The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

I have a question. I'm thinking that rr may chime in on this one but anyone that has experience, please!

When feeding fish meal as part of the protein, you have to keep the levels below a certain percentage or it is "reported" that the eggs can start to taste fishy. (I say "reported" as many of the people that feed fish meal are also feeding kelp and it seems that the kelp may be more of the culpret...but I totally digress from my question.)

So..here's my question:

When feeding fish meal to meat birds, is there any upper limit to the amount? Does it affect the flavor of the meat at all?

 

[ki4got]

Not sure if distallation removes the stuff or not....or those berkely water treatment things....osmosis....

yes, I would think distillation would, since it's also supposed to remove any contaminants of any sort, as does RO (reverse osmosis)...

filtering your water through activated carbon would also work for removing contaminants, but would be costly I would think, unless you're just doing for personal use.

Quote:

GREAT news! How is Leigh and how was the farm festival?

she and kids are doing well. we had a good time, tho i'm sore as heck today from walking so much. LOL

 

[aaggjg]

Lala sorry about the hawk attack!!! It's Hawk-A-Palooza in my backyard these days!! Yesterday I heard them calling for awhile and then my girls froze the hawk was in a tree 20 feet away it then went and perched on top of a Cyprus at the top of my property calling and calling for a good 10 minutes. Today I've heard them on and off circling.... It's interesting ... When the hawks are close the squirrels are quiet!!! When they leave the squirrels are back to hopping branches!

I found a soft shelled egg under the roost today. I'm guessing its my uber skinny lavender orpingtons ... She refuses to gain weight no matter what I do. I noticed that her eggs have started to have a kind of ring of thicker shell near the end. Hmmmmm. My vet told me that at an avian conference she attended they said that any soft shelled egg laid is a sign of infection.... Makes me wonder. My hen is totally normal besides being skinny :-0 thoughts??

 

[AletaG]

I have a question. I'm thinking that rr may chime in on this one but anyone that has experience, please!

When feeding fish meal as part of the protein, you have to keep the levels below a certain percentage or it is "reported" that the eggs can start to taste fishy. (I say "reported" as many of the people that feed fish meal are also feeding kelp and it seems that the kelp may be more of the culpret...but I totally digress from my question.)

So..here's my question:

When feeding fish meal to meat birds, is there any upper limit to the amount? Does it affect the flavor of the meat at all?

Can't speak to meal, we can't get that around here. BUT discovered if we feed more than 1lb of frozen fish parts to our 10 laying hens per week or so, definitely fishy. So we have backed off on how much we feed them, and feed the younger ones, and cocks the fish in a separate location. It's not necessary to feed them a certain amount every day, so we just corral them about once week or so and let them go crazy for their 'treat', and feed the laying hens giblets or pork kidney or whatever else we have around.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Thanks. That's helpful!

I was wanting to add more for the littles, but it's kind-of a hassle to separate them out for that. I added extra fish meal yesterday and shut the kids and mamma on the side with that bowl for a few minutes.

I like the idea of just doing it once or twice a week like you say.

 

[Leahs Mom]

This hawk thing is so frustrating. Mine are still in jail and whenever I open the gate (when I'm working outside) the mom does NOT want her kids to go out (even though they're 8 weeks old) and the others literally tear out across the open area they have to cross to get to the little woods. Then they only stayed out there about 5 min. before they all came back.

I haven't seen hawks HERE but likely only because I haven't been out at the right time. I do see them EVERYWHERE while driving...been observing like Sally suggested.

If I didn't have the kids w/the mom I think I'd just let the gate be open now. But I feel protective of the kids.

As soon as that gate goes open they all start eating grass! I've been uprooting the green pepper plants since they like the leaves on those and they strip them clean when I put them in jail w/the birds.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Regarding questions about the anti-mite technology posted by lalaland: it is Nutrena brand, I know it's in the Feather Fixer feed but not sure if it's also in their other poultry feeds. Here's what it says on Nutrena's website about the anti-mite technology:
How does Mite-Fighter

technology work?

• Mite-Fighter
  
  is a natural, proprietary ingredient that is not a chemical or a drug.
• The Mite-Fighter
  
  ingredient passes through the digestive system of the chicken and is excreted in the feces, making the area around the vent inhospitable for mites and helping to deter mite infestations.
• The Mite-Fighter
  
  ingredient has no effect on rate of lay, egg quality, egg safety for consumption, or meat quality.

Could it possibly be DE (diatomaceous earth)???? I don't know, but that is my personal guess. It would pass thru the digestive system unchanged (and ineffective againt internal parsites) but perhaps once it dried around the vent area it would again become effective????

 

[Leahs Mom]

Possibly sulfur? But I still don't think I want to be feeding something they wouldn't want to pick up in a natural setting on an every-day basis.

Folks were talking about feeding sulfur to the dogs...I found this little write-up. I don't know anything about this blog...just saw it so I'm not endorsing or anything. Just this person's experience:

http://homesteadletters.com/?p=1431

 

[AletaG]

How does Mite-Fighter

technology work?

Could it possibly be DE (diatomaceous earth)???? I don't know, but that is my personal guess. It would pass thru the digestive system unchanged (and ineffective againt internal parsites) but perhaps once it dried around the vent area it would again become effective????

There's a lot of Marigold in there, too. I'm wondering if it's that instead. I know Marigold and other plants are often fed as having anti-mite or other properties... I'm just starting a chicken feed garden. Working on a design that uses gutters planted with a mix of herbs that can be raised and lowered or moved in a rotation so the chooks don't strip everything up by the root... Maybe by Spring.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
I want to see photos of that when you finish!