Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

lucky you! I used to buy marrow bones for the dog, at about £1 a pop, but they leapt in price since the first covid lockdown, and now are in the region of £6+/kg, if I can find them.

Fish and Chips used to be a poor mans dinner out.

 

[Shadrach]

I will pay my tax with Tassels who I got to hold today (only because she spotted what I had in my hand!).
View attachment 3674615

Lovely picture.

 

[Molpet]

It is in most places if you're looking for fresh, and the pet food industry hoovers up all the trimmings these days so that's not normally an option these days either. But can you really not get tinned sardines? They're 39p here for a tin of three beauties in oil from Morocco (125g tin, 90g drained weight).

I usually have about 70 chickens and 30 turkeys of various ages.
During the nice weather they can get bugs and other protein. They eat 25 to 35 lbs of feed a day, more if lower protein. 40 to 50 lbs if snow covered.
A 40 lb bag of 28% is $24 USD I'm not using this year
A 50 lb bag of 24% turkey is $24
A 50 lb bag of 20% all flock is $17-18 I use Dec to end of February. Usually because the turkey lay better

How many tins would I need?

 

[Shadrach]

Wet and hazy; partly due to the foul weather and partly to my new glasses which are UV sensitive varifocals. I've never had varifocals before. The new glasses tint grey and the weather looked better with the glasses on than it did with them off, more dramatic at least.
No water puddle from Carbon this morning. Still a long way from solid thought. But, from what I saw today she's either got a bit stronger or has learnt to compensate for whatever it is that makes her tip over.
I've got apple cider with mother in the drinking water; she doesn't like it.
I've got rooster booster mix in with the crumble mash. She doesn't like that much either.
She did eat quite a lot of the commercial feed today, mainly because their time on the allotment was very restricted by the rain and wind.
Here's Carbon eating off the ground again one considered peck at a time.
Chuck some of my birddseed style grain mix on the floor and she runs around trying to drive the youngsters off. Carbon likes the seed mix.

One wouldn't know there was anything wrong with her until one saw a scene like this.

The weather people are promising a mainly dry day tomorrow and I'll get better opportunities to watch her.

Out and about when it wasn't raining.

And when it was...

 

[Shadrach]

I usually have about 70 chickens and 30 turkeys of various ages.
During the nice weather they can get bugs and other protein. They eat 25 to 35 lbs of feed a day, more if lower protein. 40 to 50 lbs if snow covered.
A 40 lb bag of 28% is $24 USD I'm not using this year
A 50 lb bag of 24% turkey is $24
A 50 lb bag of 20% all flock is $17-18 I use Dec to end of February. Usually because the turkey lay better

How many tins would I need?

Lots.

 

[fuzzi]

I added some crumbs from an almost empty bag of shredded cheese to chopped up grapes. When I fed it to my chickens they acted as if they'd not been fed in a week!

How about a cheese attack photo?

 

[Shadrach]

I'm deeply unimpressed with any of the commercial feed I've bought. One may not have thought it the case but the feed I bought the tribes in Catalonia was far better quality.
I've tried three makes of chick crumble. I like to feed a mash after the first few days of dry crumble. The feeds I've tried just turn to mush or clump depending on the added water. There doesn't seem to be the soft concrete option I've found chickens prefer.
As one might expect I've been whinging about this to anyone I know who has chickens.
It wasn't untli @Iluveggers (I think) mentioned that I looked harder at growers feed (Thanks) which seems to be a better option all round.
My friend with the Light Sussex chickens feeds this and thinks it's a decent commercial feed. One pound per kilo if you buy 20 kilo and apparently they'll sell in larger quantities. Note the Methionine and Lysine content.

https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.u...s-for-healthy-hens-and-delicious-eggs/layersp

This at 17.55 protein with 0.9% calcium might do for those in the UK looking for an All Flock equivalant.
https://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/s...ed/marriage-organic-growers-pellets-20kg.html

My next complaint is pellet size; they're about twice as big as the allotment chickens prefer. Beakfulls of soft stuff is fine but when it comes to the hard stuff they like small and solid.

I've got some of this on the way which I'm going to ferment and add to.
https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/seed-mixes/the-original-farm-mix-/tofm10
Buy 30 kilos and the price is forty four pounds near enough with free delivery.
That's not bad at today's prices.
I've tried other brands.

Fish meal would make an excellent addition and push the protein level up. The mix above roughly averages out at around 11% to12% protein. Anything added needs to either push the complete protein level up or add more methionine. There are other sources that store well dry. to the point that a basic food dryer might be an option.

I think something like the above may work well especially if meat fish and dairy were included. Improvements do of course push the overall price of the feed up.
I've paid up to twenty eight pounds for 20 kilos of feed when delivery is taken into account and didn't cry about much given it was going to such a good cause.
Say six to eight pounds spent a month on improving the feed. Feeding wet fish and meat or even kefir every day with the feed would push the cost well above thirty pounds a month on a 20 kilo bag.
50% increase in feed costs for a top quality feed that should be healthier is worth it to me.

 

[fuzzi]

Wet and hazy; partly due to the foul weather and partly to my new glasses which are UV sensitive varifocals. I've never had varifocals before. The new glasses tint grey and the weather looked better with the glasses on than it did with them off, more dramatic at least.
No water puddle from Carbon this morning. Still a long way from solid thought. But, from what I saw today she's either got a bit stronger or has learnt to compensate for whatever it is that makes her tip over.
I've got apple cider with mother in the drinking water; she doesn't like it.
I've got rooster booster mix in with the crumble mash. She doesn't like that much either.
She did eat quite a lot of the commercial feed today, mainly because their time on the allotment was very restricted by the rain and wind.
Here's Carbon eating off the ground again one considered peck at a time.
Chuck some of my birddseed style grain mix on the floor and she runs around trying to drive the youngsters off. Carbon likes the seed mix.

View attachment 3674674

One wouldn't know there was anything wrong with her until one saw a scene like this.View attachment 3674668

The weather people are promising a mainly dry day tomorrow and I'll get better opportunities to watch her.

Out and about when it wasn't raining.
View attachment 3674679View attachment 3674678View attachment 3674676View attachment 3674675View attachment 3674670

And when it was...
View attachment 3674669View attachment 3674667

Henry has a tail!!!

 

[Perris]

dairy produce goes off quite quickly

'goes off' = it sours, and separates into curds and whey, both of which chickens like and is good for them, so if it does 'go off' in your fridge, just take the bottle/carton and pour the contents carefully into one or two bowls when you get to the allotments, and problem solved! Mine prefer curds, and whey is also good plant food, so you could use any leftovers on your veg beds

 

[Shadrach]

Henry has a tail!!!

Sort of. About another eight inches to go before I'll call them sickle feathers.