I just read a great deal of this thread AND a great deal (the first 10 pages and the last 10 pages) of the Road less traveled thread this afternoon... what can I say, it snowed (is still snowing, actually) and I ran out of projects and the will to do them. Over the course of reading these threads I came up with some questions...
Let me preface the questions, though, by saying that my management style is (or at least I would like it to be) pretty much 100% like Beekissed... a mixture of respect and compassion without undue sentimentality or nonsense (yep, no chicken diapers here). My chickens have a well kept coop and run and free range all day whenever there isn't snow on the ground. I'm going on my third spring with chickens and have yet to use a drug or chemical of any sort. But I cull (and eat, if not for illness) my hens. Most of you probably know what I mean (and are probably the same), so I won't explain further.
BUT I still don't know 100% what to cull for. I'm out with my chickens a lot (when it's not -20 out), I watch them, I hang out with them. I know what I want, but I guess I have a hard time keeping track of who has the desirable characteristics... Take laying, for example. I don't have (nor do I really want to build, unless it's the only option) trap nests, so I don't know who's laying what. I want to cull for laying, obviously, I just don't know how to go about it. Frame is easy, I just have to feel and weigh them. I also find temperment easy to cull for. But there are other things that confuse me. For example, breed standards- if I'm not raising show birds, as long as they're healthy, have an average or above average for breed rate of lay, and average or above average carcass isn't that enough? Or should I worry about breed standards? And I've heard someone (I can't remember who...) say they cull any hen who gets a bare back... is that a good or bad idea? My gut says bad, both because my best broody hen gets a bare back sometime, and because the fact that the rooster gives a hen a lot of attention has to mean she's good/super fertile/has good genetics (like how we're unconciously attracted to people with symetrical faces because it means good genetics), etc. I do cull in the fall to cut my numbers before winter, but I'm usually just guessing. Culling for illness is obvious, but I've only ever done that once for a chicken who was either eggbound or something similar. (PS I know culling isn't exactly a "natural" issue, but it fits in with this type of management, and I felt this would be a good place to get helpful answers- I wanted to post it on the road less traveled thread, but since that kind of died in December I decided not to resurrect it).
My other question is about fermented feed- first off, let me say that I did fermented feed for my broilers last year and it went AMAZINGLY. It's hard to quantify the exact affect it had on their feed intake because that batch was also the first I allowed to free range (I had them in a tractor before that, so still on grass, but we all know they don't get much addl' feed that way)... and because I didn't keep track of how many bags of feed I bought. But I do know that they ate a lot less, they drank a lot less (I filled their water half as often), their poop was like normal layer poop (only bigger...), and I had zero problems- I got 25 chicks, only one mysterious chick death the second day, and butchered 24 very healthy birds, all still walking and not a single purple comb, at 9 weeks.
Oh, yeah, to the question... I had a bunch of young layers at the same time- probably between 6-8 weeks (fully feathered, but not laying yet, so still on chick starter). I started feeding them some FF too (the older layers were in a different pen, and I never tried it with them)- I was feeding the broilers a mix of unmedicated chick starter and scratch (fermented, obv) anyway, so it was appropriate for them. Within a few days one of the layers got a really swollen, squishy crop- like it was full of liquid. This chicken was otherwise healthy. I stopped the FF for them and it went away. Should I have culled her and kept it up? Any thoughts either way would be welcome, and maybe I'll give it another go this spring. Which makes me think of another FF question- for anyone who does FF and lives anywhere with HARD freezes (I live in zone 4... -20), do you keep your fermenting feed in the house? And does anyone ferment feed for other species, like turkeys or ducks?
And lastly, does anyone else do the thing with the pumpkins? Yeah, it was really early in the other thread, so I'll explain- Beekissed said she kept pumpkins in her barn to freeze/thaw over the winter and then fed them in February/March. So I'm going to totally do that, but I was wondering if there are any other gems out there of ways to get more fresh, nutritious, and easy-ish (like not complex sprouting systems) foods to our birds in the winter. I'm talking things old timers did- like can you do the same thing with turnips to make them appetizing for chickens (mine love the greens but won't touch the roots)? Any other garden goodies I can grow to store?
And I think that's all the questions I had. Thanks!
is it possible for them to stop laying permanently as a result of being allowed to brood too many times? Anything I can try to restart the egg machine? They seem pretty young.
I hope she accepts them. Any tips?
