Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[okallthis4eggs]

I have Internet!!!!!
I recommend everyone getting pet insurance. I was raised that you put an animal down for serious problems. Fix a broken leg, but that is about it. Well... 2 years ago I had a bill for $4,500 for my dog that didn't make it. He passed on Thanksgiving morning. Anyway, DH and I said any new animal would have insurance. Go figure. Now all animals from (our) SPCA come with it. It is $20/month, and if SOMEONE would send in the forms (

Husband that is not so dear) it would have paid for itself this past summer. Yes, it would have covered the vet visit and surgery.
No eggs today.
Now that I have internet, I can research more on FF and new pullets laying. BTW, the dog (who is so picky he rarely likes broth on his food) LOVED his FF today. So much that he thanked me by pooping on the floor as soon as he was done.

That was the good part of my day, Hope tomorrow is much better.

LOL....do you think the dog is trying to tell you what his opinion of FF is or does he just think that his poop don't stink?

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Speaking of pet insurance I have a question. Do I need to have auto insurance on Roger if she is pulling Santa's sled ? How does that work? Will it cover chicken poop clogged chimneys if somebody forgets to leave scratch on the rooftop?

 

[cheeka]

OK... she'd be eligible for SHIP (Santa's Health Ins Plan) and poop clogged chimneys would be covered under the Santa Clause.

W4W ~ poor Belle. in the meantime, maybe she would benefit from stabilizing with an ace wrap and a heat patch that you can pick up at the Rx. you can alternate with ice too... pet insurance is a great product. I have too many pets to cover them all, but do have Ruby covered. Schoharie County is a farming and rural area, and has lots of families living at or below the poverty line, we are very fortunate to have a few choices of Vets for services... all of them set up shop here knowing that the majority of folks are unable to pay big $$ for pet care, so the fees are surprisingly low, more than reasonable in my book...
Congrats on the egg count! I got 5 yesterday myself, 1 early in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and the last 1 around dusk.

MC ~ welcome back! I'd go berserk w/o BYC... lol, hope you get eggs today, and also hoping the doggy holds his poop long enough to do his business outside!

jchny ~ so glad you are getting a variety of eggs, they'll balance out and get laying regularly soon! the FF is really been fun to experiment with, and the gang loves it! I have been adding more water as the absorption rate is astounding! I get great bubbling, and the slop in the bottom bucket has a really nice color, like caramel...

chicks are doing really well! I fell asleep at 8 last night, woke at 6 this morning... spent the last hour and a half playing with them... off to work soon!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

This is a good thread, my only regular one...I bounce to game birds and check the forum for anything interesting, that's about it! I've noticed an interesting thing, my eggs from the game would be a small grade...but the yolks are the same size as the layer hens, I cant tell them apart when cracked in the bowl. Another thing noticed with ff, I don't get any gas from eating sunny side up...the dogs don't either when I give them extras....maybe its my imagination...but you will really notice three mastifs lying around with gas. Lots to do today..I hope everyone has a good time. Santa has a great policy, no copay, no limits, no worries.

 

[BullChick]

Quote:
LOL....do you think the dog is trying to tell you what his opinion of FF is or does he just think that his poop don't stink?

If he would stop eating the fermented chicken feed, I would think he didn't like it. As it is, I am only doing his food because I cannot keep him out of the chicken bucket. Seriously, I think when I was coming in the house, he was more into sneaking out to eat the chicken feed, and then I called him in, fed him, and he
pooped. So it was my fault for not taking him all the way outside (the FF is in a sun room) when I came back in the house.
So now that I am back online, I am going to re-ask my questions. I am not comfortable with the answers I am getting because so many ppl have different ideas. Forgive me if I am annoying you.
1, I have seen "keep water level six inches above", "keep water level 2 inches above" and many pics of the feed just wet, but no water on top. Which is it?
2, Should the dog's FF have bubbles too? All I smell is his food, and it doesn't foam like the chicken feed. Well, not quite foam, but you get my point.
3, The chickens (BR, RIR, Red Star, Partridge Rock, JG and Ameraucana) are all 21 weeks (24 for the Ameraucana). I really thought I would have eggs by now. I swore a BR laid a few weeks ago, but nothing since. Just the Columbian Rock (who laid at 16 weeks). I know about adding light, but if Penny is laying without it, shouldn't they?
4, Using a bucket in a bucket to drain the FF is not working for me. Could the holes be too small? That doesn't sound right, but I am stumped. Then again, maybe it is because I don't have a water level come feeding time. Maybe there just isn't anything to drain.
I really think I need to just go to a 5 gallon bucket, and strain with a strainer.
Oh! One woman said to add ACV every 3-4 days. But she was the only one I saw say it. What do you guys/gals do?

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Quote:

LOL....do you think the dog is trying to tell you what his opinion of FF is or does he just think that his poop don't stink?

If he would stop eating the fermented chicken feed, I would think he didn't like it. As it is, I am only doing his food because I cannot keep him out of the chicken bucket. Seriously, I think when I was coming in the house, he was more into sneaking out to eat the chicken feed, and then I called him in, fed him, and he
pooped. So it was my fault for not taking him all the way outside (the FF is in a sun room) when I came back in the house.
So now that I am back online, I am going to re-ask my questions. I am not comfortable with the answers I am getting because so many ppl have different ideas. Forgive me if I am annoying you.
1, I have seen "keep water level six inches above", "keep water level 2 inches above" and many pics of the feed just wet, but no water on top. Which is it?
2, Should the dog's FF have bubbles too? All I smell is his food, and it doesn't foam like the chicken feed. Well, not quite foam, but you get my point.
3, The chickens (BR, RIR, Red Star, Partridge Rock, JG and Ameraucana) are all 21 weeks (24 for the Ameraucana). I really thought I would have eggs by now. I swore a BR laid a few weeks ago, but nothing since. Just the Columbian Rock (who laid at 16 weeks). I know about adding light, but if Penny is laying without it, shouldn't they?
4, Using a bucket in a bucket to drain the FF is not working for me. Could the holes be too small? That doesn't sound right, but I am stumped. Then again, maybe it is because I don't have a water level come feeding time. Maybe there just isn't anything to drain.
I really think I need to just go to a 5 gallon bucket, and strain with a strainer.
Oh! One woman said to add ACV every 3-4 days. But she was the only one I saw say it. What do you guys/gals do?

I know nothing about FF. Sorry Question #3 regarding light. You get the same amount of daylight as everybody else here does. I had one day this week when all eight of my hens laid a egg. I average 5-6 eggs a day still from eight hens. I see no need to add light. I would give them more time.............. and PIE.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

To start, I ferment grains (not crumbles which you can still do) I add a few gulgs of mother vinegar into the bucket of water....roughly translate to say a forth cup to a gallon. It takes time to get a good ferment going. Temp has much to do...room temp or warmer. It doesn't matter how much water is there, as long as the feed is completely covered. The fermentation takes place anerobically, without oxygen...the feed will adsorb water and swell. If it swells and protrudes above the water level,the top layer will start to decay. The trick is finding the balance so you do have water left over...that water and vinegar is the culture you keep going by adding more feed and more water. I use two buckets because it seems that more time is needed to ferment whole grains. I find grains less messy, and easy for the chickens to find. The mix will begin to bubble, if it bubbles furiously, producing foam, that is a hot strong mix, just stir the foam in. The longer you keep a batch going, the stronger it will get. Smell it, should smell like pickles. Taste it. Should taste fresh. I think most layer mash is ground corn for the base? I do use it to keep some food available in the coop...but I also add dog food, barley, and oats and wheat when they have it. Hope this helps some.

 

[cheeka]

I'm just learning about ff too... and while I had good absorption, still had plenty of water at the middle half down to the bottom of the bucket and plenty in the bottom bucket. i've started adding more water to the top, but when it's done, and stirred, it's so like fresh mortar and it's easier to scoop the top off before adding more water and feed... it's smellin' good to me ~ exactly like fresh pickled feed, I haven't tasted it because it's got gluten in it. if i start doing specific grains that I too, am allowed to eat... then I'll taste it. but I only add enough water to cover it. get lots of bubbles before absorption really takes hold. I used about 1/4 cup of ACV, using 2 - 2 gallon buckets, will get larger buckets when the chicks are eating the same feed.

2 eggs so far today...... and a little free range time to boot. they took themselves back to the enclosure after about 2 hours, presumably so the others can get to layin'!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Same here ACW, about this thread. I look at others, but if short on time, this is the one I choose to check in on and post. Usually good for a laugh or two.

And there's always a poem fermenting in the back of my mind.

Speaking of fermenting, we used to brew our own beer and it was a very interesting process. Never came out quite the same every time. So I guess with the FF you just have to experiment a bit and see what works best for you.
**** In the interest of full disclosure, the "we" I employed in the first sentence is more of a "royal we" where hubby did the majority of the work and I was kind of an observer/assistant. I find myself using the "royal we" more often now; harder to separate my and our experiences as time goes by.

I ended up with 7 again yesterday.

Still waiting for the perfect egg day. Now waiting very impatiently for my younger 2 Ameraucanas to start laying. Blue eggs!! ACW, I'm sure some of the chickens we had when I was a kid were games, and the eggs were definitely smaller than what my leghorn and sexlink produce, but I do remember those yolks being very large compared the the egg size. Cut a hard-boiled one in half, and the ring of white was tiny compared to the gianormous yolk. The first time I saw store bought eggs, I thought there was something wrong with those tiny pale yellow yolks. Scrambled some eggs for the boys last night (breakfast for dinner!) and it looked like a bowl of mustard or something- a beautiful, intense rich color. It's all the greens that have sprung up since the rains! Yay!

Will give a Belle update later. New info to share and I'm much calmer and not ready to burst into tears now. Going out to set up some temporary fencing before #1son takes off for the day. Got to take advantage of that strong, young back!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Soooo, the story with Belle is a ruptured ACL (ligament in back leg knee). Just about keeled over when I saw the bill for the diagnosis, and the surgery the vet was describing sounded astronomical, so I was fairly distressed yesterday. I don't believe in putting an animal through extensive treatments and taking heroic measures on their behalf. You get them knowing that you will most likely outlive them, and their death is something you will inevitably have to face, and even shorten. I have been through putting an animal down more times than I care to remember, and many of them were not even my pets, but I was there to support my mom or sis with their dogs. I was even the one my parents chose to make their health care decisions (should it be necessary) because I was voted "most likely to pull the plug."

That being said, I turn into a blubbering sack of mush over the loss of anyone (person or pet) and hate making the decision unless I am sure it is the right time.

I wish we had the more practical kind of vets around here. Everything is about the latest ($$$$) treatment and most advanced procedures ($$$$). I became highly suspicious when the vet wanted to do a root canal on Belle's dead tooth! "Oh, we don't just pull them any more." Sheesh! Three years later the untreated dead tooth is still in her mouth and not causing any problems, and she's had it for over 7 years (I remember when it got injured). I should have been more skeptical of his surgery-is-the-only-option opinion for her knee. Going to start looking looking for a different vet.

Anyhoo, I am following my instincts and am going to try letting Belle's leg heal on its own. Found some good info about how to do this by carefully restricting activity, and then building the strength back slowly. Same thing my hubby did for his torn PCL. It's a slow process and the result is about the same as doing the surgery (!), but no guarantees. Good thing it's wintertime when she's naturally less active. We'll give it a try, and if there's no improvement, then we will have reconsider our options.

So for the time being, Belle's skunk chasing days are over. Oh, her new nicknames are Tripoddog and Gimpy.