North Carolina

[DSTchickencraze]

1222 Ponderosa Road, Lincolnton NC 28092

Thanks!

How long do chickens usually molt? In the past the only birds we have had were RIRs and we never usually went this long without getting eggs.... I've read something about giving them extra protein to help them molt faster, is this true? Are there other ways to start getting your birds to start relaying sooner? Our Australorps look like they've exploded, our RIR's look kinda messed up (feather wise), but our Buff Orpingtons look completely normal as if there wasn't a feather out of place!

I have also seen you guys talking about Fermented feeding. My mom wants to know how this cuts back on feed costs; could someone explain this to me please? And how you do it...

Wildsriver- Glad you had a productive day at the Chicken Swap and pretty birds!! Hope everyone else that went to the swap had a good time.

Thanks!

 

[Lizabelsherrill]

Quote:
I haven't tried the foraging frames or fodder yet either. Here's one thread I've found on fodder.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens I haven't had time to try it yet. My to-do list keeps getting longer instead of shorter.

There are a bunch of different grains you can use for this. I was going to start with BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) since I can get this easily wherever they sell bird seed. I found a feed & seed near my house that's a mill too. I plan on stopping by there this week (my list again) to see what they have. I hope since it's a mill they make their own feed and I can stop getting it from TSC. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them/520 Post 527 is a picture of the food Beekissed gets from her mill...it looks yummy. You could try a google search on feed mills in your area.

 

[skitzkle]

Thanks!

How long do chickens usually molt? In the past the only birds we have had were RIRs and we never usually went this long without getting eggs.... I've read something about giving them extra protein to help them molt faster, is this true? Are there other ways to start getting your birds to start relaying sooner? Our Australorps look like they've exploded, our RIR's look kinda messed up (feather wise), but our Buff Orpingtons look completely normal as if there wasn't a feather out of place!

I have also seen you guys talking about Fermented feeding. My mom wants to know how this cuts back on feed costs; could someone explain this to me please? And how you do it...

Wildsriver- Glad you had a productive day at the Chicken Swap and pretty birds!! Hope everyone else that went to the swap had a good time.

Thanks!

I ferment grower/starter crumbles with scratch (3bags of crumbles to 1 bag of scratch all mixed in a trash can) I put the feed in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water leaving room for it to expand and leave it. Depending on the temperature it will ferment anywhere from 12 hours to a couple days. It expands and grows! & smells funky! It gets a white film on the top that is the scoby from the fermenting and you stir that back in. (similar or the same as the mother in unpasturized Apple cider vinegar) You can make it as dry or wet as you like it. I feed it out with a spoon that has lots of holes to drain, I purchased at walmart. It saves on food costs because as the food ferments it makes the nutrients more available and the birds need less feed. They also don't spread it out all over the place because it is wet and sticky. So you save by having no waste. I feed my girls in a plastering trough from Lowes and they 'lick' it clean. I started doing it because of all the feed they were wasting on the ground. It is said that it makes their poops less smelly and helps with fly control also. It has helped with the poops, but I still have flies, but I feed it pretty wet and they take all day to eat it. There are to great threads on this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

 

[Lizabelsherrill]

I ferment grower/starter crumbles with scratch (3bags of crumbles to 1 bag of scratch all mixed in a trash can) I put the feed in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water leaving room for it to expand and leave it. Depending on the temperature it will ferment anywhere from 12 hours to a couple days. It expands and grows! & smells funky! It gets a white film on the top that is the scoby from the fermenting and you stir that back in. (similar or the same as the mother in unpasturized Apple cider vinegar) You can make it as dry or wet as you like it. I feed it out with a spoon that has lots of holes to drain, I purchased at walmart. It saves on food costs because as the food ferments it makes the nutrients more available and the birds need less feed. They also don't spread it out all over the place because it is wet and sticky. So you save by having no waste. I feed my girls in a plastering trough from Lowes and they 'lick' it clean. I started doing it because of all the feed they were wasting on the ground. It is said that it makes their poops less smelly and helps with fly control also. It has helped with the poops, but I still have flies, but I feed it pretty wet and they take all day to eat it. There are to great threads on this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

Ooooh! I never thought about mixing scratch with my crumbles. The crumbles by themselves don't look very tastey and it's very soupy. I bet the scratch adds some texture to the FF. I'm going to have to try that!!

 

[NewHomesteader2010]

Okay thanks, good to know.
Do you guys rest your meat before the freezer or just process & package?
We have to do the other 10 in a couple weeks, not looking forward to i

We too started off brining our chickens because that's what we were told to do. LOL. Once the kind NC BYC'ers told me I didn't have to, we take our chickens straight from processing to freezer (unless we have chicken on the menu that night). Depending on age, we either slow cook them or roast them and they are TASTY!
As for feed, we have noticed that our FR are eating a lot LESS with the Fermented Feed, but it took them time to get use to it. At first they DEVOURED it as if they were famished and hadn't eaten in months. Now they still attack the feed, but the amount is significantly less, there's also less waste (they don't seem to pick and chose which pieces to eat and drop the rest out) and overall, I think its working out well for us. Please don't get discouraged!!

My family (who has never eaten a home grown chicken aside from ours) raves about them, and my dad who grew up on a farm (later said he hated chicken) will only eat our chicken - he refuses any store bought chicken that my mother tries to feed him. LOL I am still learning how to cook though, so I bet part of that is just personal preference (that or my dad is just humoring me?!?)

I am hoping things fare better for you!!
Have a good day!!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Thank you guys for all the information, I don't know what I'd do without you all!
And putting the chicken wire over the top so they don't eat down to the roots in pretty ingenious!
This is only the 3rd day I've done FF, but I noticed this morning it took them longer to eat so this is good!

Hope everyone has a great day!!!!
It's supposed to be another hot one, someone needs to remind mother nature it's supposed to be Fall!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Uh-oh found a new breed of chicken I want.
Blue Breda
Anyone familiar with these, they are super pretty!
I really only want 6 chickens, why does there have to be so many fabulous breeds???

 

[BHep]

Uh-oh found a new breed of chicken I want.
Blue Breda
Anyone familiar with these, they are super pretty!
I really only want 6 chickens, why does there have to be so many fabulous breeds???

I just saw a Breda trio for $200 here on BYC !

I have 1 black one...not sure if it is a hen or roo. Pretty little thing.

 

[skitzkle]

I got my first egg! The only down side is that it was not in a nesting box but out in the run. Lol still excited!

 

[DSTchickencraze]

I ferment grower/starter crumbles with scratch (3bags of crumbles to 1 bag of scratch all mixed in a trash can) I put the feed in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water leaving room for it to expand and leave it. Depending on the temperature it will ferment anywhere from 12 hours to a couple days. It expands and grows! & smells funky! It gets a white film on the top that is the scoby from the fermenting and you stir that back in. (similar or the same as the mother in unpasturized Apple cider vinegar) You can make it as dry or wet as you like it. I feed it out with a spoon that has lots of holes to drain, I purchased at walmart. It saves on food costs because as the food ferments it makes the nutrients more available and the birds need less feed. They also don't spread it out all over the place because it is wet and sticky. So you save by having no waste. I feed my girls in a plastering trough from Lowes and they 'lick' it clean. I started doing it because of all the feed they were wasting on the ground. It is said that it makes their poops less smelly and helps with fly control also. It has helped with the poops, but I still have flies, but I feed it pretty wet and they take all day to eat it. There are to great threads on this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

Thanks skitzkle!

I have to get rid of that **** dachsund! I have been busting my butt to try and find him a new home and have been extremely unsuccessful!!!!! He killed our two beginning maran hens, one of our little chicks last week, and of course while I'm in school today my mom sends me a text saying that he got to our only little Dark Brahma today that is suppose to start laying in the next two weeks or so! She's not dead, but injured. I haven't been home yet to see how she is, but my mother said she thought she heard raspy breathing!!! I'm going to do everything in my power to get her back to her full health and I have no idea what I can do with the dog! We do everything we can to keep him away from the chickens, but since my grandmother is back home (she has been gone the past few weeks, due to surgery) he knows how to get past her and find his way outside to the chickens! I need to do something and fast. I love the dog but the love is quickly turning to anger and intolerance!!!!!!!!!

Anyone have ideas on what I can do to make our Brahma better? I've heard that feeding a chicken egg yolk with their feed might help, and would it be advisable to feed her crumble like our chicks with the egg yolk? I really don't want her to die. If she does that would be four chickens in the past two to three months & all would be because of the stupid dog!!! She's also my moms chicken that we got from Wildsriver. She is so sweet and such a great forager.

Once I see her, I'll post something else up to give more details.