Texas

[yinepu]

My new baby pygmy goat. Little wee, he is bottle feeding. he jumps and plays. He is a little over a week old. his mom did not want him. I put diapers on him so he can play for a while. Then I place him back in his sleep box at night. He is a mess. My sister takes care of him for me thru the day, and he is spoiled rotten.

I have been trying to talk myself out of getting goats again... you just made that a lot harder to do!

Boiled egg for the chicks...with or without the yolk?

with the yolk!.. lots of good stuff in there

Oh - my feed has not wound up on the ground or anything like that. Maybe I've got something odd setup. I dunno. I just don't feel comfortable with feed that has potentially gotten damp (frosty nights and warm days makes for a lot of sweating on containers) and causing problems - that's my idea of contamination. I've had to deal with ergots type poisonings in the past and don't want to play that game again in any way, shape or form. So, the only waste I experience is if the feed buckets are not empty when I go out in the morning and we've had a cold night with a potentially warm day ahead. I will deliberately dump the feed. Fermenting it instead might be an option.

I think I'm going to give fermenting a try.. see what it does to a couple of scrawny cockerels I have
Just need to go to HEB later this week or next week for the Brags (and I need to sacrifice one of my 5 gallon buckets to the goddess of drills and drill bits)

 

[yinepu]

I am definitely going to try fermenting. I'm going to start with scratch grains.

funny thing is we always threw out "soured feed"... mainly cause the birds would never touch it once it "soured"...

Yeah, spilled water is miserable.

We bought buckets and put nipples in the bottom of them, so they hang and the chickens go underneath them to drink. MUCH better than spilling water. Not to mention that I can stick frozen water bottles into the 5 gallon buckets during the summer to keep the water cool. We wrap the buckets with air bubble insulation - makes a difference in keeping the water cooler even on the hottest days, and keeping from freezing as often in winter.

I was wondering how y'all kept those cool.. may have to buy some for the chickens this year

 

[Kilsharion]

I have been trying to talk myself out of getting goats again... you just made that a lot harder to do!

with the yolk!.. lots of good stuff in there

I think I'm going to give fermenting a try.. see what it does to a couple of scrawny cockerels I have
Just need to go to HEB later this week or next week for the Brags (and I need to sacrifice one of my 5 gallon buckets to the goddess of drills and drill bits)

I'm considering trying it with the feed I generally dump. The only thing is - don't laugh - my birds are so freaking picky it's insane. My "Girls" prefer foraging to just about anything - not kidding. My "Rascals" prefer their dry mash to anything. I never knew chickens could be so bloody picky. The next time I dump their feed, though, I think I'm going to give it a try.

 

[Fentressfarmer]

Chicks should be here tomorrow!!!! Woo-hoo! Haven't been this nervous since my daughter was born!! Hope everybody has a great day and gets some of this rain they are promising.

 

[yinepu]

I'm considering trying it with the feed I generally dump. The only thing is - don't laugh - my birds are so freaking picky it's insane. My "Girls" prefer foraging to just about anything - not kidding. My "Rascals" prefer their dry mash to anything. I never knew chickens could be so bloody picky. The next time I dump their feed, though, I think I'm going to give it a try.

I've had some that were savages and would eat ANYTHING.. and a few others that were so darn picky that I wanted to send them to freezer camp

 

[Kilsharion]

Chicks should be here tomorrow!!!! Woo-hoo! Haven't been this nervous since my daughter was born!! Hope everybody has a great day and gets some of this rain they are promising.

Hope they all get there hale and whole.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

My white silkie chick peeped its last peep last nite

Now he is in the great free-range pasture in the sky!


I think it got trampled by the bigger chicks, poor thing. all looked well last nite before bed. cleaned 2 of some pasty-butt startings...neither if which were the silkie. they did get a boiled egg for treat last nite and the bigger chicks were going nuts! i think the silkie just got ran over one too many times. gonna have to watch for that next time...maybe the silkies will get their treats in a separate brooder...the ausies and americanas are growing like crazy, one of the americaunas is actually starting to get some tail feathers to come in...week old today too! sheesh, my babies are growing up so fast

 

[Chucklecluck]

I have been using fermented feed for a while now I don't use the double bucket method I just use a hand strainer that doubles for a scoop.also Heinz has avc that is much cheaper than brags and its raw and unfiltered as well,.I also make my own avc. You can also use yogurt filters to get your ff started and yes there is a diffidence between suited feed and fermented the big diffidence is smell, ff should smell sweet

 

[yinepu]

I have been using fermented feed for a while now I don't use the double bucket method I just use a hand strainer that doubles for a scoop.also Heinz has avc that is much cheaper than brags and its raw and unfiltered as well,.I also make my own avc. You can also use yogurt filters to get your ff started and yes there is a diffidence between suited feed and fermented the big diffidence is smell, ff should smell sweet

good to know...

I'll have to check the Heinz.. never saw any that wasn't pasteurized. Is it labeled differently that you know of?

i am thinking the double bucket method might be better for me since I have a lot of birds to feed. I'll probably end up with more than one bucket fermenting at a time



hmmm.. i wonder if the turkeys and emus will eat it

 

[Chucklecluck]

So sorry to hear know how you feel I to lost some babies my quail that is when my hubby tuned the AC on last night they piled on top of each other and suffocated a few siblings

My white silkie chick peeped its last peep last nite Now he is in the great free-range pasture in the sky!


I think it got trampled by the bigger chicks, poor thing. all looked well last nite before bed. cleaned 2 of some pasty-butt startings...neither if which were the silkie. they did get a boiled egg for treat last nite and the bigger chicks were going nuts! i think the silkie just got ran over one too many times. gonna have to watch for that next time...maybe the silkies will get their treats in a separate brooder...the ausies and americanas are growing like crazy, one of the americaunas is actually starting to get some tail feathers to come in...week old today too! sheesh, my babies are growing up so fast