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Sally Sunshine said:
I was just reading on that yesterday.... Cadmium is the killer I think ???
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That sounds correct. It is better to use fishmeal--Orgainic if you can find it.
 
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hmm i didnt know that about the heavy metal potential in that feed...

i get it at TSC i wanted because my birds never have access to a non-veg protein source, and i didnt want to do dog food, id want a good brand with high protein, and well, not worth the cost lol... but the % is 35 so i only add a splash of the brown... well it looks like what you imagine lol... it started off smelling putrid, but once i kept mixing and the fermention took hold, it has an almost neutral smell... but i started doing everything seperate, corn and whole grains in one bucket, fish plop in another, BOSS in its own, and the alfalfa gets its own also... i feel like i have more control of what im feeding, and if i want to give em more whole grain, i can add already fermented stuff, usually i would have to add dry to it if i needed it thicker or something... the smell it completely different now that everything is seperate, it used to smell like vinegar, now its more neutral, idk, everything is bubbly and in deep ferment... its easier also to have a longer ferment going if i need to add more to something i can just toss it in a little at a time right after i take what i need, and its gets a full 24 hrs and is about 2% of the whole so i feel like i get a good percentage of heavily fermented feed... and for those curious, i dont get mold... not on anything... not even the scooper :p
 
i was originally looking for fish meal... i dont know where i could find it... once i start fishing again ill be grinding my own... ive been thinking about grinding frozen chicken innards and throwing that in... but raw meat in this? im not sure thats safe im going to start keeping eggshells again too but those will go into their dust baths all ground up, not into the feed, i prefer to let them supplement themselves with that stuff.. once they can freerange my feed is going to simplify a LOT but these poor birds havent had access to grass in quite some time, some of them have never.... and im trying to mix bag grain that i can grow myself, its just practice right now :P ill be growing all sorts of stuff that ill preserve then ferment for winter.....
 
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5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!
 
7 chickens resting in the freezer now. I skinned these and got it done in 2 hours, from start to finish.
 
jajeanpierre said:
Quote: Well, they were happy for almost 5 months. Now, they will make my family happy by feeding us.

Tomtommom said:
I wish the skin wasn't so darn tasty when crispy. The plucking is the most time consuming of all things involved.
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I usually pluck, but I wanted to try skinning. There's definitely a technique for it, the first one was a pain, until I figured it out. Then it went quick. It usually takes forever when I pluck welsummers, their black pin feathers are hard to get out.

Now when my meaties are ready, then they will be plucked.

I'm very proud of my 14 year old son, who stepped up to the plate and killed one this morning. (with some help holding the bird from DH) He did a very good job too, instant and no sound. We wanted him to learn this while he's young, it's so much harder to do as an adult when you aren't accustomed to killing your own food.
Click to expand...
 
It seems I ALWAYS end up with black feathered roosters... their feathers leave those little black spots behind. Last one was so slow to fully feather, at 17 weeks he still had pinfeathers (his brother still had pins at 20 weeks). Took me forever to get him plucked.

I hope my kids will grow up thinking it's normal to kill for food. My step-son fishes with his step-dad and he's heard all about them hunting for venison. He knows we eat excess roosters... Eventually I want a tractor with rabbits (I love rabbit meat).. gonna be an issue with the step-son, he loves rabbits.. in the cuddly sense. My two year old is special needs (undiagnosed, as of yet, but he's developmentally very behind), he has no clue.. he likes walking around in the coop though, ignores the chickens, he just likes being in the coop
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We're expecting a daughter in April, having chickens from day one may make it easier on her.. since she wont know any different.
 

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