The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Beautiful rooster, Aoxa!

My girls are snubbing the rooster right now. Except for 2 of them - although only 1 willingly.

 

[armorfirelady]

I don't use the nutribalancer. I give them a flock block from TSC instead. Girls look good, act well and overall look good. With only 8 hens a bag of nutribalancer would of lasted longer than me

well, a block would be hard to do with individual breeding pens. ok for the free rangers maybe.

True.

I know people who said their chickens eat one down in a week or two. The first one lasted almost 3 months. My thoughts are they can get the nutrients they need when they need them. They must be getting enough in the feed ard veggies they get since they are not eating it so fast. Of course I only have 8 hens but I thought for sure they would eat at it constantly since they don't have much to forage thru with all the snow we are getting.

Aoxa I found it takes awhile for them to venture out in the snow, my girls have finally realized it's not going to hurt them. Of course on days like today were it just keeps falling they go no further than their old run but at least they left the coop

ETA red ridge I would be more than happy to send you some of the white stuff. I have more than enough to spare lol

 

[aoxa]

Beware Tea Chick. There is NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING in this world that smells worse than a rotten egg. A rotten egg coming out of the incubator will explode if you so much as look at it wrong. I had that unfortunate experience in 6th grade when a goose egg exploded in my hands. We had to evacuate the entire wing of the school for the remainder of the day. I do recommend that you do an egg-topsy so you can get an idea what went wrong. But, please, do it outside!
And by the smug look on his face, he is well aware of his good looks!

I don't know.. I've had a one rotten egg, and it stunk - but nothing compared to a rotting corpse my dogs dug up. Broody poop was quite comparable on level of stinkiness too.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I forgot to post this here but...I have a 60 lb bag of nutribalancer (good for organic) that I will take a LONG time to go through (It is enough for a 2000 lb batch).

I would sell it by the lb. for what it cost me if anyone wants any. You'd have to pay the lb. price plus shipping. You can pm me if you're interested and we can see what it would cost to ship. I'd prefer to keep it turning over so I can get fresh regularly



I use a little less than t 1/2 C. in an "about 20 lb. batch of feed. Or .75 lb. in a 25 lb batch of feed. If you really want to divide it out correctly, 60 lbs. of nutribalancer will cover a ton of feed... 60 lbs to 2000 lb batch means that 1940 lbs is the feed ingredients and 60 nutribalancer. I don't worry about being "anal" about it...just get it close enough.

This link has the ingredients:
http://www.fertrell.com/poutrynurtibalancer.htm

There is also a link on their site that shows where local distributors are. It's in the top bar - click on "find a dealer" and put in your zip code.

Edited to fix amounts that I typed wrong !!!!

I did the math, too. I figured my math out in "doses" ... if a bird eats 1/3 a lb of feed per day, how much NutriBalancer would be in that? Then I add it to the fermented feed treat I've been giving the flock every day ... That way it gets distributed through & sticks to the feed. So far I've only been giving them a 1/2 dose. I got a "scoop" that is just the right size for a 1/2 dose each for the approximate size of my flock ... I'll just start mixing in 2 scoops when I switch over to all FF ... I like mixing it into the FF because if the FF is a bit too "wet," it helps absorb moisture.

I'll have to dig through my scraps of papers to find the math ... I enjoy writing things down so I don't have to remember them. But I need a master list of lists, because I tend to just drop the lists behind me as I skip through my life.

Alternatively, I could use a "keeper."

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Gatsby 29 weeks.

Isn't he a stud muffin?

Gorgeous!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Leslie - what you say about using doses made me think to post this here. (I sent this to Karen but thought I'd post it here too)

What follows is a bunch of "thoughts".......Just things I'm contemplating..... take it as "thinking out loud" ...

When you ferment grains, one of the things it does is make the MINERALS more bio-available. So...some of the anti-nutrients that either block mineral absorption or leach minerals from the body (like calcium for example) are greatly reduced by fermenting...and fermenting releases the digestive enzymes needed for absorption as well.

So....
When you ferment, the birds "should be" getting much more of the mineral content out of the feed than they normally would with dry, non-fermented/soaked feed.


The studies of how much of the mineral mixes to use would be on grains and standard dry feeds that may also be rancid from sitting on shelves for months....

So...
it stands to reason that you wouldn't "need" as much of the Fertrel (which is a mineral mix) if you are using fermented feed. But who knows how much less?

Anyway, I think you can use it on the "scant" side to be honest, if you're fermenting the grains.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

When you ferment grains, one of the things it does is make the MINERALS more bio-available. So...some of the anti-nutrients that either block mineral absorption or leach minerals from the body (like calcium for example) are greatly reduced by fermenting...and fermenting releases the digestive enzymes needed for absorption as well.
...

So...
it stands to reason that you wouldn't "need" as much of the Fertrel (which is a mineral mix) if you are using fermented feed. But who knows how much less?

Anyway, I think you can use it on the "scant" side to be honest, if you're fermenting the grains.

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking, too. It's one of the reasons I've gone "scant." If birds free-range a lot they get more minerals, too. Fermenting improves the nutritional value of the feed, but it also improves the digestive system of the bird so the bird absorbs stuff better. I can't remember what the "overdose" warnings about Fertrelles is ...

I intend to keep offering the birds a choice, so they can "balance" their own diets, too. Studies indicate birds are pretty good at doing that, as long as they are able to achieve a sufficiently "full" feeling from their options.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Someone brought me peafowl eggs to hatch. This should be fun

Okay question for those who do fodder... When you put the seeds in the tray, how do you keep it from getting moldy? How do you rinse? Do you rinse?

I am doing both fodder and sprouting. Sprouting I am doing like we do for our own use.. rinse twice a day in a jar.

I would make sure you have really good drainage so everything stays just a bit damp rather than wet. I have mine on a very slow drip system and then rinse once a day. I get a tiny bit of fuzzy white mold in a few places every now and again but overall have not had an issue (but to be fair it is very dry where I live so humidity is not an issue for me). Rinsing or soaking with some AVC can help with mold (most commercial places seem to use bleach but I would personally try to AVC first). I think also the container you pick can help. One woman on the fodder thread makes her baskets out of needle point plastic so it has really good air flow and said that helped her a lot. I am just using clear plastic bins with holes drilled. Be sure to clean well in between each use.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Aoxa - at what level (volume or whatever) do you foresee doing fodder... just a few small trays or a major amount for all your animals?

I think this makes a big difference in what kind of containers you'd use.

 

[aoxa]

I would make sure you have really good drainage so everything stays just a bit damp rather than wet. I have mine on a very slow drip system and then rinse once a day. I get a tiny bit of fuzzy white mold in a few places every now and again but overall have not had an issue (but to be fair it is very dry where I live so humidity is not an issue for me). Rinsing or soaking with some AVC can help with mold (most commercial places seem to use bleach but I would personally try to AVC first). I think also the container you pick can help. One woman on the fodder thread makes her baskets out of needle point plastic so it has really good air flow and said that helped her a lot. I am just using clear plastic bins with holes drilled. Be sure to clean well in between each use.

No drainage. Would probably work that out I'm guessing. I'm doing wheat, as I heard that wheat is less likely to mold, and it grows fast. It's sprouting already and I soaked it overnight on Saturday, drained all the water and rinsed really well and put in this huge tray we had bought when potty training Henry. One of those grass pee pad things. To be fair, he could not hold his bladder at all, so we didn't kennel him until he was around 16-20 weeks all day while we were at work. He was in the laundry room, and we wanted him to stick to one area to pee... but that thing is icky. I'd rather clean pee up on the floor.. anyway.. waste of money, so trying to get some use out of it.

Aoxa - at what level (volume or whatever) do you foresee doing fodder... just a few small trays or a major amount for all your animals?

I think this makes a big difference in what kind of containers you'd use.

Just as a treat. Not doing it on any large scale. I don't have the time or the place to do it. My feed room already feels crowded. I did not take into account the amount of hay we would need to store for the goats/alpaca.