The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[aoxa]

Hello everyone. I hope I am not asking a repeat. I was wondering what your opinions are on natural chicken keeping vs medicated chick feed.

I understand that the medicated part is not an antibiotic but Ampolium, a cocci preventative that in my lay-mans understanding seems to work by blocking thiamine (vitamin B) and along with it the thiamine transporter of the cocci parasite. From what I have read it is only a preventative and not a cure.

I am sort of inclined to not use it for my next batch of chicks as it seems to only be moderately effective and I would rather keep it as natural as possible but am I being overly paranoid? I was wondering what you feed your babies?

Hello there! I'm so glad you came around.

You have done your research, and I am really glad to hear that. I feed my babies non-medicated now, but I did not always do that. I had more losses with medicated than with non-medicated if you can believe that!

Fermented Feed and U-ACV in the water helps create a hostile environment in the gut for these parasites (worms, cocci, etc). Good practices in how you raise your birds is preventative enough. I never had Cocci before. And if you think about it, how many of the people posting here on emergency forum are complaining of instances of cocci actually feed their birds medicated feed? I bet the majority of those cases medicated feed is involved.

 

[jendodd79]

I really need to get a set up to start fermented feed!

I have a feed question though - this time when I went to the farm supply store I asked if I needed to be moving over to a different feed because of the ages of my hens (14-20weeks). She brought me out a bag and when I got home, they are pellets - a 16% variety. The other food I've only ever had was more of a crushed up mash of sorts. Thoughts on the pellets?

 

[aoxa]

I really need to get a set up to start fermented feed!

I have a feed question though - this time when I went to the farm supply store I asked if I needed to be moving over to a different feed because of the ages of my hens (14-20weeks). She brought me out a bag and when I got home, they are pellets - a 16% variety. The other food I've only ever had was more of a crushed up mash of sorts. Thoughts on the pellets?

Pellets are the same as crumble. Crumble is ground pellets. Mash would be the least processed feed available. 16% is fine for their age.

I don't like pellets because I have seen my silkies choke on them. They are good for fermented feed. They swell up and create more than crumble does. I just can't get them from my feed store of choice.

Hopefully they didn't give you layer though. I just am not a fan of feeding anything high in calcium to young birds. Calcium on the side is fine. That way I don't have to worry about how much my roosters or chicks are getting.

 

[aoxa]

Also.. I'm ashamed to say I've switched back to dry in this cold wave. At least for the birds that don't have heated bowls. I don't have the energy and time to scrape out the frozen bits, and it freezes in no time at all. My birds are really angry at me. They don't like it at all. No fights over the feeding station.

Hopefully this -20F weather does not last. It's really hard on us humans doing the chores.

I'm not talking solely about the feed in their feeders, my buckets are freezing. Even in my heated closet

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Hello there! I'm so glad you came around.

You have done your research, and I am really glad to hear that. I feed my babies non-medicated now, but I did not always do that. I had more losses with medicated than with non-medicated if you can believe that!

Fermented Feed and U-ACV in the water helps create a hostile environment in the gut for these parasites (worms, cocci, etc). Good practices in how you raise your birds is preventative enough. I never had Cocci before. And if you think about it, how many of the people posting here on emergency forum are complaining of instances of cocci actually feed their birds medicated feed? I bet the majority of those cases medicated feed is involved.

Thank you both. That makes me feel better. I wanted to not use it but I had this fear of losing them all as a result. Great point about it being that people using the medicated who are posting about cocci.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I use pellets and "ferment" them....they are good. Even before I stated using them in FF there was much less waste with pellets than the crumbles, they picked through the crumbles and tossed a lot of it on the ground. BRATS!

 

[jendodd79]

Pellets are the same as crumble. Crumble is ground pellets. Mash would be the least processed feed available. 16% is fine for their age.

I don't like pellets because I have seen my silkies choke on them. They are good for fermented feed. They swell up and create more than crumble does. I just can't get them from my feed store of choice.

Hopefully they didn't give you layer though. I just am not a fan of feeding anything high in calcium to young birds. Calcium on the side is fine. That way I don't have to worry about how much my roosters or chicks are getting.

They probably did give me layer feed. Sigh, I'll have to check. I was running around like a crazy person yesterday and didn't do as much research as I should have at the store - never assume someone else knows what is going on! She just mentioned that the higher protein would be good in cold weather. I'm going to find myself a bucket today and get some more ACV (ran out last night) and see if I can get some FF going. I hope it goes better then my bread starter!

 

[jendodd79]

Also.. I'm ashamed to say I've switched back to dry in this cold wave. At least for the birds that don't have heated bowls. I don't have the energy and time to scrape out the frozen bits, and it freezes in no time at all. My birds are really angry at me. They don't like it at all. No fights over the feeding station.

Hopefully this -20F weather does not last. It's really hard on us humans doing the chores.

I'm not talking solely about the feed in their feeders, my buckets are freezing. Even in my heated closet

That is my one reservation about moving to the East Coast - I am a mild girl. Not too hot, not too cold. I would love a woodstove though!

 

[aoxa]

I use pellets and "ferment" them....they are good. Even before I stated using them in FF there was much less waste with pellets than the crumbles, they picked through the crumbles and tossed a lot of it on the ground. BRATS!

That's why I wanted to use pellets from the get-go. The crumble is wasted a lot. It's a pain. I do not care for it, but the pellets are big for bantams. I have been there when a little silkie was struggling to breathe and had a pellet lodged in her throat sideways. I got it out and she was fine, but it was terrifying. Bigger birds probably don't have this kind of issue.

They probably did give me layer feed. Sigh, I'll have to check. I was running around like a crazy person yesterday and didn't do as much research as I should have at the store - never assume someone else knows what is going on! She just mentioned that the higher protein would be good in cold weather. I'm going to find myself a bucket today and get some more ACV (ran out last night) and see if I can get some FF going. I hope it goes better then my bread starter!

If I were you, I'd try a one and two bucket system and see what works best for you. I have tried both, and much prefer the two bucket system. It isn't all soupy like the 1 bucket system can get.

That is my one reservation about moving to the East Coast - I am a mild girl. Not too hot, not too cold. I would love a woodstove though!

You're from Ontario right? We're not THAT much different. Most of our coldness comes from the wind. Definitely not like out West!!

Our weather looks to be going up after this weekend. That is definitely a blessing.

 

[Mumsy]

I think I've posted this before but my 3 yr old grandson named every single chicken Sally. We started with 11, when I joined BYC we had 8 now there are 5 of the original 11. That's why my avatar is Sally but I'm really Sue. I don't really name the chickens except the RIR is Red, the Bue rooster is Blue, grandson named the Marans roo Wrinkles, no reasons for any names. I try once in a while to accurately call grand kids by the right names the first time. lol

This really made me chuckle! A flock full of Sally birds. Hah! Yeah..I know what you mean about getting the Grand Kids names right. All three of mine are boys. I have three daughters. They are ALL blond. The girls nearly look a like in height and weight. They never let me forget it that I have called each of them wrong name first try and I have called each of them by the dogs name "Rosie" at least once. I tell them that's what happens when you have four kids. Your mind goes first. Hah!