The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mr MKK FARMS]

QUICK QUESTION: can 2 week old chicks handle whole corn?

My chicks never touch anything but normal food until around 8 weeks old.

 

[stonykill]

I thought mash was ground like dust pretty much.. That's what everyone told me once I said I thought it was whole.

Feed your chicks all sorts of things early on. They can eat anything in small pieces, as long as they have grit.

I give day olds small red worms. They don't always get it.. Also, if I put a clod of sod in the brooder in the very beginning, rather than waiting a week or two, they are much more likely to enjoy it early on and not take so long to accept any new treat.

I've watched few day old broody chicks inhale worms, slugs, bee's, spiders etc. One of the ducklings yesterday vacuumed up a worm and another one was chasing a bee. What they can and will eat is amazing

 

[stonykill]

My chicks never touch anything but normal food until around 8 weeks old.

what is normal food? Bagged processed manufactured food or natural food? Like bugs and grubs? Worms and slugs?

 

[aaggjg]

Aagig....... Where were you a couple weeks ago when I was trying to male LAB ? I watched that video so many times.........

I used a plastic container when the curd was forming and had no problems. Is what the guy in the video used.

Sorry works been keeping me busy!!! I know he used plastic ... I prefer to use glass as does LM's I know

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Okay..
Having the quick run-down on the process, I now know what I will do.

I am a cheese maker. I use raw milk to make various cheeses - both soft and pressed cheeses. Simply stated, when I make cheese, it is made with LAB cultures. (Very much like making yogurt.) The milk is heated to a certain temperature (under 100 degrees for the cheeses I make), then it is allowed to set while the curd is formed. You then handle the curd in various ways to make different kinds of cheese. Simply stated, the curds become cheese; and the leftover liquid is whey. Full of LABs. Just like the whey that is left in the jar after the process you state above.

Now that I understand what is going on in the LAB making process, instead of doing all that, I would just make cheese and use the whey the same way they use the liquid (which, in reality, is whey) that is in the bottom of their jar that they refer to as LAB.

For me, the above process is extra work because I already have LAB in the form of whey from cheese making.

But if I wasn't a cheesemaker.... then I might try the LAB process above

Now I'm looking forward to trying a test-spay of the whey in the deep litter to see how it affects it. I already use whey on the garden plants, but haven't tried it in the litter yet.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I don't feed mine any thing other than feed until at least 6 weeks except maybe ground beef around week 4 just to see if they will try the meat.

I just got 50 lbs of starter mash, and it has really big pieces of corn, practically whole kernals. I thought the corn was too big for the chicks, but wanted to check as I thought I might be overprotective. It has been almost 5 years since I've had chicks, and I have forgotten a lot!


It has been raining for days and you have to wear big rain boots just to go out to the coop. can't plant anything because you can't get in the garden, not to mention it is so wet stuff would just rot. Where do you think the chickens went today? into the garden, where I couldn't follow because of the muck and you lose your boots when you walk in that, and they ate up my cabbage seedlings. dang.
Well if it is starter mesh, I'm thinking they will eat what they can and leave the big pieces. or you could strain out the big pieces and put them in the food processor. I would give them chick grit just in case. With the purena brand of chick food I did not need the grit right away though. Not sure how much it costs.

 

[CoopChick719]

Originally Posted by Child of Noah

This morning I plucked a june bug off my screen door and asked who wanted it. Teriyaki came over and snatched it, then ran to hide from the other girls who wanted to steal it from her.

CoN--I just had to tell you we had a cat named Teriyaki!!

 

[Quailsong]

You guys really are trying to get me to make my own ACV and kombucha, aren't you???

Technically, it makes it for you. You just give it something to feed on (sugars/juice/cider) & leave it a few days/weeks/months.

 

[Quailsong]

Here you go .... as that VIDEO IS LONG and unnecessarily LONG ... I think I have in memorized so here goes nothing

1. take a cup or so of rice and soak it in a cup or so of water .... shake it up, stir it ... whatever ... you get cloudy rice water.
2. Put this in a jar with plenty of headroom.... cover with a paper towel let stand for a week it will turn yellowish & grow some scum....
3. Strain off scum
4. Add Milk to the liquid ... 10 parts to 1 part
5. Put in glass jar with plenty of headroom , loosely cover with paper towel let stand a week
6. Curd will form liquid will be yellow
7. Strain Curds leaving LAB liquid
8. Feed Curd to chickens
9. put LAB into fridge for up to 1 year or mix 1 to1 with molasses and it can sit out on counter and be stored for up to 3 years!

TO USE: 20 parts water to 1 part LABs liquid ... mix & spray


EASY

So wait, we don't get rid of the rice until it scums a week later? & so the rice is scum & we throw that out after? If so, I think I got it.

 

[Quailsong]

Okay..
Having the quick run-down on the process, I now know what I will do.

I am a cheese maker. I use raw milk to make various cheeses - both soft and pressed cheeses. Simply stated, when I make cheese, it is made with LAB cultures. (Very much like making yogurt.) The milk is heated to a certain temperature (under 100 degrees for the cheeses I make), then it is allowed to set while the curd is formed. You then handle the curd in various ways to make different kinds of cheese. Simply stated, the curds become cheese; and the leftover liquid is whey. Full of LABs. Just like the whey that is left in the jar after the process you state above.

Now that I understand what is going on in the LAB making process, instead of doing all that, I would just make cheese and use the whey the same way they use the liquid (which, in reality, is whey) that is in the bottom of their jar that they refer to as LAB.

For me, the above process is extra work because I already have LAB in the form of whey from cheese making.

But if I wasn't a cheesemaker.... then I might try the LAB process above

Now I'm looking forward to trying a test-spay of the whey in the deep litter to see how it affects it. I already use whey on the garden plants, but haven't tried it in the litter yet.

Interesting! I make farmers or polish cheese (aka Paneer in India) so I've plenty of whey to use for baking or whatever. On a slight de-rail, might I ask how you make your various cheeses if you do them from scratch?

I've thought about 'seeding' my cheeses w/ the store bought stuff via shredding. I know it wouldn't do -much- but even just to impart a bit of flavour and/or stretch a good cheese is a good enough goal.