But the green ones are real pretty too! They are a light olive green. But then, green is my favorite color.

 

[Knemeyer]

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But would the garlic give your eggs a funny taste? Where did you get the black sunflower seeds? Obviously I'm too far way for where you get them, but it will give me ideas of where to look. Thanks for the info!

 

[Eglyntine]

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But would the garlic give your eggs a funny taste? Where did you get the black sunflower seeds? Obviously I'm too far way for where you get them, but it will give me ideas of where to look. Thanks for the info!

I knew about the sunflower seeds but I did not think of mixing it with olive oil and garlic. The scratch mix I give the girls has a good mix of millet, sunflower seeds, and other high protein seeds. My girls LOVE anything with garlic in it. I know that if you feed your chickens garlic, it makes the smell in the coop much better and I have heard that if you feed them cinnamon, it makes the eggs taste a little stronger.

According to this study, after feeding chickens garlic to test about it changing the smell in the coop and run manure they also had a taste test on the eggs and the ppl said the eggs were milder from the chickens eating garlic than from the control hens. Something about it reducing the sulfur content of the eggs.

I just found out about this study last week and started putting granulated garlic in their feed. They say it takes about 3 weeks to notice a change in the smell so I will let you all know.

 

[SunnyDawn]

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Pics? They sound so pretty.

I tried to grow sunflowers for my gals this spring but the wild birds ate up all the delicious seeds before I could get to them.

Guess I'll have to buy some. I think I'll keep the garlic and olive oil for myself though!

 

[aubreynoramarie]

I bought this thing at greens feed called the "flock block". It's litterally a fifteen pound block of various seeds. My girls LOVE IT.

 

[wolftracks]

Thought I'd join in today.

Hey Sunny, did you see my posts where looks like Bonnie my be a Benny? Yeah I have great luck.

We don't get snow here, but I was looking at the water heater thread last week. This cook can heaters are fantastic and so cheap to make. What a great idea.

As for extra eggs..........hmmm wish I had that problem right now. They eat, poop and sleep in that order around here. Not an egg since August! But when there are extras a good thing to do with them is to donate. Look for places where they offer food for families having trouble and thy are always so happy to see eggs.

OK off to HD.....Working on some smallish easy coops and runs. I have different breeds and gotta start separating some of the now outside babies.

 

[SunnyDawn]

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Oh Noooooo!!!!! Well I have fertile eggs now and my Ams are laying so if you want a few eggs in spring (actually you live in such a temperate climate you could take them anytime) let me know! I would wait a month or so though, so the pullets have time to mature some. You'll get a better hatch that way.

Aubreynoramarie that sounds terrific! How much does Green's charge for that block?

 

[aubreynoramarie]

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Oh Noooooo!!!!! Well I have fertile eggs now and my Ams are laying so if you want a few eggs in spring (actually you live in such a temperate climate you could take them anytime) let me know! I would wait a month or so though, so the pullets have time to mature some. You'll get a better hatch that way.

Aubreynoramarie that sounds terrific! How much does Green's charge for that block?

Oh golly I honestly can't remember. I think maybe somewhere between ten or fifteen bucks but it lasted me a few weeks. (i've only got five girls though). Only bad thing about it is that when it rains they have to be covered or the sticky stuff that holds it together disintigrates and the block falls apart. Other than that I think it's awesome because they get to peck at it instead of foraging off the ground like they do with all of their other treats