They are awesome!! This is my second winter with them and I bless my son-in-law's name every time I wear them...for his recommendation. (edited to add: talking about the Atlas Therma Fit gloves.)
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The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!
- Thread starter Bulldogma
- Start date
They are awesome!! This is my second winter with them and I bless my son-in-law's name every time I wear them...for his recommendation. (edited to add: talking about the Atlas Therma Fit gloves.)
I ordered a pair yesterday, can't wait for them.
Its brutal out there today, high winds, beow zero and with windchill really awful. Hens came out for a brief period, and I put water and feed inside coop. Tomorrow it will be worse and leaving at work at 4:30 am..
Excited because one of this years chicks was pacing and muttering to herself as she tried out nest after nest after nest. Bet there will be a new egg sometime today. Now if I can just get it before it freezes open!I almost wish I had a broody as an egg warmer!
stay warm everyone, and hope no one was in harms way of yesterday's storm.
Its brutal out there today, high winds, beow zero and with windchill really awful. Hens came out for a brief period, and I put water and feed inside coop. Tomorrow it will be worse and leaving at work at 4:30 am..
Excited because one of this years chicks was pacing and muttering to herself as she tried out nest after nest after nest. Bet there will be a new egg sometime today. Now if I can just get it before it freezes open!I almost wish I had a broody as an egg warmer!
stay warm everyone, and hope no one was in harms way of yesterday's storm.
I fed the gang Calendula this summer from our garden and yes it did change the yolk color.
Found this online as well, it is a yolk color wheel.
that egg yolk color fan is too cool!
I like to have calendula growing in my garden. It's a lovely weed, and makes such a nice boquet. Re-seeds freely, but not invasive by my standards. Unfortunately, the girls LOVE the seeds, so if I want it, I have to deliberately plant it now. Not a problem... the easiest flower to grow, IMO. I've not seen them eat the flowers or leaves. Calendula and nasturtium. No garden complete without them!
Yay on the egg to be!
Can those of you that got the gloves tell us how they run size-wise? I usually end up purchasing a large glove for the fingers to set right. But if these are men's sizes, that might change down a size...
On the yolk color...
I noticed last winter things got much more pale, but still not as pale as the store eggs year-round. I found that if I give sprouts and greens on a regular basis the eggs stay nicely healthy.
One of the tricks of confined egg operations is to add the marigold petals to the feed to make the eggs "look like" they are more healthy. From what I understand, it is more of a cosmetic change rather than an "health of the yolk" change...although I think that getting marigold would add some nutrition benefit myself.
So...
This year I've been going down to the local store that sells organic veggies. I get organic kale in HUGE BUNCHES for about $3 for 2 of them. I stuff some into the large size suet/seed cake feeders so they can pull off small mouthfulls easily. I currently have only 9 birds so the perspective is that the kale is enough for about 3 - 4 days if I put some out every morning. I also get cilantro and rip into thirds and put them in the feeders too. I've also kept some sunflower seed and oats sprouting in an ongoing basis and put those out as they're ready. And a local farm does fodder of barley which he'll give me for $1/ gallon size zip-loc but I don't always have time to get there...they also sprout clover for people to use and he sells those to me after they're week-old at a greatly reduced price.
They always want to eat the sprouted grains before they eat anything else. Second choice is the kale. Then the regular feed.
For winter I've been melting lard/butter/coconut oil and stirring into the dry feed every few days. I use a "mash" which, by the time they get down the the bottom of the bowl, can be pretty powdery. When it gets down to mostly powdery stuff in the bottom of the bowls ( I can stir in the fats and they absolutely love that. I had read one of the poultry "showmen" say that he would top dress his feed with lard for healthy skin and feathers and that has stuck with me and I continue to use some from time to time and more in the winter. Sometimes I just stir it right into the feed bucket before it's at the bottom with the powdery stuff.
Anyhow, I think the kale and cilantro make a HUGE difference and they really devour it during the winter. They could care less about it when it's summer and usually won't even eat it at all. So far the egg yolks have looked very close to the same quality as during the summer.
I noticed last winter things got much more pale, but still not as pale as the store eggs year-round. I found that if I give sprouts and greens on a regular basis the eggs stay nicely healthy.
One of the tricks of confined egg operations is to add the marigold petals to the feed to make the eggs "look like" they are more healthy. From what I understand, it is more of a cosmetic change rather than an "health of the yolk" change...although I think that getting marigold would add some nutrition benefit myself.
So...
This year I've been going down to the local store that sells organic veggies. I get organic kale in HUGE BUNCHES for about $3 for 2 of them. I stuff some into the large size suet/seed cake feeders so they can pull off small mouthfulls easily. I currently have only 9 birds so the perspective is that the kale is enough for about 3 - 4 days if I put some out every morning. I also get cilantro and rip into thirds and put them in the feeders too. I've also kept some sunflower seed and oats sprouting in an ongoing basis and put those out as they're ready. And a local farm does fodder of barley which he'll give me for $1/ gallon size zip-loc but I don't always have time to get there...they also sprout clover for people to use and he sells those to me after they're week-old at a greatly reduced price.
They always want to eat the sprouted grains before they eat anything else. Second choice is the kale. Then the regular feed.
For winter I've been melting lard/butter/coconut oil and stirring into the dry feed every few days. I use a "mash" which, by the time they get down the the bottom of the bowl, can be pretty powdery. When it gets down to mostly powdery stuff in the bottom of the bowls ( I can stir in the fats and they absolutely love that. I had read one of the poultry "showmen" say that he would top dress his feed with lard for healthy skin and feathers and that has stuck with me and I continue to use some from time to time and more in the winter. Sometimes I just stir it right into the feed bucket before it's at the bottom with the powdery stuff.
Anyhow, I think the kale and cilantro make a HUGE difference and they really devour it during the winter. They could care less about it when it's summer and usually won't even eat it at all. So far the egg yolks have looked very close to the same quality as during the summer.
Your birds eat far better than most Americans.
I guess, if i were completely honest, I'd say the same! They eat far more veggies than I do!
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