NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lynzi777]

Not sure but I'm looking into the compost with chickens thing and I'm curious about the spoiled foods.

I wish I saved the page, I'll see if I can come across it again and if I do I'll post the link here. Just found it odd.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

I realized today after doing much reading online about chicken breeds and such and coming across many blogs in between researching that I am definitely not utilizing the scraps from my kitchen as well I should be. I mean, we'll toss out bread ends and left over eggs, toast, fruit out to the cheeps but never anything that has already spoiled. I always looked at it like, well I certainly wouldn't eat it so why would I feed it to my chickens?? I read online today that's its ok to toss food that has gone moldy or bad out to them such as fruits breads and other foods that are ok for chickens to eat. Is that right?? If it is I better start a compost pile this summer and leave it open to the chickens! Maybe I can go down from two trash cans a week to one!

Gosh, I'd be inclined to say anything gone moldy would not be a good idea.... ?

TOB

 

[rancher hicks]

Gosh, I'd be inclined to say anything gone moldy would not be a good idea.... ?

TOB

I have to agree. I figure if it will make me sick it would do the same to my chickens. However...............I recall a program that I watched and I can't remember where but there was the town composting site. On that site was a flock of feral chickens. I wish I could remember where I saw it, but the chickens were out 24/7 even in the winter.

I really must try to find it.

I do have a compost pile of sorts and just dump anything, except meat, on to it. Mostly just peelings and fruit that has gone yuk. It is important though to make sure you have the right parts of green and brown stuff. EX. plant matter and dried leaves etc. etc. I like to dump some topsoil in there to keep things moving.

I just think sooner or later they will eat something that will kill them if I don't use caution.

This is one of those areas where opinions differ and why when someone says "my chickens aren't laying", I think it might be what they are or aren't eating.

I wish you well,

Rancher

 

[Child of Noah]

My chickens that I've had for a whopping eight weeks (to demonstrate my expert advice) I intend to have primarily eat from free-ranging and the compost heap. From what I have read, if good food is available, they won't eat the bad. Consider the barred rocks somebody found recently (forgot the name, sorry). They were pooping gravel, but that was because they had nothing to eat before. Chickens would not normally eat gravel.
Also, what do you consider "I wouldn't eat it"? Yesterday I made a salad for myself and threw all the bits "I wouldn't eat" in to the compost heap. I put a whole pepper in there, because I have a job and that pepper wasn't pretty anymore. Two years ago, I did not have a job, and I was lucky if I had a pepper, I would have been cutting that pepper up and cooking it in something. My finicky picking means the chickens win.
I began composting (before getting chickens) primarily to reduce the amount of trash I have to take out. Before the chickens I would only put vegetarian waste into my compost bin. I read a little, asked on here, and read a lot more... and since chickens are omnivores meat scraps are fine too. One guy even has put an entire dead hog in his chicken powered compost heap. Not that I plan to do that, nor do I happen to have a hog lying around.
It is pretty rare for food to be moldy in my house. Vegetables might get a little soft. Bread might get stale. Either of these you can still eat, if you get slightly creative about cooking with them. So after I have done that, and I still have some veggies that are even more soft and I really don't want to eat them, into the compost heap.

 

[Gramma Chick]

I think I'm late jumping in on the topic, but Tabs if you are looking for a safe way to treat sinus during pregnancy I have had great results with acupuncture...and I mean immediate relief. Everything starts draining right away. I promise the needles do not hurt!
I used to get sinus infections once a year. Now if I feel sinus congestion I go get poked and have been able to avoid getting an infection. I can recommend a few good ones in Rochester, outside of that I'm no help

. Feel better soon!

I am sore today! I was working on the new run yesterday while we had some good weather! Due to a lack of resources, I am making it out of branches that hubby took out of our trees. I think it will actually turn out stronger than the other run! And prettier!

Congrats on everyones chicks this spring! They feather out so quick

, my fluffy butts are 1.5 months old and already half the size of the older girls.

Chickprincess, Buddy is already doin' the dance for the new ones...I think he might like 'em young...

The Run sounds interesting ..Show us a picture when you are done .
I am making a back fence in the woods by our stream with wood , branches from trees that came down in the storm & ones we took down after wards & ones laying on the ground in the trees
Nothing fancy ...just a tangle of all kinds of wood .a chicken block / fox block ...

 

[NookNook01]

Oh.

Oh what a relief it is!! (Plop plop fizz fizz).......

 

[Lynzi777]

I have to agree.    I figure if it will make me sick it would do the same to my chickens.
Rancher

My chickens that I've had for a whopping eight weeks (to demonstrate my expert advice) I intend to have primarily eat from free-ranging and the compost heap.  From what I have read, if good food is available, they won't eat the bad.  Consider the barred rocks somebody found recently (forgot the name, sorry).  They were pooping gravel, but that was because they had nothing to eat before.  Chickens would not normally eat gravel.
Also, what do you consider "I wouldn't eat it"? 

This particular article stated that chickens are "great food disposals" because they could eat foods that have gone bad that we couldn't. Say for example moldy fruit because that bacteria won't bother them. I don't know that I believe that nor would I feel comfortable giving my birds moldy fruit. Fruit goes bad in our house especially when the kids beg for it at the store and then come home and no one eats it. I had a moldy strawberry in a container last week, I chucked that one in the garbage, cut up the rest and fed them to the chickens. Same thing with bread, if there two or three pieces left and I need something to get the chickens into the cop early, if one of those pieces were to have mold on it it's for the garbage not the chickens.

I'll have to find this article. It's going to drive me nuts now. I'll do some looking around today and see if I can come across it again.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Oh.

Henry!


TOB

 

[vmdanielsen]

Rancher, I'd love some of your chicks, I could use about 4.
Ginny, still thinking of Buckeyes, if you will have extra.

My thoughts on having a flock is to add some each year so there are always young hens that will lay. But I may have to eventually plan for a retirement home...I mean for the older hens, not me, of course...

And on the subject of sinus infections, they seem to be related to irritations, or allergies, and those sensitivities can change during the course of ones life. For instance I had my first sinus infection in my 30s, and went to my dentist because of the pain. Twenty years later I decided to get allergy testing done and found lots of low grade allergies. Three years later, not getting sinus infections, all other symptoms are better...and two of my allergies were dust and feathers...but the myth growing up was that I was the one with no allergies. Go figure. So much changes in the body during pregnancies, responses to irritants can be one. So listen to your body, and it seems that as I get older, it has more complaints, but is still functional.

So off to spinning, Pilates and outdoor work. Have a great day everyone!

I will most likely have some decent buckeyes for sale. I will be selling them as older birds as I will try to sell birds that more closely match the description in the SOP, unless of course you want utility. I have 36 brooding, about 60 in the incubator, that are for a friend who will raise them and then I will pick 2 or 3 of his best for part of my breeding flock. I plan on doing another hatch after this one. I am pretty sure I will have some for sale. Just let me know!

edited to say that I have been very busy of late and there has been many posts, I have been reading them fast and may have missed something. If anyone else has mentioned wanting buckeyes please PM me as I have missed it. If no one buys them that is great as well because I want at least 50 in the freezer. 1 a week sounds tasty to me! come winter I want my numbers back in the 20's.

 

[armorfirelady]

Here is an article here on BYC about composting that is good. It also mentions the Vermont composting where chickens only food is what they find in the compost
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/composting-with-chickens