The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Those of you who make their own feed where do you buy your fish meal from?

I am looking online and most of the fish meal I found is advertised as being used for fertilizer in gardens. Is it the same or is their an anmil food version?

I cant get it at either feed store near me so I have to find it online it seems

Thanks

I get it at the feed store. They break up large bags and sell them in smaller quantities. I usually buy 10lbs at a time. The stuff stinks and I do not want a bunch of it laying around.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
The one feed store said they only sell it in 50# bags and wouldn't break them up. They also told me to expensive to make my own food.......hence the reason I dont go there often. But I had to order the canadian peas I need and they are the only ones who will order them for me,

 

[BlueMouse]

so. HELP. I have an entire tractor full of broilers(5 1/2 weeks old) that are all the sudden out of nowhere sneezing and wheezing. 24 of them. What should I do? I've laced their food with garlic and oregano. I noticed one wheezing thursday, and now it's ALL OF THEM. I can't lose this entire pen of birds, because that would be our meat supply for the rest of the year. I'm wondering if I need to do something as drastic as treating them all with antibiotics, as much as I hate too....

 

[Leahs Mom]

RR - could you post photos of the coop/barn too? A picture will help us all.

 

[Leahs Mom]

BM - are they looking and acting sick at all other than the cough?

 

[delisha]

so. HELP. I have an entire tractor full of broilers(5 1/2 weeks old) that are all the sudden out of nowhere sneezing and wheezing. 24 of them. What should I do? I've laced their food with garlic and oregano. I noticed one wheezing thursday, and now it's ALL OF THEM. I can't lose this entire pen of birds, because that would be our meat supply for the rest of the year. I'm wondering if I need to do something as drastic as treating them all with antibiotics, as much as I hate too....

I posted in the other place when you asked this but will respond here as well.

Have you done anything different in the last week?
Changed feed?
exposed to new birds?
Are they eating and running around?
Do they have access to sunlight?

In the mean time
move them to new fresh grass
spray the whole inside of the tractor with oxine
mist the birds in the face to get the nares damp..you want them to breath it in 2X a day with the oxine

grind up one whole head of garlic per bird, add a big clump of oregano and food process it, add it to your fermented feed.

Good luck

 

[BlueMouse]

I'm never sure whether to post to that other place, here or both!

They're not acting sick at all. pecking, scratching, scrabbling for food at feeding times. Just. Also wheezing and sneezing.

 

[Eggcessive]

Just a word of caution about using fish meal in chicken feed, that the high sodium content of fish meal can be a cause of gout. Here is the link for anyone interested: http://en.engormix.com/MA-poultry-i.../avian-gout-causes-treatment-t1246/165-p0.htm

 

[bbdal]

Hi everyone! My husband has now processed chickens twice- one earlier this week and two today. He had one today who had a full crop, gizzard, and intestines and also a crusty butt. The rooster had been penned and withheld food but got loose this morning. He wasn't out long enough to get that full before slaughter. Any reason we should be worried about eating him with apparently some sort of blockage? Hubby said his meat looked slightly different than the other two (but that may be normal from chicken to chicken). I am still trying to figure out reasons to cull and not eat vs cull/eat or raise/slaughter. Thanks!

 

[delisha]

Hi everyone! My husband has now processed chickens twice- one earlier this week and two today. He had one today who had a full crop, gizzard, and intestines and also a crusty butt. The rooster had been penned and withheld food but got loose this morning. He wasn't out long enough to get that full before slaughter. Any reason we should be worried about eating him with apparently some sort of blockage? Hubby said his meat looked slightly different than the other two (but that may be normal from chicken to chicken). I am still trying to figure out reasons to cull and not eat vs cull/eat or raise/slaughter. Thanks!

I see no reason not to eat the bird if he was healthy. I do not worry about food withdraw before butchering.

Just a word of caution about using fish meal in chicken feed, that the high sodium content of fish meal can be a cause of gout. Here is the link for anyone interested: http://en.engormix.com/MA-poultry-i.../avian-gout-causes-treatment-t1246/165-p0.htm

Some fish meal might have high sodium..they are all different..good advise!! and you should always check