***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[jcatblum]

 You can always purchase some pellets & mix it with the crumble & see if they are ready for it. Or they sell layer in crumble as well. I don't really keep bantam size birds so not sure about feeding them pellets.

When they are dumping feed you can try to raise the feeder up higher or I take their feeder away until they clean up their mess. When they are hungry they can clean up the wasted food very fast.

 

[miohippus]

Awesome! Here's a wish for many, many more : )

Soon you may have so many eggs that you'll start making videos like this one, sent by my brother.

Here's the URL where the video is. It's called "Talking Fried Egg." http://gifb.in/LFBV

Here's the link. I couldn't get it to work from here.

<a href="http://www.gifbin.com/985682"><img src="http://gifs.gifbin.com/082011/1314011768_talking_fried_egg.gif" alt="funny gifs" /></a>

Edited to add: I left off the end tag. Now it's working.

lol, that is funny thanks i hope i get a lot more i bought 23 strait run chicks in Oct to go with my two hens it looks like i may have 9 more hens but not 100 percent sure. lol

 

[Kassaundra]

I am getting some mixed responses for this one so I thought you guys could chime in and help me decide. When is a good time to stop feeding your chicks crumbles? Some say never and some say when they are feathered. Just recently they started dumping their feeder. They are still inside in a rabbit hutch. I do let them out when we have a nice day.

That depends on how old they are, how much protection they have where you are going to let them out, and what preditors you have in the area. I used to let my chicks out thinking I didn't have a preditor problem and I don't for ADULT chickens, but boy did I for chicks (neighborhood cats, and hawks) now I have a covered fenced area especially for the chicks.

 

[NanaKat]

Good Sunday morning Okies! There is dampness on the ground .

Hubby showed me a few Craigslist ads showing Rhodebar breeding pairs in Tulsa for $200. Looks like a Crele Rhode Island / Barred Rock.
Is this what your chicks will look like Christina? Good luck at the lung doctor this week. Hope you get a clearance for more activity....just don't overdo in that garden!

I'm going to move eggs to the hatcher this week...going to separate each pen in the hatcher by using net bags slipped over a plastic basket....so I can toe punch each pen. The few bantie eggs can go in with one pen on the hatcher wire bottom. I think it is Al that posted the idea on the OLd Timer's thread a while back.

Dauflin...Welcome! Yes Kass is right. Predators love those young chicks. If you have a covered pen you can leave them to exercise and scratch. I let my broodie hens take their chicks out when they choose to do so. For brooder chicks, I put them out when fully feathered...could be as early as three weeks.
To prep all chicks I put a tray of garden soil collected where the hens like to dust bathe. In the brooder thigh three day old chicks. It helps inoculate them against the coccidiosis strains they will encounter. I feed medicated crumbles until they are at point of lay...but I begin mixing the crumbles with pellets at 3 months. I use hanging feeders so they can't scratch it out.

 

[artsyrobin]

You can always purchase some pellets & mix it with the crumble & see if they are ready for it. Or they sell layer in crumble as well. I don't really keep bantam size birds so not sure about feeding them pellets.

When they are dumping feed you can try to raise the feeder up higher or I take their feeder away until they clean up their mess. When they are hungry they can clean up the wasted food very fast.

what i do is put their feed in a tub, like you wash dishes in, they can hop in without dumping it- i keep them on starter until the point of lay, then switch to layer feed

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Nana can post some pics of your toe notching when you do it? I don't think I have ever seen that and just can't get it in my mind how it looks on tiny chik feet!lol. I guess the Rhodebars are the new"must have" breed for the new year. I have have seen a lot of talk about them. Just don't seem to have any draw to me,I'm happy I am just now getting a chance to get a few coronation chicks!
Rainy day here today,had planned to go to the old house and do some spiffying up this morning so the realtor could do an open house this afternoon,got half way there and had to turn around so wife could go in to work. She hasn't had a full weekend since Thanksgiving! I told her I would be fireing a bunch of lazy workers if it was me!
Good luck on the hatch this week Nana. Have you got a bunch more calves yet?

 

[NanaKat]

Hi Okla doodle. Sure I'll post some pictures. Found a neat toe puncher that works like a fingernail clipper. And just the one calf so far this year. There are several momma cows on the watch list. Because of the drought, we put the cows in with bulls on pastures earlier than in years past so we could have a bunch of calves by the middle of February. Sure hope you get that house sold.

 

[jcatblum]

Nana the rhodebars you saw on CL are the same as the new chicks I have. When I saw the listing a wk or so ago I thought it was Joes, but I may be wrong. I love my RIR so when greenfire first announced the rhodebars I instantly fell in love. However, I waited a few months after they began shipping them for the price to go down.
Don't worry about me over doing it in the garden, I have lots of free labor that sleeps here. This yr I will be the garden educator only.
I tried toe punching on one hatch & didn't like it. Imagine if DH would have been home if would have went over better, but with 2 kids thinking I was going cause great harm to their precious birds it was a rough experience. Think our toe punch came from smiths poultry.
The wind today is brutal!!! The family is out stretching fence for the new duck pen - the dogs & goats appeared to be helping. We didn't need a new duck pen, but Taron wanted more room for guineas. Fat ducks that can't fly can live in a chainlink pen. Found 75ft of chainlik link with hardware & gate for $40 on CL. That was all the materials needed to ajoin it to the goat pen. Sometimes I love Craigslist.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Had some bantam Speckled Sussex chicks hatch! YAY ME!

Anyway, apparently there is an ice storm supposed to hit tomorrow morning? Joyousness....I thought I got away from that?

 

[dauflin]

I have a coop and small run that are covered good for maybe 2-4 chickens. I am in the process of making a larger run with pallets and chicken wire. I have cats myself so I know how crazy they can get.