The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

Weirdly enough, as all my birds have finished their molts, Hector's Thea just went into hers and we're getting into teens, maybe even single digits, this coming weekend. And, as luck would have it, the co-op was out of the Tucker Milling 22% mini pellets and Tom bought the 16%, so I'll have to supplement Thea's protein until we can get her back to the 22% feed at the next trip.

 

[getaclue]

Leahs Mom, I have not fed mash, but have used both crumbles, and pellets. I have only found layer feed in pellet form. I did not find that there was a big savings in the long run by feeding pellets. What I have discovered, is that I needed to keep better control over how I was feeding them.

When I first got chickens, I could not have the coop on our own property, so I rented a space to build my coops, and runs. I developed health issues, and could not go every day to feed them for awhile. I would fill the feeders, so I could go every other day, or every 2 days. Within a month, there was way too much feed on the ground. I cleaned up the excess, and turned the dirt. Again, it was in the back of my mind each time I filled the feeders, that it might be a couple days before I'd return, so I made sure they had plenty just in case. Again, within a month, there was way too much feed on the ground. I didn't want them eating old feed, so again I cleaned it all up.

The difference was that this time, when I would go to feed, I would pay attention to what was on the ground. When I'd go to feed, if there was at least a day's worth of feed on the ground, I'd only put enough for one day in the feeder. That way I knew the feed on the ground was fresh, and if they were going to eat, they had to get the stuff they knocked out of the feeder, onto the ground. It worked. Withing a short time, my chickens had plenty to eat, but I didn't have a bunch of old feed sitting around on the ground. With less waste, I enjoyed some savings, and didn't have to worry about old nasty feed being on the ground.

Another person on one of the threads, said they had much less waste when they used the heavy metal bedpans as feeders. They can put their heads in to get food, but there is only one side they can scratch the feed out, and even on the one open side, it's at an angle, so not all that easy for them to get much out. Being metal, you can not put them in direct sunlight, or they will get too hot in the summer, but in the shade they are fine. You might want to get 1, and give it a try.

IF you want to feed layer pellets, but want to increase protein in pellet form, there is a product called Calf Manna, made by Manna Pro. It's rather expensive per bag, and you can NOT feed it alone, since the protein level is really high, and it's not nutritionally balanced to be used as a stand-alone feed for chickens. The benefit is that because it's so high in protein, it does not take very much, so a bag will last a long time, if stored properly. I don't add it to the feed, but toss a small handfull as a treat daily. The reason I don't add a little to the feed is that they will dig through the feed, wasting a lot, to get to the calf manna pieces. During molt, it's still best to occasionally give animal protein. It does better for them, than vegetable protein alone.

 

[1muttsfan]

If you mix grain with a pellet or a crumble, the birds will always eat the grains first - whole and cracked grains are apparently tastier. If you are going to mix your own feed, you need to crush the grains so that they can not be preferentially eaten, or your birds will end up with an unbalanced diet. That is why must people feed crumble or pelleted feed free choice, and only a few handfuls of the higher fat whole or cracked grains (scratch feed). Once you crush or roll grains, the vitamins and other nutrients start deteriorating more quickly, and the fats have a tendency to turn rancid. If you're making your own feed mix it's best to make it in small batches to keep it fresh.
I give Calf Manna mixed with the scratch, about 1 scoop to 10 scoops grains, and give my 12 birds about 2 handfuls of that mix a day. Calf Manna is high in protein, but also supplies vitamins and minerals. If you try to feed too much, you will overdose them on some nutrients, so it's best used as just a supplement.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Bedpan... interesting I'd like to see a photo of the specific type they use. Probably works similar to my troughs... And other good thoughts

What I do is take any powder that's left in the pans in the afternoon, mix in a little water and wait till they eat it all. That still doesn't keep them from fishing around in the morning That powder also contains most of the nutribalancer I imagine, so I want to be sure they eat it all.

I don't feed soy so don't use calf manna. The protein crumbles I use have a mix of sesame meal, fish meal, crab meal, field pea, linseed meal.

Part of my concern is for when I'm away and someone else is taking care of the birds. It would be great to have a feeder that is less work for them. Right now I use trough-type feeders [home made] and a Saturn Feeder as a backup (from Premier1 supplies). The troughs are deep enough that they can't dump out much from them. Those are the ones that I take the power and mix with water in the afternoon.




I wish I could make that Saturn Feeder so that there would be less waste if I filled it up while away. (I never fill it now...just put a little in so that any birds that are pushed away from the troughs can have somewhere else to go.)

Saturn Feeder is Here. It's pretty good because of how deep the feed trough is - just not perfect. (And it's WAY BETTER...NOT EVEN COMPARABLE... with the ones sold in feed stores.) Maybe if I raised it us just a little higher. Right now it's pretty high, but I could go up an inch or 2 and see if that helps.

ETA a photo of the troughs. I have several of these. They're cedar plant boxes from Menards that fit the larger pyrex bread pans very nicely. I can just lift out the pans to clean or move the leftover powder into a different pan and add water.

 

[speckledhen]

Yesterday, the entire barn kept freaking out. I mean as in everyone was cackling and everyone was also hiding in corners, including Atlas and Bash. I looked and looked and looked and could find nothing that scared them. Even took a flashlight out at dusk to see if I saw eyes in the barn somewhere. The barn had been closed up for two days so nothing could have flown into it and a mouse would not have gotten them so afraid. Too cold for snakes, right?

When it warmed up yesterday afternoon, I tried to let Hector out and he refused to go. Then, I tried Bash, even shaking a jar of scratch and Mr. Food-Motivated just looked at me standing outside the barn door and went back into his pen with the girls. I can't figure it out. They freaked out several times yesterday, too. The bantams were on their roost just sounding off like crazy, but the others were all hiding on the floor, in nest boxes, corners, etc. Maybe something hit a window? But, I saw no sign of anything having impacted one, no smears, nothing. Stuff falling on the roof doesn't scare them because it happens all the time from the trees overhead. I'm flummoxed.

 

[1muttsfan]

That's so interesting. Something must have spooked them, though. Could you point a game cam at the barn for a few days?

 

[speckledhen]

That's so interesting. Something must have spooked them, though. Could you point a game cam at the barn for a few days?

I could, though it would only get one side, of course, or one plus part of another. The pen was closed so whatever it was would have to go over the fence first. And this was in broad daylight. They were quiet all night long, no mouse in one of the traps, even. But, a mouse wouldn't scare them. They eat those things.

I had a thought that mice were rooting around in the leaves in the concrete gutter at ground level by the bantams window area and making little noises that freaked them out for some reason. Maybe Aimee started her insane cackling and everyone else got scared because she was freaked out. But, that's just a guess. Going to clean out those leaves today.

 

[getaclue]

Could it be a coyote, or something was prowling around outside, and they smell it? I sure hope you solve the mystery soon.

 

[speckledhen]

Could it be a coyote, or something was prowling around outside, and they smell it? I sure hope you solve the mystery soon.

I doubt they smelled anything because chickens have a bad sense of smell, but they might have heard something. Yet, coyotes and foxes and such are always making noise around here and they just get quiet. They don't go crazy and hide in corners. I thought maybe somehow a little bird got in there and was flying around, but I've seen no bird poop other than theirs and there is no real place for it to hide. So, still a mystery, but I've never seen Atlas get in a corner like that. He was petrified along with his girls. He had Gloria Jean behind him pushed into the corner, literally sitting on the floor with MaryJo and Dru pushed under the roost against the wall in the opposite corner, didn't notice where Wynette was hiding, maybe she was in the pile with MJ and Dru.
In Gypsy's pen, Panda pushed herself behind the concrete block their feeder sits on as far as she could get. I hope I can figure it out so it doesn't happen again. No one is injured. I remember Ladyhawk once had birds being killed in the coop and she couldn't figure it out, but one night she took a flashlight and in the rafters, hiding, was a small hawk. It was literally living in the coop. My barn is very open, though, not many places I woudn't see something inside there.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I wondered if they may be seeing anything outside. Is there a window/windows? Possibly a hawk out there?