NY chicken lover!!!!

[Aria]

marquisello, I think I may have purchased 5 black and blue Silkies
5 and 6 months old from a gal Lindsey?

She raised them from babies and said she purchased them from a
gal named Sue in Vernon.

Guess she just wanted baby chicks for her daughter to enjoy.???

They were 3 hens and 2 Roosters. They are so pretty.

 

[featherz]

New naked necks have entered the world!! =)

 

[marquisella]

Quote:








Do you cook for your chickens?


I'm on a plan to increase egg production, yes, even during the winter months.

I am adding to the normal pelleted feed, cooked soy, along with oats, sunflower, alfalfa, seeds & fat.

My local grocery store is saving up some fat each week for me. I cook it down until its melted. I cook about 2 quarts of soybeans at the same time until they are soft, about 1/2 hour. I then mix the soybeans & melted fat together & carry the bucket out to the barn.I also put some Red Cell liquid vitamins in at this point because the soybeans & oil are pretty wet and it mixes well & coats the beans better. I normally put the Red Cell in their water, but now that their water is freezing, I put it in the feed mix instead so its not wasted.

Right now I'm eyeballing the amounts, but I mix into the bucket, some whole oats, sunflower seeds, just a little, a little corn, some alfalfa meal, and about half the amount of pellets I use to feed when it was all I was feeding.

Because I bring it out right away from being cooked, the whole mix stays warm, and the birds flock, pun intended, right over to eat. Even if it doesn't make them feel better, it makes me feel better that I'm giving them something warm to eat on cold winter days.

Why am I going through this fuss? When I use to feed whole grains, I almost never had sick chickens. And I got compliments from judges on how well conditioned my chickens were at shows.

I've been frustrated lately with my birds, just didn't seem quite right, and everything pointed to their feed. It was an "aha!" moment for me.

So, back to whole grains for my chickens...We'll see how it goes for the next few months.


YOU will have to keep us posted. Though don't forget to let us in on cost and trouble doing all this stuff. Have you been having trouble with sick chickens?

I haven't posted about the hen I have in the "hospital". She's been eating and standing ok. I have her on layer feed also. She did lay and egg yesterday. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since she is a Del. Everyone else is fine. I believe her to be one of the Harter girls. I've banded all mine, so even though they are together I can tell them apart.

The occasional sick bird should not be to upsetting. I don't think we can always be sure of the genetic history.

This "Red Cell" vitamins is that the Brand name of them or are they something special?

Yes, Red Cell is the name, its a horse vitamin, I buy the generic equilivant, can't think of th ename right now, but its right next to the Red Cell on the shelf at TSC. I'm having more things happening lately that I never had happen before, so I'm going back to my old ways...In the long run it will probably cost me the same as if I was buying pellets at $17 per 50 lbs. but I think its better for them. I'm only mixing in the soy every other day, to make it easier on me...Its not too much work. The soy beans cook in half an hour, I put the fat in with it when its hot so it coats it all, carry it out to the barn, & mix it with the other grains. They dove into it today like it was candy...

 

[marquisella]

Anybody use light to increase egg production in the winter? what do you use?

I do,or I wouldn't get any eggs. I have many chickens, so they need to lay to pay their keep. If I only had a few, I wouldn't. It doesn't seem to hurt them at all.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I just replaced my heat lamps in my brooder lights (clamp on bases) with incondesent (sp) bulbs and bought a $5 timer at K mart. Works great. I have it turn on at 2 am and off at about 11 (which is when the sun gets to my house). It has helped increase production quite a bit. I used to get nothing from the banties in the small coop, now I get 4 - 5 eggs ever other day.

OK Cass. A regular light bulb (for now) on at 2.......I want to start hatching in March so they need to lay. If they are let out of the coop at 7..do they need light until 11(yes they go out! I have the coop on my front lawn and they go out under the front porch{the hell with the neighbors!!!}? The boys in that pen are not a year old and not mounting the girls, but the girls( not laying) are not receptive. That is ok! Gentlemen welcome here!!
Tabs, one of the girls I got from you stopped laying in early DEC(the rest in Oct) and one that had stopped laying in Oct has started up again!! YAY!!!!!

Blue copper marans that I got from Marq have started laying!!! Yay again!!!


Have a very happy new year to all!!!!!!

 

[Lynzi777]

Hello Everyone,
Happy New Year's Eve to all, hope everyone is ready to ring in the new year!

I got back from CT yesterday afternoon. My husband did a good job taking care of the chickens and new chicks while we were away for a few days. I was out shoveling new paths to the coops this morning and after shoveling around the Orp's coop I decided to open the door to see if they'd even attempt coming out into the foot and half of snow on the ground. Well, silly me, I forgot that when I let these two out they don't walk out, they FLY out! So up in to the air they went and down into the snow they plopped, stuck, until I came and shoveled a path to get them "free". Of course the only time I didn't have my phone on me to snap a video or picture. Would have been such a great video to share and laugh at.

We ended up with 3 partridge silkie chicks from Pearl. I did put Pearl back outside with the others before I left for CT. The last two eggs did not hatch and she wasn't laying on them nearly as much as she had been. The reason I did NOT want Pearl to raise them was because she would not let me near the top of that brooder they were in without me having to lay a towel over her in order to change the water/food or even pick up a chick. She'd peck at me every single time. And since these chicks won't be able to go outside for a while, I want them to be used to us handling them and being around us especially my kids. That would have never happened if I left Pearl in there. Also, with my husband watching them for me - he wouldn't have attempted to do anything with them if he knew he had to deal with her. LOL Also, I wasn't sure if he'd even agree to watch them for me so I thought I'd be bringing them to CT with me and that would have been a big pain in the butt if Pearl had to come too. At least with the chicks they're so small I can keep them in a little aquarium right now with the heat lamp on it and it would have been easy transport. Pearl seems to be doing fine outside. I see her coming down out of the coop and into the run beneath with the other two. So she's right back to being with her flock now.

One question I do have now that I've had some time to handle the chicks and "examine" them. I know silkies are supposed to have 5 toes, has anyone ever had one with 6?!? On both feet too!

(Get your helmet on Rancher...)

Here are some pics...










Am I correct with the color?? Partridge??

 

[Cass]

OK Cass. A regular light bulb (for now) on at 2.......I want to start hatching in March so they need to lay. If they are let out of the coop at 7..do they need light until 11(yes they go out! I have the coop on my front lawn and they go out under the front porch{the hell with the neighbors!!!}? The boys in that pen are not a year old and not mounting the girls, but the girls( not laying) are not receptive. That is ok! Gentlemen welcome here!!
Tabs, one of the girls I got from you stopped laying in early DEC(the rest in Oct) and one that had stopped laying in Oct has started up again!! YAY!!!!!

Blue copper marans that I got from Marq have started laying!!! Yay again!!!


Have a very happy new year to all!!!!!!

No, you don't have to leave it on until 11 if you have sun before that on a sunny day. My house is situated weird and they don't get real light in their windows til 10 or so in the winter. (much earlier in the summer, thank you god) And you don't have to turn it on at 2 am if your area is "light" later than 3:30 pm. You are aiming for 12 hours of LIGHT (of any kind) with the supplimental light being turned on early enough that they get that 12 hours before normal twlight at your house, so they go to roost with the normal decline of light at the end of day.

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

No, you don't have to leave it on until 11 if you have sun before that on a sunny day. My house is situated weird and they don't get real light in their windows til 10 or so in the winter. (much earlier in the summer, thank you god) And you don't have to turn it on at 2 am if your area is "light" later than 3:30 pm. You are aiming for 12 hours of LIGHT (of any kind) with the supplimental light being turned on early enough that they get that 12 hours before normal twlight at your house, so they go to roost with the normal decline of light at the end of day.

So if I'm understanding this correctly..................only add light in the A.M. And let them go to bed normal time. This is my 2nd winter w/chickens and I've added light at the beginning of the day, then extended the day by adding a couple hours in the evening. I'm new at this is one way better than the other ?

 

[Cass]

So if I'm understanding this correctly..................only add light in the A.M. And let them go to bed normal time. This is my 2nd winter w/chickens and I've added light at the beginning of the day, then extended the day by adding a couple hours in the evening. I'm new at this is one way better than the other ?

One day my timer malfunctioned. (I blamed it on the birds, but I think i did it. LOL) The light stayed on until almost 8 pm when I realized it and went down to turn it off. Since it was light in the coop the birds were all over the place, not on their roosts. So when I turned off the light they were in the dark. And NOT happy. I had to turn the light back on, let a few of them find their roosting spot and then turn it off, leaving the less smart ones to spend the night on the floor or where ever they were when the light went out.

You can do whatever you think is best, but the encrouching darkness tells the birds to eat their last meal of the day, get a drink and find a nice place to sleep. When the light goes suddenly they have not done the "night time prep" that twilight tells them is necessary and might find themselves hungry, thirsty and standing on the edge of a nest box, instead of on their roost.

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

Thank you, Cass