NY chicken lover!!!!

[Chicken girl 15]

not sure if it was you ? ...so to everyone ...
Ive always given my Roos layer or what ever the hens are eating ...with no problems ..
The extra calcium ...doesnt seem to bother them ...
any one else had problems with Roos eating layer ?

as of now everyone is getting grower with oyster shell free choice. The only reason I will have separate feeders is so the little ones have feed in their part of the coop and to give the broilers the extra protien the need to get big fast. Once the littles get integrated I will probably keep 2 feed stations because of the amount of birds. We will be going from 20 up to 40 or so plus 25 broilers every few months until my freezer is to my liking. I don't see why the boys couldn't eat layer if they don't have a long life expectancy anyhow, but for the moment I have 1 cockerel that if he stays the way he is will stick around until he meets old age. The girls worship him. I have seen "scientific evidence "of layer being harmful as well as other saying it's harmless so who knows. I refuse to judge how one feeds their birds or cares for them as long as they are treated good. No cramping 100 birds into a space for 20 no neglected unfed birds. To each their own and for me I'm always open to advice and help. I'm still learning.

If I do start feeding the flock layer and keep Golden Boy is there a suggested age to cull so he doesn't get ill from the calcium?

 

[boskelli1571]

Only got 2 eggs from my 20 (need to count again) hens. Going to offer to take the carcass from thanksgiving today for the chickens to glean.
Farmer friend offered me some "push back" hens. There is an organic egg farm in Romulus with 9000 laying hens that he got them from. These pullets/hens are low in the pecking order, so have been "pushed back" from feed. Believe they are RIR or red sex links. Anyone ever heard of this? Im thinking of taking a few, but don't want to introduce problems in my flock.

Never heard of 'push back' hens....an organic farmer should be feeding his livestock enough to prevent that surely...

 

[bakingintherain]

@Pyxis we are trying to arrange a meet up on Saturday on the vt thread

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: we are all still learning ...which is why I asked for others opinions ...many have had chickens longer than me
grower with oyster shell free choice
Me: Doesnt work with my flock ...they ignore it ...even when they are calcium deficient..I have to mix it in the food ..
I still see them pick it out ...

 

[Gramma Chick]

Well I fixed My Nintendo ! ...The date on the back says 1985..
.so I can now play Tetris & Super Mario ...when I have time ...LOL ..and nothing else to do ..

 

[Beer can]

Well I fixed My Nintendo ! ...The date on the back says 1985..
.so I can now play Tetris & Super Mario ...when I have time ...LOL ..and nothing else to do ..

Awesome! I was nine in '85, we were still playing the Atari Lol!
I remember when I was a kid staying at my grandma's and playing the Mario games on my uncle's Nintendo after she fell asleep until 3-4:00 AM Lol! Metroid and the spacecraft racing game F-zero was the last games I remember playing, and my favs. I don't play any now, just the phone...
I still have my nintendo, super nes, 64. And the kids game cube, no usable remotes though for any of them. We bought the kids the wii when it first came out, I could bowl or play tennis, jeopardy, wheel of fortune, but as far as role play games couldn't get used to the stupid wave around remote Lol!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

we are all still learning ...which is why I asked for others opinions ...many have had chickens longer than me 
grower with oyster shell free choice
 Me: Doesnt work with my flock ...they ignore it ...even when they are calcium deficient..I have to mix it in the food ..
I still see them pick it out ...

all I could find on symptoms was lathargy then death due to kidney failure. There seems to be more who think it's safe though. As for breed, it shouldn't really matter should it? That's kind of like saying alcohol is worse for a German than a Greek isn't it? I know I plan on getting an astrolorp roo come spring just because I already have 5 wife's for him. I also need a red and a WL and a batch of spitzhauben girls.

Searched again and all I can find is that "too much calcium MAY lead to malformed bones, bone spurs causing pain, calcium palup in the muscles . All leading to sluggish behavior and decline in health due to pain." That's not an exact quote as I can't get my flipping smart phone to cut and paste for some reason.

As well as many cases like yours. "My Roo is 3-6 years of age and in perfect health. Until I see first hand layer feed does harm I will feed my flock layer." Again not direct quote.

My point again, feed what makes your flock happy.

 

[tao chick]

Happy Thanksgiving. I have a wheezing chicken. I'm completely unnerved. I went through the coop scrubbing waterers and adding a waterer with probiotics and electrolytes as well as one with acv. I don't want to jump to antibiotics, but I am very worried. This is my first winter with chickens. They've all been healthy until now.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Happy Thanksgiving. I have a wheezing chicken. I'm completely unnerved. I went through the coop scrubbing waterers and adding a waterer with probiotics and electrolytes as well as one with acv. I don't want to jump to antibiotics, but I am very worried. This is my first winter with chickens. They've all been healthy until now.

best wishes from my flock to yours. I hope the wheezing gets controlled very fast.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Happy Thanksgiving. I have a wheezing chicken. I'm completely unnerved. I went through the coop scrubbing waterers and adding a waterer with probiotics and electrolytes as well as one with acv. I don't want to jump to antibiotics, but I am very worried. This is my first winter with chickens. They've all been healthy until now.

Sorry to hear that
Did you do anything different to the coop today ? spray something ? or add new straw or stir it up any ?
Or does the coop smell like ammonia inside ? too closed up ?