Texas

[reindeermama]

We run the mister from 1 p.m. til about 7, and it really helps. I agree about the bugs.I keep the fan on in the coop from mid-morning until bedtime. I need to get a shallow pan for them to stand in.



Six chicks enjoying their daily dose of Rose of Sharon leaves.

Oh, I love pictures. They are beautiful. Yes I think the misting helps a lot. I run our ice maker out putting cubes in their water during the day. I figure I don't like drinking hot water so they probably don't either.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Anyone's yard drying up yet? Mine is.

With all the heavy rain followed by heat and no rain, I've got GIANT cracks all over my yard. Argh!!!

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

We run the mister from 1 p.m. til about 7, and it really helps. I agree about the bugs.I keep the fan on in the coop from mid-morning until bedtime. I need to get a shallow pan for them to stand in.

I have a Pyrex casserole pan of cold water for them to stand in. Two of them understand that if they stand in it they will feel better. But one isn't as quick on the uptake. I just went out to check on them and she was panting more than the others, so I had to go pick her up (which she hated) and take her over to dunk her feet and hold her there for a little while. She stopped panting, and finally got out. I hope she figures it out soon - geez...

I may just need to give up and get them a kiddie pool.

- Ant Farm

 

[reindeermama]

With all the heavy rain followed by heat and no rain, I've got GIANT cracks all over my yard. Argh!!!

- Ant Farm

Yep, and sometimes it seems like they will grow into canyons. lol Those chicks sure are pretty. If you don't mind me asking what are they?

 

[topdycke]

Alas, nearest retailer for MFM is 130+ miles away... H&H is closer for me. (Texas is big!

) I've heard good things about H&H, and can get it relatively nearby, just wondering if anyone else had experience. It's cheaper than what I'm using now, and I do fermented feed (along with lot of sprouts and BOSS), so the amount used isn't as high as it was when the messy girls were wasting so much dry feed.

Lots of local feed mills (which is good!!!) Love hearing about the options.

(Now I have to go and read about raising Black Soldier Flies...)

- Ant Farm

I have fermented the H&H - it works very well and the chickens clean it up. The feed store I use finds them to be a pain to deal with but their product is good. I believe it comes as a pelleted or more of a natural blend. For fermenting the blend will work - think they will pick through if not fermented

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Yep, and sometimes it seems like they will grow into canyons. lol Those chicks sure are pretty. If you don't mind me asking what are they?

Yeah, I have a few canyons in the making. The chicks in my avatar? They're Cream Legbars. Very sweet so far, doing well in the heat (total shade coop and run, and ice in all waterers, and wading pan, but no extreme measures needed yet). Not laying yet (they're 12 weeks), but looking forward to the blue eggs. And they are crested, so they have AWESOME bouffant hairdos!

- Ant Farm

 

[reindeermama]

I just got some of those, but I am not very good at telling breed apart yet. We will have to keep up with each other and see how are chicks do down here.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I just got some of those, but I am not very good at telling breed apart yet. We will have to keep up with each other and see how are chicks do down here.

There are some hard core cream legbar folks here in Texas (over on the Cream Legbar thread) - it seems that they do fine/well. They are light bodied, so I'm sure that's part of it. Next week it supposed to be super hot all week, so we'll see how it goes...

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I have fermented the H&H - it works very well and the chickens clean it up. The feed store I use finds them to be a pain to deal with but their product is good. I believe it comes as a pelleted or more of a natural blend. For fermenting the blend will work - think they will pick through if not fermented

Very helpful - thanks! Yes, I was going to get the old fashioned layer blend (whole seeds plus the protein pellets). Good to hear that it works well in FF. I was also going to probably order some of their starter/broiler blend for meat birds in the fall. I have heard that about them being harder to deal with, I'll just need to plan ahead...

- Ant Farm

 

[TheNeonPanther]

Very helpful - thanks! Yes, I was going to get the old fashioned layer blend (whole seeds plus the protein pellets). Good to hear that it works well in FF. I was also going to probably order some of their starter/broiler blend for meat birds in the fall. I have heard that about them being harder to deal with, I'll just need to plan ahead...

- Ant Farm

Surprisingly, not mine yet (In some parts), but you can tell there will be cracks so big you might fall in them soon.