The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Be careful with too much sunflower seeds, I believe they cause a lot of internal fat to develop based on out turkeys who love them but are fatty and greasy when butchered even at a young age. We figured it was either the sunflower seeds or the corn, and the sunflower seeds seem to be more likely. We have cut down but haven't butchered in a while so my experiments take a while.

I have a feed calculator (graciously given to me by Jeff of Fertrell) that calculates everything you can think of including vitamin and mineral, protein, fat, etc. content for specific items (wheat, corn, BOSS, etc etc. There are at least 30 common items in the sheet - maybe more.) I use that in conjunction with the percentage guidelines at the U of KY poultry information listing highest percentages of specific seeds that can be used in feed formulations so I'm very careful with my percentages

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have a feed calculator (graciously given to me by Jeff of Fertrell) that calculates everything you can think of including vitamin and mineral, protein, fat, etc. content for specific items (wheat, corn, BOSS, etc etc.  There are at least 30 common items in the sheet - maybe more.)  I use that in conjunction with the percentage guidelines at the U of KY poultry information listing highest percentages of specific seeds that can be used in feed formulations so I'm very careful with my percentages  

I figured you already know what you were doing, you're pretty smart.

So do you think it's the corn or the sunflower seeds that made the turkeys greasy, they were only around 9-12 months and are heritage. I also had a turkey hen prolapse, so I think that would go with the internal fat, she was about 5 years old.

 

[galefrances]

And then there was one.

Hello everyone. I've popped in before and this thread has always been helpful so I'm back looking for a little advice. Here's a bit of background. A year ago I reduced my flock of hens and introduced five pullets and a cockeral. Well, they did integrate without too much fuss as I followed the usual look no touch. But the new addition never fully integrated with the older hens. They pretty much stayed out of each other's way leaving me with two separate flocks. Well, this past week I lost three hens to a predator. Two older hens and one of the young ones from the new flock. My DH was in the hospital And I
forgot to lock the coop and run. Anyway, the roo and his three hens go around as usual. But then there is Abby. She is my oldest hen. She's four now. She is the only hen I have ever named. She is friendly, inquisitive, calm and timid and has always been since a day old. Needless to say she has always been picked on by the roo and his main lady. And although she is chased away from any treats he does allow her to eat from the trough as long as it isn't next to him. Well, now that she is alone I noticed she is staying in the coop, she rarely comes out and if she does it's only to eat or hide under the elderberry bush near the run. I plan on adding a few more pullets because of the roo, but that's going to be months before I can introduce them and there's no guarantee that they'll befriend Abby either. So what do I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[slordaz]

think you would do better finding some older hens than pullets to try to put with her but thats just my personal opinion too, if the rooster is picking on here will help with that too, we went and got leghorns and they sure educated the rooster to what happens ya be mean to the hens

 

[EastNashChick]

And then there was one.

Hello everyone. I've popped in before and this thread has always been helpful so I'm back looking for a little advice. Here's a bit of background. A year ago I reduced my flock of hens and introduced five pullets and a cockeral. Well, they did integrate without too much fuss as I followed the usual look no touch. But the new addition never fully integrated with the older hens. They pretty much stayed out of each other's way leaving me with two separate flocks. Well, this past week I lost three hens to a predator. Two older hens and one of the young ones from the new flock. My DH was in the hospital And I
forgot to lock the coop and run. Anyway, the roo and his three hens go around as usual. But then there is Abby. She is my oldest hen. She's four now. She is the only hen I have ever named. She is friendly, inquisitive, calm and timid and has always been since a day old. Needless to say she has always been picked on by the roo and his main lady. And although she is chased away from any treats he does allow her to eat from the trough as long as it isn't next to him. Well, now that she is alone I noticed she is staying in the coop, she rarely comes out and if she does it's only to eat or hide under the elderberry bush near the run. I plan on adding a few more pullets because of the roo, but that's going to be months before I can introduce them and there's no guarantee that they'll befriend Abby either. So what do I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm sorry for your losses. what are the breeds in question? My initial reaction would be to start chicks or pullets to have a younger crowd to go in together with your flock once they are feathered out. This would automatically move Abby higher in the pecking order and give the other birds something to focus on. but it would really help to know what breeds you have to see what the dynamic could be.

 

[galefrances]

...

And then there was one.

Hello everyone. I've popped in before and this thread has always been helpful so I'm back looking for a little advice. Here's a bit of background. A year ago I reduced my flock of hens and introduced five pullets and a cockeral. Well, they did integrate without too much fuss as I followed the usual look no touch. But the new addition never fully integrated with the older hens. They pretty much stayed out of each other's way leaving me with two separate flocks. Well, this past week I lost three hens to a predator. Two older hens and one of the young ones from the new flock. My DH was in the hospital And I
forgot to lock the coop and run. Anyway, the roo and his three hens go around as usual. But then there is Abby. She is my oldest hen. She's four now. She is the only hen I have ever named. She is friendly, inquisitive, calm and timid and has always been since a day old. Needless to say she has always been picked on by the roo and his main lady. And although she is chased away from any treats he does allow her to eat from the trough as long as it isn't next to him. Well, now that she is alone I noticed she is staying in the coop, she rarely comes out and if she does it's only to eat or hide under the elderberry bush near the run. I plan on adding a few more pullets because of the roo, but that's going to be months before I can introduce them and there's no guarantee that they'll befriend Abby either. So what do I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm sorry for your losses. what are the breeds in question? My initial reaction would be to start chicks or pullets to have a younger crowd to go in together with your flock once they are feathered out. This would automatically move Abby higher in the pecking order and give the other birds something to focus on. but it would really help to know what breeds you have to see what the dynamic could be.

Abby is a BR. The rooster is a Speckled Sussex. The young hens are a Delaware, White Rock, and a Blue Copper Maran. It breaks my heart to see her all by herself. I'm trying to go out there as often as I can, but of course I can't take the place of her flock. What I'm most concerned about is her being left alone.

Thanks to you EastNashChick and slordaz for your help.

 

[gevshiba]

Mine haven't had an issue been using 3*1 dry for fermenting and adding in a clove of garlic, plus they get table scrap of vegetables , when garden is up they sure love their squash, snap peas and watermelon lol and free ranging so they don't even hardly eat the laying feed except for spring, during the winter just give them start n grow non medicated or flock raiser as can't keep the FF thawed as more important they have water, and they still get table scaps

I feed veggies everyday, since mine don't free range. They get a combination of dry layer pellets and soaked pullet grower and broiler grower. They do better on a higher protein, so I mix the 2. They get some whole grain scratch in the evening to get them in the coop. No soy or corn in the feed. But-no animal protein either, which I don't like.

 

[gevshiba]

@gevshiba
Please update us on them and let us know the outcome.

Vitamin E can also be an issue with various leg and foot issues as well.

I'm wondering what they are doing with the organic feed that is causing problems? It could be as simple as seasonally different crops with varying nutrient profiles, crops coming from different farms, poor vitamin/mineral mix, going rancid from sitting in warehouses/stores too long, etc. I don't think it is good for any birds to be fed straight "chicken feed" with no other variety so perhaps some of the problems folks are having could be that they are restricting to only what comes out of the bag?


We've never fed soy since beginning with chickens but I am also using fresh grains and grinding myself at this point. (When I started the feed mill did a mix for me that I shared with someone as they required 300 lb minimum). (When I mix my feed, I always use Fertrell Poultry Nutribalancer for the vitamin/mineral mix in it. One of their formulas is made for organic and is not synthetic.) The babies get the exact same feed except ground smaller.

Last year I started an experiment. I decided to stop using legume seeds altogether in the feed. (I was originally using field peas but, seriously, they almost always left those and when given a choice would not eat them in any form - even sprouted.)

To compensate for that protein loss I have been using a higher percentage of sunflower seeds. So far they appear to be doing well on this. Of course there is an upper level of percentage of sunflower seed that you can use in the total feed so I am mindful of that. And I don't know that this will be my final feed formula. We shall see. I guess it may not be a great experiment, however, as my birds get other things than just what's in the feed. Adults free-range and everyone gets some brewers yeast from time to time (more often for the babies), various raw meats from time to time (more often for the babies), home-made kefir or yogurt from raw milk when we have extra, etc.

I feed a lot of variety of veggies and some fruit. They get some every day. I've never fed soy.

I used to feed an organic feed with Fertrell, but the store stopped carrying it and switched to the non GMO feed. They do carry Coyote Creek, but I refuse to sell a kidney to pay for chicken feed. I looked into having it delivered, but I'd need to order 2000# at a time to get free delivery. What I feed now is peanut based and vegetarian. They do have an Elite that has fish meal, but only in layer and chick starter. I wonder if I could add fish meal? Where would I get it?

Maybe next week I'll pick up some kefir for them and the dogs. They haven't had any in a long time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@gevshiba
How are the chicks doing?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@galefrances

Is it possible to separate out a couple of the flock that runs with the roo for a few days? Like maybe the roo and top hen and let your older girl see if she can fit in with the rest? That may change-up the pecking order a bit if its possible.

I have to say that this is one of the things I hate about chickens...

Something else to take into consideration is that these birds have just had an extremely stressful event and she has lost all her friends. That will take a little getting used to.

I did separate a roo and a couple hens away from the flock in the garage for a couple weeks once. I think it helped some, but I didn't have the results I hoped for.