NY chicken lover!!!!

[Tough Old Bird]

I feed crumbles. I used to have a lot of waste with them, but I bit the bullet and spent the $4 on a metal pan to put under the feeder. Now they eat just about everything,cuz the pan catches what they are trying to throw around the coop.

If I was starting over I would never buy a metal waterer or a plastic feeder. Metal waterers leak if not level and plastic feeders get poop caught on the section dividers and have to be cleaned out more often.

1. Are you talking about a regular, old sheet baking pan as a liner?

2. I wonder if hanging the waterer / feeder several inches off the ground helps with the messiness? I've seen that mentioned as a way to help.

Thx.


TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

I once sat in my car looking around the seats for my cell phone - while talking to my mother on the cell phone. FAIL.

Thanks for the feed lead! I'll go visit Agway tomorrow and give it a whirl.

Menopause is a frustrating element to the once sharp and organized mind. I did something like this, so dumb, that I still cringe in embarrassment when I think about it...and worst off, it was my husband on the line with me. I will never live it down.

TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

By the way, with Reveille out of the area, waiting for whatever, I am getting more eggs. About a week ago I was getting sometimes only two eggs, but now today five, from ten hens! He was a stressor!

Good news for the ladies...and for you!


TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

I recently turned the house upside down to find my car/house key set. ....... When I sat down in the car I felt my car keys in my pants pocket where I (then) rememberd putting them so I would not leave the house without them. Aging. It's wonderful.

I rest my case! Have done something almost blueprint to this as well. ** Sigh...... **



THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE FEEDING TIPS! SOAKING IN ALL YOUR GREAT INFO !!!

TOB

 

[Cass]

1. Are you talking about a regular, old sheet baking pan as a liner?

2. I wonder if hanging the waterer / feeder several inches off the ground helps with the messiness? I've seen that mentioned as a way to help.

Thx.


TOB

I bought a large round high sided pan, that is probably meant to be a place to put feed or water for a different type of livestock at Tractor Supply. It is big enough around that the feeder fits in it, but small enough that they birds can't actually walk on/in it. Birds shake their beak in the food pan and throw the food sideways onto the floor. The area between the feeder and the side of the pan gets full of food, but because it is contained and not all over the floor, the birds can still eat it. While hanging the feeder/waterer might stop some of the contamination of walking through the contents, it doesn't stop their habit of throwing the food sideways onto the floor (probably for their chicks to clean up....but wait, I don't have any chicks, so it just sat there and ROTTED and smelled awful. worse than poop, as it decayed mixed in with the sand on my floor.)

TOB, remember some of us have a large number of birds. My 27 birds is a small quantity compared to some of the others on here. Larger flocks require larger amounts of everything to be available, causeing larger problems than you are going to experience with your original small flock. Just be aware of potential problems as your flock grows and be ready to counter with effective measures for both your sanity and the health of the flock. The biggest mistake I made, at first, was putting the waterer right beside the feed like I do for my cat. WHAT A MESS. They will walk across the area to the water and back to the food. Also, separating the two containers allows the birds on the low end of the pecking order to eat or drink while the king and queen are occupied at the other container. Be sure that the food and water are far enough apart that any water spilled is not wetting the food....it causes the food to stink and spoil and mold....not healthy for anyone involved.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Anyone from West Nyack NY area? Private message me I am new to this and getting ready to have chickens this late spring 2013. I would love to meet likeminded people in my area. I could use a few pointers too.
Thanks!

2b, welcome to the NY thread on byc. There is another thread that has been started for down staters. While everyone is welcome here, you may find someone closer to home on the southern NY, Dutchess county thread. I have tried to copy and paste the link put I can not do it( does anyone else still have this problem?????) You can find them under The forum tab,(at the top of this page) then social, then where am I where are you? Have fun with your chickens!!!

 

[Cass]

2b, welcome to the NY thread on byc. There is another thread that has been started for down staters. While everyone is welcome here, you may find someone closer to home on the southern NY, Dutchess county thread. I have tried to copy and paste the link put I can not do it( does anyone else still have this problem?????) You can find them under The forum tab,(at the top of this page) then social, then where am I where are you? Have fun with your chickens!!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/534036/southern-ny-dutchess-county-and-below there is the link to the Southern NY thread. Wish you luck 2b.

 

[Aria]

Quote: Stony, Blue Seal has changed its packaging. And a master Call Duck Breeder says,...they have also changed their product...NOT FOR THE BETTER. We have used Blue Seal for our Call Ducks and now for our Silkie Chickens. We are considering changing to Agway. We want 21% Protein. What do you think? Thanks Aria

 

[stonykill]

Stony, Blue Seal has changed its packaging. And a master Call Duck Breeder says,...they have also changed their product...NOT FOR THE BETTER. We have used Blue Seal for our Call Ducks and now for our Silkie Chickens. We are considering changing to Agway. We want 21% Protein. What do you think? Thanks Aria

our local Blue Seal has great people there. My father worked there for over 30 years doing many jobs and one of the jobs was making feed. They used to have great feed. The people at the Blue Seal store outright told me the formula was changed but "basically the same". It isn't the same.
Actually I picked up feed at Agway on Monday before reading about any of this on this thread. The ducks love it. Some of the chickens.....not so much. But they are getting used to it. Almost like it doesn't taste as good to them. I haven't been using it long enough to see if there is a difference. And honestly I'm also killing more roosters, so as egg production continues to increase I won't know if the feed made a difference

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Birds shake their beak in the food pan and throw the food sideways onto the floor......

TOB, remember some of us have a large number of birds. My 27 birds is a small quantity compared to some of the others on here. Larger flocks require larger amounts of everything to be available, causeing larger problems than you are going to experience with your original small flock. Just be aware of potential problems as your flock grows and be ready to counter with effective measures for both your sanity and the health of the flock. The biggest mistake I made, at first, was putting the waterer right beside the feed like I do for my cat. WHAT A MESS. They will walk across the area to the water and back to the food. Also, separating the two containers allows the birds on the low end of the pecking order to eat or drink while the king and queen are occupied at the other container. Be sure that the food and water are far enough apart that any water spilled is not wetting the food....it causes the food to stink and spoil and mold....not healthy for anyone involved.

Hi Cass -

Funny, but I remember my mom's little parakeet "Gidgie" -- boy could that tiny little bundle of cuteness make a horrific mess. I can only imagine 27 chickens! Yowza.

You're right. 27 birds vs. my (planned!) 6 must be a big difference. I am banking on this, because you sound like you've got your work cut out for you!

Love your tips about placing the water and food at separate areas. Makes great sense, but I'm not sure I would have considered this.

As always, it's this kind of forthcoming guidance that is really appreciated. Thanks again!


TOB