NY chicken lover!!!!

[Sweetpea3829]

A cautionary tale for those who are tempted to love their chickens a wee bit too much and/or are having problems with egg production:


Every Friday a client gives me all the bread from her "meals on wheels"....she doesn't eat bread being diabetic. Every Friday the chickens greet me at the car door looking for bread, which I happily throw out on the lawn for them to peck at til their lil' hearts are content. Every Friday I collect 6 - 8 eggs.

Every Saturday I collect 2.

Every Sunday I collect 4.

Every Monday - Friday I collect 6 - 8.

Ya think maybe, just maybe, the breeds of chickens I have are put off laying when they have too many carbs?

Hmmm...

I wonder if its just a coincidence? You know how most hens take a day or two off per week? Maybe its just coinciding...

My birds get a LOT of treats, lol.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
You can get a frosting / food container at a walmart Deli .
They have food safe 3- 5 gal pails ...Ask for a empty one .
They will sell it or give it to you .

 

[Gramma Chick]

A cautionary tale for those who are tempted to love their chickens a wee bit too much and/or are having problems with egg production:


Every Friday a client gives me all the bread from her "meals on wheels"....she doesn't eat bread being diabetic. Every Friday the chickens greet me at the car door looking for bread, which I happily throw out on the lawn for them to peck at til their lil' hearts are content. Every Friday I collect 6 - 8 eggs.

Every Saturday I collect 2.

Every Sunday I collect 4.

Every Monday - Friday I collect 6 - 8.

Ya think maybe, just maybe, the breeds of chickens I have are put off laying when they have too many carbs?

Yes if you give them too much bread as a treat I have noticed they lay less too .
I mix their bread cubes with a little milk & some mashed egg shells .
Im not sure if it is too many Carbs or too little Calcium .
My problem is they barely eat any layer ...they find so much when they free range .
Im thinking of picking up some Oyster shell so they get enough Calcium .

 

[dragonlord483]

Well good news so far 9 of 11 eggs were fertile

 

[rancher hicks]

There was someone in Ulster county that was advertising Russian Orloffs for sale. Check that craigslist.


Welcome to our humble world! How can we enable,er help you? What kind of chickens do you have?

Morning all! Sunny here and loving it. I released the silkies to freerange this morning. Stripe is now sitting on eggs next to Sassy so three broody silkies sitting on eggs. The boys are down to one girl being out with them. The terrorists were out last night enjoying themselves and throwing it in the brats face by walking around their coop/run and scratching around. The brats looked so cute lined up along the fencing looking longingly at them. Cant let the two groups mingle yet as I am pretty sure the terrorists would try to kill them. I have to say that my heritage reds are one of the friendliest birds ever. They are always the first to come and greet me and generally get in the way of everything I do in their coop. I have a couple of girls who just love attention and took advantage of dh when he let them out the other day by sitting on his lap and being petted. I want to get my hands on the roos but they are a little standoffish yet.

After a relaxing week in the fridge, Bill is enjoying a nice day in the crockpot hot tub. He had an invigorating garlic and herb rubdown first before reclining on a bed of carrots and onions. All of these things are supposed to bring out the best in him. I'll let you know how well that worked out for him after dinner.

Off to the pharm again. Stuck with a horrible covering and having to be super vigilant. Enjoy the day for me!

Very funny,

 

[rancher hicks]

Moring all,

Have a safe Memorial Day Holiday.

Welcome newbies, It's all downhill from here. Hope you have a big coop.

Lynzii - sorry to hear about your allergies. Time to take a pill. I do everyday and things have been much better.

The Dollar store has cheap masks to wear in the coop. Exterior nest boxes can limit going in but do enter at least once in the morning to check everyone.

FYI everyone. Target has baby wipes in a box of 800. Great for keeping next to shared computers and phones. Wipe those things down before using them as germ spread there more than anywhere I think. Get in habit. Any season can be cold and flu season.

If you have small children lock THEM in the chicken run and let the chickens free range in the yard.

 

[rancher hicks]

In other news.

Broodies all round. I don't expect many chicks as they play musical next boxes. The only ones I'm really concerned about is the Del eggs. I do have two hens with eggs that no one bothered since they're sequestered to the back room.

Up 6am cuz the window was open and the roosters were crowing.

What a pain in the neck here with the mud. I had a heck of a time getting the lawn mower out back. I don't remember having such a time. I've dumped chicken cleanings and some old hay over the area but it's just to bogged down.

I need a chain saw bad, to cut up this tree that is in the way.

I want to run some fencing to keep the chickens from going over into the woods. The tree is still alive and green now.



I really need to play the glad game. I'm glad that DW is feeling better and made a nice Chicken Cutlet dinner yesterday. I'm glad for my BYC friends and enemies. I'm glad no chickens have died lately. I'm glad for my church. I'm glad we'll be going to DD house for a picnic and DW doesn't have to cook and clean. I'm glad it's not raining.

Love ya all,

Rancher

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all! Woke up this morning to two light blue silkie chicks and one regular blue silkie chick! Guess my timing was off when I put them on lockdown. I am just glad that they are hatching. So hoping the light ones are hens. I love being a chicken mommy! I congratulated Little Man this morning on being a dad again. He took it well considering two of his women are sitting on eggs! Still have a few more eggs to hatch out. Hoping for a good hatch. Chicken therapy was good last night. I sat with the brats/monsters and they were busy exploring and eating. I have one rir pullet who has become a lap chicken. She likes to fly up onto your lap and just lay there and talk to you and be petted. She has done this with dh as well. I find that these rir like to be around you wherever you are and like attention from you. I am very happy with the way they are growing out. I think the higher protein broiler crumbles are making a difference for all the chicks at this age. I have been giving some as a treat to the terrorists as well.

Cass and Lynzii--you are not mistaken in what you are seeing when you feed bread. I have noticed over the last 3 years that when my girls were getting too much scratch, corn or other carbs, their egg production dropped dramatically. I have since limited those treats to occasionally and gone with veges, fruit and protein. Noticed it happens with fat as well. Dh had been giving the terrorists the fat from the ham at easter every day afterwards and my egg count went down. I told him no more and after a couple of days it was back up again. Just my two cents worth on what I observed in my flocks.

Off to the pharm again. The covering called out yesterday which means my regular pharm and I will be very busy catching up. Happy Memorial Day to all. Thank a veteran for their service and remember those who are gone. All gave some and some gave all so we can live the life we live. They asked for nothing in return for their service and we owe them everything. Thank you to the families of these veterans, who bear the brunt of whatever happens to their loved ones. Thank you to all the veterans on here who served, past and present. You are remembered on this and every day.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

Off to the pharm again. The covering called out yesterday which means my regular pharm and I will be very busy catching up. Happy Memorial Day to all. Thank a veteran for their service and remember those who are gone. All gave some and some gave all so we can live the life we live. They asked for nothing in return for their service and we owe them everything. Thank you to the families of these veterans, who bear the brunt of whatever happens to their loved ones. Thank you to all the veterans on here who served, past and present. You are remembered on this and every day.

x2 Well said.

Happy Memorial Day. Hope everyone has a great safe day!

Was up at 5am so that I could open up the duck hut early. First night that I put the girls in with the boys. They seemed that they made it through the night alright. I just wanted to make sure that they could get away from each other as soon as they could this morning. I put the babies out in their little run for the first night. The didn't want to come out of the house this morning. Once they were out they were running around enjoying all the room! Broodies have been sitting on the eggs for 7 days now. Think that I may try my first time at candeling tonight. I should be able to see something right? (Better look up what they should look like) I know that Peepers eggs are going to be easier to see into cause they are a light cream color. I guess I should have put a little more thought into what eggs that I gave to Rosita. She is sitting on 2 Maran eggs and a lighter sexlink egg. Not sure if I'm going to be able to see anything in those. Got to get the straw cleaned up from the grass seed today. The chickens are going stir crazy having to stay locked up. Now that the grass seed has started growing well. I think that it is safe to let everyone back out again. It has been so sad to see them begging to get out and just couldn't let them. Grass seed is growing and garden is all fenced it They are going to love being out this afternoon. Still need to get some more of the garden finished, just have my plants to put in the ground now. At least this cold that I've had for the last few days is starting to pass so feel so much better ans itching to get it all done, just can't overdue it.

 

[rancher hicks]

Morning all! Woke up this morning to two light blue silkie chicks and one regular blue silkie chick! Guess my timing was off when I put them on lockdown. I am just glad that they are hatching. So hoping the light ones are hens. I love being a chicken mommy! I congratulated Little Man this morning on being a dad again. He took it well considering two of his women are sitting on eggs! Still have a few more eggs to hatch out. Hoping for a good hatch. Chicken therapy was good last night. I sat with the brats/monsters and they were busy exploring and eating. I have one rir pullet who has become a lap chicken. She likes to fly up onto your lap and just lay there and talk to you and be petted. She has done this with dh as well. I find that these rir like to be around you wherever you are and like attention from you. I am very happy with the way they are growing out. I think the higher protein broiler crumbles are making a difference for all the chicks at this age. I have been giving some as a treat to the terrorists as well.

Cass and Lynzii--you are not mistaken in what you are seeing when you feed bread. I have noticed over the last 3 years that when my girls were getting too much scratch, corn or other carbs, their egg production dropped dramatically. I have since limited those treats to occasionally and gone with veges, fruit and protein. Noticed it happens with fat as well. Dh had been giving the terrorists the fat from the ham at easter every day afterwards and my egg count went down. I told him no more and after a couple of days it was back up again. Just my two cents worth on what I observed in my flocks.

Off to the pharm again. The covering called out yesterday which means my regular pharm and I will be very busy catching up. Happy Memorial Day to all. Thank a veteran for their service and remember those who are gone. All gave some and some gave all so we can live the life we live. They asked for nothing in return for their service and we owe them everything. Thank you to the families of these veterans, who bear the brunt of whatever happens to their loved ones. Thank you to all the veterans on here who served, past and present. You are remembered on this and every day.

I used to have a Hostess shop nearby and I would stop to buy a bag of "Bird bread" for $1. It was bread brought back by the drivers. Different types, Oat, Wheat, or hot dog rolls etc. etc. I noticed that when the birds got too much bread their shells would be funny. Misformed or odd shaped. I now limit them to the occasional toss of bread or other treats.

When I'm in charge I can make a 100# of scratch and BOSS last quite a while. One thing I like to do is toss it where they have to "scratch" for it. Alone the fence line in the grass/weeds. Point being when I came back from TX last month DW and DD had gone through most of it. 200#'s or there abouts. In two weeks!

I also make sure there is plenty of insoluble grit tossed in with any greens they get. I think it helps avoid impacted/sour crop. Sure they can get it elsewhere and there are those who think sand is good, but you take a glass and put some sand in it and water and see if you think that will move through their system easily? What you've really got is a glob of mud in the crop. IMHO.

Lynzii - how are those Sizzle eggs?