North Carolina

[jtbass2756]

coop scoop boogie...........I'm so so so sorry.. Been there and done that. My heart is breaking for you..but you are doing the right thing for your baby!

 

[crazyhen]

Please add me too. I have done that because I loved my animal so much I did not want it to suffer anymore. There are so many that keep on knowing that the animal is suffering and will not make it. To me thats selfish. Thank you for caring enough. and may your memories be good ones.

 

[nursebecky99]

[COLOR=008000]Good morning folks  [/COLOR]


[COLOR=008000]Today is a rough one for us here. We had to make the[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]most difficult decision and have scheduled a vet to help[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]our old man on his way over the bridge.....not easy to do. [/COLOR]


[COLOR=008000]hope everyone has a good day  [/COLOR]

So sorry for your loss, we lost our sweet 5yo dachshund earlier this year, but it was sudden. I cannot imagine the angst of making that decision.

 

[Tikkijane]

Lots of posts on the fermented feed while I've been busy!  I see I have more to consider than I originally thought.  It's not just the nutritional value...and while yes, fermenting has been done throughout the ages, I was actually interested in information specific to chickens.  A lot of stuff that is good for humans is not good for other species.  But things like....I'm not sure what you mean by "backslopping".  I'm also going to have to think about it from a logistical point.  Having to cart feed out to the various chicken houses twice a day will increase my chore time quite a bit.  I hadn't thought of that aspect at all!  Especially in bad weather/cold weather.  The only place I could set up fermenting would be in the feedroom of the barn, and that's around 100 yds from the biggest chicken house, where I would have to haul the most feed.  Right now, we unload dry feed into drums in each of the chicken houses.  Easy to refill hanging feeders from there, and I don't have to carry anything anywhere.  Also...how do you feed it?  It would clog up an automatic feeder, I imagine. 

But, since there is no way I could try it out until summer, I'll have time over winter break to look for grain sources.  I figure I'll be able to sort out if it saves feed.  Currently my birds eat about 4 ounces of feed per day per bird, based on a single bag of feed in each of the automatic feeders in three different chicken houses with three different breeds of bird.  (Test subjects for that were one pen of English Orpingtons, one of American Orpingtons, and one of Golden Cuckoo Marans.  One of those was a breeding pen, so had no pasture access like the regular chicken houses do.  My biggest concern from these last posts is the labor involved. 

Now I've reached the babbling while thinking out loud stage, so time for me to quit!

Backslopping = saving a portion to jumpstart the next batch. {It's all in the FAQ}. Many folks leave it outside with the feed when it's not cold.

Honetly, it's a *whole* lot LESS time consuming for us. Feeding twice a day vs keeping feeders full is no comparison. But that's us. I'll never go back.

There are studies linked on the thread, fwiw. I don't know of any longitudinal studies done on layers in particular, but there have been short term studies done on meaties, for whatever that's worth.

And, lots of studies have parameters that don't reflect my flock. I'd rather get input from folks who've been doing it for a while in addition to reading the studies.

 

[Tikkijane]

[COLOR=008000]Good morning folks  [/COLOR]


[COLOR=008000]Today is a rough one for us here. We had to make the[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]most difficult decision and have scheduled a vet to help[/COLOR]
[COLOR=008000]our old man on his way over the bridge.....not easy to do. [/COLOR]


[COLOR=008000]hope everyone has a good day  [/COLOR]

.

So, so sorry.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Quote:
Thanks. It'll be a while before I'll have time to read through the stuff. Very busy time of year here. I do suspect that our set-ups are quite different though, as for a couple hundred chickens I fill top loading feeders a couple times a week out of drums that are six feet or less from the feeders. Takes less than five minutes to do them all, and it's not an every day thing. Still, it'll be interesting to look at, and if the benefits make the extra work worthwhile, and I am capable of doing said extra work, then it would continue.

 

[Tikkijane]

Thanks.  It'll be a while before I'll have time to read through the stuff.  Very busy time of year here.  I do suspect that our set-ups are quite different though, as for a couple hundred chickens I fill top loading feeders a couple times a week out of drums that are six feet or less from the feeders.  Takes less than five minutes to do them all, and it's not an every day thing.  Still, it'll be interesting to look at, and if the benefits make the extra work worthwhile, and I am capable of doing said extra work, then it would continue.

Probably, seeing as I only have around 100. Saving on my feed bill was good incentive. I've easily saved at least 2/3 on my feed bill. And the superior nutrition is good, too. My kids breezed through molt on average in 2 weeks or less. I still got eggs, too.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Got ambitious this afternoon after doing marathon grading, and cleaned out two of the chicken houses. Hubby hauled sand and we got them both re-bedded. I was hurting long before I was done,and am not looking forward to tomorrow, but that's two done, and one of them was the 16 x 20 house. One 8 x 20 done, and two more that size to go. Woohoo! Feeling reasonably productive today!

 

[crzyckldy]

Asheboro Here anybody near me

Hi I'm in Archdale!

 

[dutchlion]

...

Hi I'm in Archdale![/quot

I'm in randleman.