The high calcium content for roosters is an issue; it's just not an issue that gets much attention on this site because it's primarily for people who just keep a few hens. Chicken Canoe here on BYC has some interesting links on the subject.I always wondered if the standard chicken feed (for laying hybrids) would be a problem for heritage breeds and roosters.
Some say it’s the best you can give to all chickens who lay eggs.
Some say it’s better to give all flock (but they don’t sell that in the Netherlands) , Some say there’s too much calcium in layer feed , especially for the roosters. I believe there is possibly too much calcium in layer feed for my old Dutch too. Who lay approx 2 eggs a week for a period of 8 months a year.
Maybe its not so very important to balance the feed to perfection as many of us think. Especially not when they can free range too.
I give my flock about 30-40% scratch, 40-50% layer, and 10-20% veggie’s, bread, cheese and other leftovers. Besides they eat grasses , herbs and insects if they free range.
During the best forage seasons the chickens in Catalonia ate a very small amount of commercial feed. I used to get the piss taken at the chicken club for feeding them any commercial feed at all.
I miss chicken club anecdotes! They knew their stuff and were very down to earth about it
I keep in touch with a couple of them; the guy who had Fayoumies and one of the game fowl keepers.
I've read in a couple of studies that some natural light is important for proper chick developement whilst in the egg. Maybe the cave provides it.
Well the"cave" is a corner of the coop (I mentioned it's a vaulted basement) where Chipie dug a hole to bury herself to lay. So no, she doesn't get sunlight except for the 30 minutes she comes out.
I tend to see things very similarly and think of Théo as an awkward 14 years old boy! I know that's anthropomorphic but sometimes he has such expressions, I can see him wondering "should I jump on this hen, or would tidbitting be a better tactic" ?Poor Théo is probably trying to figure out why they don't want to roost with him when he's doing such a good job chasing them and pecking their necks. Often it seems like roosters have as hard a time figuring out their own behavior as we do. Maybe because we house chickens so differently than what their instincts are tuned for
I think Shadrach posted somewhere on this thread about roosters finding their groove at 18 months, which was accurate with Stilton, who's 2. As a young cockerel, he could be over-the-top, sometimes taking a running start to tackle the hens, sometimes ending up facing the wrong direction when he treadIf I was nearby, I'd pick him off the hen and tell him he was rude, then further deflate his ego with a quick health check up.
That tactic wouldn't work with every rooster, but Stilton absorbed the feedback. Between that and time to mature, he slowly learned to read the room. These days, it's so fun to watch the hens chase him instead of the other way around.
Great question about how he sees me. It's one I ask daily! I try not to act like one of the flock since I don't want him herding me or fighting me for control. Especially because he's affectionate. It would be less confusing if he were aloof, like our year-old roosters (Stilton was aloof at their age, so there's hope those guys will eventually want to hang out with me more, too). There must be some gray area chickens have carved out for their humans, because he doesn't treat me like a hen or other rooster as far as I can tell.
. And he protects brooding Chipie when the other hens approach her nest. And he's beginning to make an impression on Nougat, the hen that most detested him from the start, by giving her over and over worms.
I am also interested to hear how you work this out. I'm not happy with the commercial feed we are getting. We tried conventional instead of organics because they changed the composition of what we were using. The conventional feed my partner bought is basically just corn and soy in different forms, half the soy is GMO, which in France means it comes from Brazil, so basically everything I'm trying to avoid.
I don't think it needs to be sunlight on the chicks developing in the eggs, just some light so their eye development proceeds as normal, and when she gets off, they get that unless it's really dark at the back of the basement. If it's any consolation, I've not had any issues and none of my nest boxes get much light - except very briefly when I lift the lid while broody's off to have a quick look and check all's well in there. I imagine a flashlight would substitute nicely if you're really concerned about the darkness.
Obviously this first try at hatching is not done in the optimal conditions. We'll see how it goes and if it doesn't work out, she and we will learn for next time, hopefully.
Thanks for the explanation. It should be alright then, there is enough light to see for at least 10 hours in the day in the coop. Since she is buried that would be less, but I don't think she needs an artificial light.
