Official Squatch Watchers

[Suzi18]

My sweet Silkie, Adele, has finally come into her own. She has started standing up for herself and pecks at the girls who used to pick on her. She is soooooo sweet. She sleeps with the 5 Seramas and my Wyandotte Bantam. She snuggles right in with them at night. She is black and the others are all white. They look so cute together

 

[CapricornFarm]

Extra protein formula

Yeah, but i have birds to feed in the house and i don't want all my feed full of bugs.

 

[Chickassan]

I've had them before. It's miserable.

Note to all parents, if there is a photo op with hats, skip the hats. When I was 6ish, we went to Dover AFB in Delaware and got on a C-5 and they had crew helmets for us to put on for the picture. My brother and I both go lice. Lucky him, being a boy, my mom just shaved his head. I had to endure the nasty lice treatments. However, as a teen, I discovered a sovereign remedy for head lice. Spray oil and a hair straightener. I went through a phase in high school where I religiously flat ironed my hair. My sisters brought lice home from school. I had a few bites on my neck, but no nits or adults in my hair. I fried them out. My mom then did the same to my sisters, problem solved. No nasty chemicals (except the aerosol spray oil, but I call that a win over the pesticides).

Yep, smother and roast! You can use henna to kill them too. First lice I got the nasty rid treatments, bird mite false alarm I got a mohawk.

My Cochins and Seramas are the only ones laying

My BC/Choc Orp pullets and my Standard Cochins are the only ones laying at the moment.

I got 4 eggs from the chickens and 4 from the quail.

I'm getting turds...from everybody. That is all that is getting laid. Hobo was my only layer, and she's out of comission.

 

[ronott1]

My dang Cochin are laying nothing pink combs and all. It’s been a month

Probably be another two months given the time of year! And they are Cochins lol

 

[Redhead Rae]

So, Out of 50lbs of apples, we got 12 quarts of organic unsweetened apple sauce. It is so good that my dad, who is a sugar fiend can't even tell it isn't sweetened (except by reducing). My mom and I canned them this evening. We have another 45+ lbs of apples to cook down. We'll be well set for apple sauce.

 

[ronott1]

I've had them before. It's miserable.

Note to all parents, if there is a photo op with hats, skip the hats. When I was 6ish, we went to Dover AFB in Delaware and got on a C-5 and they had crew helmets for us to put on for the picture. My brother and I both go lice. Lucky him, being a boy, my mom just shaved his head. I had to endure the nasty lice treatments. However, as a teen, I discovered a sovereign remedy for head lice. Spray oil and a hair straightener. I went through a phase in high school where I religiously flat ironed my hair. My sisters brought lice home from school. I had a few bites on my neck, but no nits or adults in my hair. I fried them out. My mom then did the same to my sisters, problem solved. No nasty chemicals (except the aerosol spray oil, but I call that a win over the pesticides).

The two oldest daughters went to a school that was like a bee hive. The class rooms all connected from the inside and they kept the coats there.

 

[Chickassan]

Ugh, I got them from my second cousin.. his grandma brought him over knowing he had bugs but didn't tell anybody because she was embarassed. So I got bugs for no good reason at all!

 

[Molpet]

No good fishmeal, alfalfa or soy beans except the same places that have the organic turkey feed.
I was paying $29 / 50 lbs for 28% for organic grain turkey at the feed mill that closed
I am now paying the same for 'prince' 20% chick starter, they don't carry the all flock http://www.prince-corp.com/uploads/2/4/2/9/24292263/organicfeedguide.pdf

The other organic chick starter they carry is $35 for 35lbs and I use 150 lbs a week

I mix in red pepper to keep the mammals out of the feed and let it soak/ferment overnight... so I am mixing in already.... good for the arms LOL

Any info on what else to add would be appreciated
Yes feed is the biggest issue... 3rd time I have had to switch feed places since 2015

Can you get good Fishmeal, alfalfa pellets and cracked whole roasted soy where you are? If so, let me know what brand of chick starter or tell me the ingredients in order and I'll see if I can't sneak a solid modification for you. Actually, Fertrell has just setup their on-line store. Which means you don't need me (still happy to help if you like), but go to their site, select "About Us" / "Contact Us" Put in your info, then tell them that your feedmill closed down and now all you can get is Chick Starter (they'll need the brand or the order of ingredients) and ask them to tell you how much of what products that they sell on-line to add to 25lbs of feed. They may even suggest a smaller quantity of the chick starter so the end result is a 5 gallon pale. A five gallon bucket is roughly 25lbs. I'll warn you in advance that mixing is a pain. I bought a harbor freight cement mixer to do the task. I still want the premier 1 110V hammer mill.

I too now live in a feed desert. The new GM at the co-op has the basic attitude of: They're just birds and birds can eat anything. This whole non-GMO thing is nonsense. And he buys his non-gmo feed (since obviously he has demand) from the same place I do, so I save $5.00 a bag. There's an Amish community 2 hours from me who sell a recipe very similar to mine for between $10.25 - $12.50 for a 50 pound bag. But I have to find a way to transport (aka street/hwy legal trailer) to justify the round trip.

When I got my BBWs, I paid $40 shipping to get a $16.00 bag of feed. I could have saved four bucks in freight, but couldn't convince Anthony to split the bag into 25lbs bags. This spring, I hope to be able to afford to ship a ton from VA. Freight on a pallet, regardless of weight is about $180, I have to drive an hour each way to pick up the contents and can only hold a bout 1400 pounds. But the more bags I can stack on that 4X4 pallet, the better.

Feed has been my number one issue since I started this adventure, and every time I think I've got it figured out, the world comes crumbling down on me and I have to start fresh.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I'm wondering if some of my recent issues were feed related. Glayds still isn't walking. She can move her legs, she doesn't seem to want to. So typed in her symptoms and vitamin deficiencies came up. Started giving her poli-vysol. At this point why not....
I use feather fixer all the time and still get extra calcium on some eggs. They get treats but not as many since I moved and they didn't. Mostly healthy stuff. Fruit is a big one. Bread sometimes. It's not like I give them a loaf per bird.
Just scratching my head....

 

[Redhead Rae]

No good fishmeal, alfalfa or soy beans except the same places that have the organic turkey feed.
I was paying $29 / 50 lbs for 28% for organic grain turkey at the feed mill that closed
I am now paying the same for 'prince' 20% chick starter, they don't carry the all flock http://www.prince-corp.com/uploads/2/4/2/9/24292263/organicfeedguide.pdf
View attachment 1590038
The other organic chick starter they carry is $35 for 35lbs and I use 150 lbs a week

I mix in red pepper to keep the mammals out of the feed and let it soak/ferment overnight... so I am mixing in already.... good for the arms LOL

Any info on what else to add would be appreciated
Yes feed is the biggest issue... 3rd time I have had to switch feed places since 2015

We get our feed from New Country Organics. My mom became a distributor for our region so I get a nice chunk off the retail price if I chip in for gas. My mom has other customers now. I don’t know how NCO would work for you in Illinois. They are located in VA. I know if someone in NC who gets his feed shipped in from them.