Show Off Your American Gamefowl and Chat Thread!!!

[Lauravonsmurf]

I am going to cook some eggs and put out tomorrow AM for them so it is fresh... right now I got Scratch and Layer feed as their base food, that is why I was ****** when work had me do lunch at 8:30 AM and then right back till basically all feedstores closed. I am really just eyeballing it I added about 1/2 cup black sunflower to a cup of 50/50 layer/scratch and then added the spices and seaweed. I have got to supplement with what is in the fridge or yard till I can get enough of a break to drive to the darn feedstore. They are also getting fresh veggies, any bugs or worms on the 1/4 acre they catch but I agree I need to up the protein level, and good protein.

What feed are you diluting with the other ingredients and at what proportion. You may be making a vegan out of a bird sorely in need of quality protein to drive skin and feather repair.

 

[centrarchid]

I am going to cook some eggs and put out tomorrow AM for them so it is fresh... right now I got Scratch and Layer feed as their base food, that is why I was ****** when work had me do lunch at 8:30 AM and then right back till basically all feedstores closed. I am really just eyeballing it I added about 1/2 cup black sunflower to a cup of 50/50 layer/scratch and then added the spices and seaweed.  I have got to supplement with what is in the fridge or yard till I can get enough of a break to drive to the darn feedstore. They are also getting fresh veggies, any bugs or worms on the 1/4 acre they catch but I agree I need to up the protein level, and good protein. 

You protein levels based on what I have are too low and may even be contributing to the problem you are dealing with. Your backyard does not produce enough protein for a single chicken, It would be adequate for something like an iguana.


You are in a hippie zone where resources available might be better than you think. Check your local fish monger for fish past the optimum date and take it home and freeze it after breaking it up into little handfuls. Remove one handful each day an cook it, bones and all, then mix it into the gourmet mix with the other weird stuff to bring protein levels up where they need to be. When I have been playing around with such I used Rainbow Smelt, meal worms. BOSS, oats, shell corn, milo, chick grower, dark leafy greens, old blueberries, freeze-dried krill, and a topping of olive oil. Picture below of a similar mix. The stuff below was part of effort to fight Mareks but also proved fun enabling a given bird to show me what ratios of ingredients they preferred. Given the chance and allowed to get past point where they each favorite parts first, the birds will consume a balanced diet and start leaving what is in excess. The excess ingedient is cut back each time until nothing left over at end of the day or there is always a little of everything. This worked only for singly penned birds. They eat a lot more greens than you would expect but are really partial to animal protein.



Fed in a manner I am no longer allowed to used. No chickens allowed in garage. Both had Mareks with stag well into process of pseudo recovery.

Diet is actually pretty good for use in the conditioning pen when you are trying to manage weight very tightly.

 

[B123]

You protein levels based on what I have are too low and may even be contributing to the problem you are dealing with. Your backyard does not produce enough protein for a single chicken, It would be adequate for something like an iguana.

Or just buy a bag of formulated chicken feed. If you are concerned about protein levels bump it up a little by using a chick starter.

 

[JShubin]

I bet shubin gets woozy

No problem with that stuff. I can do gross all day long, just cant do pain or suffering (blood may be factor also.)

 

[JShubin]

Or just buy a bag of formulated chicken feed. If you are concerned about protein levels bump it up a little by using a chick starter.

A little cat food never hurts either... like treats for my chickens...
Hard time feeding the cat tho. They jump up and steal cat food right out of the bowl and peck the cats.

 

[JShubin]

[VIDEO]

 

[miss heny]

Lol cat food is like crack to chickens.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Somebody lost some straw

 

[B123]

Somebody lost some straw

lol, when I read the title, I envisioned a bale or two, not a round bale. oops!

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

A little cat food never hurts either... like treats for my chickens...
Hard time feeding the cat tho. They jump up and steal cat food right out of the bowl and peck the cats. 

I tried cat food but they would not touch it... Which seems odd to me because in past when I had birds before the chickens always stole cat or dog food. P.S. I am at work guarding my ewuipment... So eggs it is fot tomorrow too as tje feed store will be closed by the time I can get off work. I will add olive oil to the feed to help.