Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Sally Sunshine]

Blarneyeggs was kind enough to send me 13 eggs for my friends classroom to hatch. They get white eggs from 4H but none of the students believed her when she told them eggs come in different sizes and colors. So far 4 of blarneys eggs hatched. 2 were lost due to cracking. The students are in awe! Thank you again! It has been such a wonderful experience for them. Here are a few pic that she sent me. Any guess on the breed?

Quote: My duckies start out penned when they first go outside. The kids trained them to "go to bed" by going out & herding them into the box each night at 3-5 weeks old. They got so good that all the kids had to do was walk into the pen any time after about 5pm & the ducks would just head for the box. Now all we have to do is walk toward them & say "bedtime" & they head for their coop & into the shed to be locked up for the night. My 6 anconas & 2 buff geese are the only waterfowl I have free ranged & they stick pretty close to the pen & house. My broilers also free range, but they won't go where they can't see the feed bowls...lol The only time they go where they can't see their bowls is when they sneak in the garage to clean up any fod that got spilled near the fermenting buckets or to follow whoever picks up their bowls to fill them. Nothing like having 19 fat butts waddle after you with their wings out for balance because they are afraid they will miss a bite of food...lol
so they are anit kid ha ha ha, thats what we did with our ancona, we had the kids go with us to herd them in, but again not very friendly, they would come about two feet to me if I had peas or something thats it lol

can they be overfed or not?

 

[chiques chicks]

What breed is sensitive to the protein? I like to keep it high for my Orps, and had to get some really high feed for the turkeys. I'm also curious as to what breed of duck your neighbor has follow her, is it Pekin? I think the original duck question that spawned the recent duck discussion was 'what is a good breed to have', and not that I get a vote, but if I did, it would be Pekin.

LMP, yes, you read that right, my main Cock is a Black Copper Marans, he covers my Marans, Eaaster Eggers, Olive Eggers, and any misfits that come along. I've got some pretty Blue Laced Red Wyandottes but no rooster, so they are in the main coop being covered by the Marans until I grow out a cockerel.

Swedish flower hens. They seem to have issues with medicated feed and require higher protein, especially when young.

Neighbors ducks are Rouen (sp?), buff, and Welsh Harlequin. Of course she mothered them all a lot, so they attached to her ducklings. There is one trouble causer in the group, but he eventually behaves. Just like kids.

 

[wingstone]

I know nothing about the Swedish flower hens but what I do have and especially anything for meat,,, experience has me staying away from high protein feed...

My quail do not seem to lay as well on high protein and tend to be tougher meat in the end....I also had a couple of broad breasted turkey that did not do well on high protein.


I will crawl under my rock now and take my coffee with me since the normal folks tend o go for high protein, not sure why.

 

[dheltzel]

I know nothing about the Swedish flower hens but what I do have and especially anything for meat,,, experience has me staying away from high protein feed...

My quail do not seem to lay as well on high protein and tend to be tougher meat in the end....I also had a couple of broad breasted turkey that did not do well on high protein.


I will crawl under my rock now and take my coffee with me since the normal folks tend o go for high protein, not sure why.

I, for one, appreciate the people here who are not "normal". I think you have a very good point and it shows that hard and fast rules are not all that. Watching and adjusting husbandry practices is smart and practical. Someone with no idea what they are doing should stick to "the rules" until they gain the experience needed to understand when the rules can (or should) be broken.

 

[wingstone]

Dheltzel you are onto one of the reasons that I feed differently, when I started to experiment with feeds, my way of thinking was that most of the research that went into the studies had been done on poultry house birds, these do not compare equally so how can I take those studies as fact....

I am not saying that free range is better, in some cases it is not, our chickens are exposed to far more dangers and disieses than any poultry house bird would be, these are the trade offs for space and fresh air.......

 

[wingstone]

Feeding poultry can be a sensitive subject, but now curiosity has peaked so who feeds what and why,,, can you also give a description of living arrangements for these birds.....I believe that should also play into the feed.

Mine are all in large pens and have grass available e/cept in winter.....also attempting to get a fodder system together instead of the aquaponics, but time has not been on my side lately..

I also feed a 15% protein feed (unmedicated) ..this feed is supplemented with wheat and barley,,,spring to fall is fermented, winter time is dry....corn is held as a treat with the mealworms.

 

[Katt66]

Interesting topic. I shall chime in and give my 2 cents. Then wander off with my cup of Earl Grey and see what that silly roo is crowing about now. ^_^


My chickens have an enclosed run where I feed them just plain old Dumor Layer crumbles. I do ferment it overnight but that's all I do differently with it. No supplements or extras. My birds do, however, free range from sun up till they put themselves to bed around sundown. They are all six months to a year old.

 

[dheltzel]

I get feed delivered from Brown's in Birdsboro. Since they deliver cattle feed to the farm, there is no additional cost to deliver the poultry feed. It's so nice to just have it show up, stacked against the wall in the barn. They have a 16% layer crumble and an 18% gamebird breeder pellet. The pellet is low calcium, so I make sure any layers that get that also have free-choice oyster shell. I also get a medicated chick starter crumble from them, and feed that as long as I can, then switch them to pellets. Older layers get the layer crumbles because they are used to that. I give cracked corn as a treat, as well as a cheap layer mash from a different supplier (which gets bought sometimes without my input, so I'm really just using it slowly so it's not a complete waste). The chickens won't eat mash until you add water, then they think it's a treat and go nuts over it. I don't have time to ferment feed, but the mash would be perfect for that, much cheaper too.

 

[fisherlady]

Coop is 12x12 with sand floor, run is 700 sq ft, +/- a few feet and is about half under a carport style roof, fine gravel as base in run. Birds are out to free range anywhere from 4-10 hours a day, depending on my work schedule. When out they have both yard type range and rocky hillside (bug central), a few pine tree areas (dusting heaven) and woods, power line with random piles of brush and logs.

We use unmedicated, at all ages...
Broody hens and chicks get chick starter for about 2 or 3 weeks, then the broody moves them into the main coop and we put flock raiser (20%) in till chicks are abou12 weeks, then everyone is on layer crumbles (16%)

We have feeders of regular layer in the coop at all times, but it is set high enough on wall the chicks can't access it till they get older, the one we fill with flock raiser is mounted much lower and is the one the broodies and babies use 80%+ of the time.

There is free access to both grit and calcium at all times.

Scratch is usually a combination of our usual feed mill scratch (Corn, wheat and barley mix) mixed half and half with the mills wild bird seed (corn, sunflower seeds and millet)... I figured it out once and it would work out to about 12% +/- protein.

It has worked well for us.. ..though this year I don't think we've been able to do away with the flock raiser since last December, since we have had broodies and babies since mid winter on....

 

[chiques chicks]

Nothing medicated.
Young everything- high 20-24 protein, no calcium. Some fermented layer with scratch.

Laying birds- fermented layer and scratch, about 3:1. Free choice dry layer. Sometimes throw in whatever is on hand.

Open runs, they killed the grass, grass clippings, leftover most anything, weeds from garden. Dead mice (from traps),idc, I toss stuff in, they can eat it or not.

Going to try lower protein for quail.
And I got my first quail egg! The male must have done the trick!