The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[PetRock]

I'm not using any plastic in my ff process, so I can't use a bucket with holes in the bottom to drain the liquid before I feed it every day. Thanks, LM, for showing me the awesome 2 gal glass container to make the ff in! Then I found the perfect scoop to get the solids out and into the nice stainless steel bucket I use to bring the food to the chickens. Here is a picture of my setup now (minus the carrying bucket):



Now I can just scoop out the solids and let the liquid drain through the spiral wire of the scoop. So happy!

Nice! I use a jar just like that for my fermented feed but I could sure use a scoop like that! Where did you get it???

 

[aoxa]

Speaking of glass, I use glass for storing my goats milk, and Susan found this AMAZING 1.5 litre jar at Homesense for $5.99

LM, you will appreciate it!


This is what the design on the front of it shows. Not my picture. This one is smaller than the one I have. They are selling them on ebay for around $35 - so our find was awesome. I wish they had more.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm not using any plastic in my ff process, so I can't use a bucket with holes in the bottom to drain the liquid before I feed it every day. Thanks, LM, for showing me the awesome 2 gal glass container to make the ff in! Then I found the perfect scoop to get the solids out and into the nice stainless steel bucket I use to bring the food to the chickens. Here is a picture of my setup now (minus the carrying bucket):



Now I can just scoop out the solids and let the liquid drain through the spiral wire of the scoop. So happy!

And I'd like to know where you got the scoop too! Can you find us a link to one on Amazon?

LM, you will appreciate it!

Why, of course!

More

And speaking of MORE glass....I hope to have a post ready to show my new, home-made, all glass waterer later this evening! I wanted to use it for awhile to be sure I like it and had no glitches before posting.

And, just in case someone is leery about working with glass, I may even make up a few for sale via pm

 

[countrygirl74]

Hey everyone! It's been FOREVER since I've had time to get on here - life is soooo busy! I will have to catch up on reading later. Still enjoying all my chickens and ducks and selling a lot of eggs which is almost covering all my feed costs - YAY!

So, I need some math help!! I am terrible at trying to figure this out so was hoping someone could help out. I am starting to make my own feed but want it to be the right ratio. I'd like to make a trash can full at a time and then use that to make a 5-gallon bucket of fermented at a time.
These are all the ingredients I have right now - just not sure how to mix it!!

Whole Oats w/ Hull
Whole Corn
Split Peas
Triticale
Sesame Seeds
Lentils
Flax Seed
Kelp Granules - think I might add to the 5-gallon fermented bucket at a time so that it sticks with the feed???
*can get Hard Red and Hard White Wheat Berries but don't have them on hand right now - maybe the wheat in the triticale will do? If not, then I would like a recipe adding wheat berries.

Any of you have a great recipe using these items in the right proportions?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: I'd like to know about the jar too! as well as the scooper. with a lid like that, it might keep the odor down enough for hubby to tolerate.

 

[mlowen]

Hey everyone! It's been FOREVER since I've had time to get on here - life is soooo busy! I will have to catch up on reading later. Still enjoying all my chickens and ducks and selling a lot of eggs which is almost covering all my feed costs - YAY!

So, I need some math help!! I am terrible at trying to figure this out so was hoping someone could help out. I am starting to make my own feed but want it to be the right ratio. I'd like to make a trash can full at a time and then use that to make a 5-gallon bucket of fermented at a time.
These are all the ingredients I have right now - just not sure how to mix it!!

Whole Oats w/ Hull
Whole Corn
Split Peas
Triticale
Sesame Seeds
Lentils
Flax Seed
Kelp Granules - think I might add to the 5-gallon fermented bucket at a time so that it sticks with the feed???
*can get Hard Red and Hard White Wheat Berries but don't have them on hand right now - maybe the wheat in the triticale will do? If not, then I would like a recipe adding wheat berries.

Any of you have a great recipe using these items in the right proportions?

PM Red Ridge. She has a chart & is an expert on mixing own feed.

 

[Jewelwing]

Nice! I use a jar just like that for my fermented feed but I could sure use a scoop like that! Where did you get it???

And I'd like to know where you got the scoop too! Can you find us a link to one on Amazon?


And speaking of MORE glass....I hope to have a post ready to show my new, home-made, all glass waterer later this evening! I wanted to use it for awhile to be sure I like it and had no glitches before posting.

And, just in case someone is leery about working with glass, I may even make up a few for sale via pm

I got the scoop from Amazon - here it is (it has a plastic grip on the handle, but at least that doesn't touch the food!):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGBKXVS/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LM, I kept meaning to ask you to post about your waterer, ever since you mentioned it! I just kept forgetting when I was at the computer, remembering when I was at the coop! I just have a glass bowl out, and this morning it had about 1/16" of ice on the top.

I'm not emotionally prepared for winter yet!

Quote:

I'd like to know about the jar too! as well as the scooper. with a lid like that, it might keep the odor down enough for hubby to tolerate.

I got the jar on the advice from Leah's Mom, and it was about $10 at Walmart. I have to warn you, though, that the lid doesn't seal like smaller jars that look like this. It's just glass sitting on glass. That said, I think it does a great job of keeping the odor down anyway! My DH (I actually call him my AH - not what you think! - for Awesome Husband) is very sensitive to smells and complains about them a lot, and although he wasn't happy about the idea of me fermenting food on our kitchen counter, he hasn't said anything about the smell. He just thinks it looks gross. I'll probably have to move it if we ever have company over that aren't friends we know well (luckily that's pretty much never!).

I did see this jar on Amazon (cost more, plus shipping!), and in the reviews, someone said she smeared some silicone caulk around the top where it rests on the jar. That was to prevent the glass lid from resting directly on glass (she was afraid it would chip?), but it might help seal in odors too. I didn't do it, though. So far, so good.

 

[Jewelwing]

Does this look like a dead chicken, or what? It was about an hour after I let them outside to free range, and she's right against the outside of the run.



"Hey, what are you looking at? I'm just taking a nap in the sun!"


Here she is a couple minutes later, with her bed-head:



I hope it's normal for chickens to sun-bathe like that! Several of mine have done it a few times. They sure look silly all sprawled out.

 

[armorfirelady]

Mixing up grains for the hens today and apparently my dogs are weird.......they tasted every grain they could with my back turned even the Canadian peas......those sucker are hard!!! And apparently the fish meal was their favorite. They didn't taste that but the smell must of been tempting since my cattle dog picked up the coffee can I was using to weigh it and tried to walk away with it. (They also find bird seed tasty :/ )

I hope the girls like it as much but I don't think I will have any problems with that since they eat ANYTHING I give them

Hope everyone is staying warm. Temps in low 40smtoday with high winds but not to bad in the sun. Thank goodness I could weigh grains in garage

 

[Quailsong]

Does this look like a dead chicken, or what? It was about an hour after I let them outside to free range, and she's right against the outside of the run.



I hope it's normal for chickens to sun-bathe like that! Several of mine have done it a few times. They sure look silly all sprawled out.

Never seen my current chickens do it, but they def do like to stretch in the sun. My quail sprawl all the time like that. It made me nervous the first day I hatched them, they'd all run around like mad, then at sleepy time, sprawl out as if they were sick or something.

You can see a few sprawled in this vid.