Okies in the BYC The Original

[artsyrobin]

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I hate it, with a passion. Chickens aren't vegetarians. They need animal protiens too. It disgusts me to see stuff like soybean meal, or cottonseed meal, or whatever else kind of plant they try and up the protien levels with, added into the feed. And they advertise it that way! "no animal by-products"

Even the top show breeders will tell you that chickens need some source of animal protien!

Thanks! I do my best for them. About once a week or so I'll give them some high protein dog food (small bites) mixed in with their regular feed, or some catfish food, or cat food, which ever I have around at the time. I also propagate meal worms, and have given meat scraps from time to time. Then of course, they devour any bugs that stray into their pens.

i know mine like dog food too, as do the wild birds, i remember back in my high school days folks trying to feed their dogs pure vegetarian diets...sheesh!

 

[nnbreeder]

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I have thought about raising mice or rats and feeding the babies to them.

Teva raises feeder rats but at 7 dollars each she won't feed them to the birds. About once a week I will tip up the dog houses in the pens and there are usually pinkies (baby mice) under there and the birds just go nuts over them.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

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I have thought about raising mice or rats and feeding the babies to them.

Teva raises feeder rats but at 7 dollars each she won't feed them to the birds. About once a week I will tip up the dog houses in the pens and there are usually pinkies (baby mice) under there and the birds just go nuts over them.

Cooool!

I think the cats and free ranging chickens have made mice and rats extinct around my place.

 

[artsyrobin]

my guys love meat scraps, one time hubby was tossing them some leftovers on his plate and the porkchop went too! should have seen the scrambling! they were on it fast- and i've seen them grab a frog and race all over the property with it!

 

[Slightly Cracked]

Ok there is nothing good on TV!! And the commercials on the Super Bowl is not all that great.

I just had a DUH, what was I thinking moment. I picked up the doe I got from P&B to show a friend, mind you this a a full grown Flemish Giant 15+ pounds of rabbit. I was holding her close, so she would feel secure an I wouldn't drop her. And she BIT me 3 times real fast like. It took a moment to realize what happened!!

Boy am I going to catch all kinds of heck at work, who is going to believe I was bit by a rabbit. John is already giving me grief!!

 

[okcarla]

We've been supplementing the feed to our chickens, turkeys, peacocks and guineas a dogfood that we buy at Crest's Grocery. Highpoint dogfood, made by Shawnee Mills is a nice small pellet and the birds could maybe eat it dry, but we always put it in a bucket and wet it down.

When Gerald & I made a trip to Missouri about a month ago, we bought feed in Aurora, Missouri & bought some MFA brand feed. They still add meat & bone meal to their feed. Also, the price of the feed is less than what we usually pay for feed. It was somewhere around $13-14 per hundred weight of feed for layer crumbles and pellets ... and it comes in 50 lb. bags. Oh, and their chick starter has 20% protein, which is higher protein than the chick starter I buy in Tuttle.

I think we need to make more trips to Missouri & make sure we save lots of room in the truck or take a trailer & buy some more feed. The birds loved it. Here's their website: www.mfa-inc.com

 

[artsyrobin]

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mine aren't crazy about crimped oats- got some thinking they were rolled oats, tried to make oatmeal for them, they really weren't crazy about it...

And she BIT me 3 times real fast like. It took a moment to realize what happened!!

ouch!! and rodents can really nail ya! have had experience there! put some neosporin on it​

 

[artsyrobin]

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i need to go look at the feed i got today, purina layena, has lots of calcium, more than the others i've found- it was $11 for 50 pounds. Gonna check the site you posted

 

[okcarla]

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I have thought about raising mice or rats and feeding the babies to them.

Teva raises feeder rats but at 7 dollars each she won't feed them to the birds. About once a week I will tip up the dog houses in the pens and there are usually pinkies (baby mice) under there and the birds just go nuts over them.

We do the same thing with the dog (chicken) houses & there's always mice & their babies under them. I need more cats! Our cats are now too fat & lazy to eat the mice. We feed them too well, I guess. We have a maltese mix dog that loves to kill the mice, then we collect them & throw the dead mice to the chickens & guineas. Most of the time the birds are too slow to catch the mice when they're alive, but they'll grab the dead ones and run around & brag & then get chased by the other birds til one lucky bird steals & eats it.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

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Bunnicula!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnicula