The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[LeslieDJoyce]

Concerning amount to feed. ..
These numbers are winter confinement numbers. ..
The average production/laying hen eats .25 lb/day of dry food.
The average heritage LG will eat .33 lb/day.
The average wet weight of 1 lb of dry fermented food is 2.25 lbs
So... When calculating how much FF to feed simply multiple your dry amount by 2.25

Great info. People always want to know how much FF to feed. Presuming they're offering only FF ...

 

[aoxa]

Concerning amount to feed. ..
These numbers are winter confinement numbers. ..
The average production/laying hen eats .25 lb/day of dry food.
The average heritage LG will eat .33 lb/day.
The average wet weight of 1 lb of dry fermented food is 2.25 lbs
So... When calculating how much FF to feed simply multiple your dry amount by 2.25

Hmm.. I have leftovers when I feed dry (this time of year) 28.57 lbs per day for 170 birds = .16806 lbs per bird per day. They eat about the same this time of year wet VS dry. They don't like the dry much at all, so eat less of it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Les - I agree. I don't even like to buy mealworms from China and the only DRIED mealworms I've ever been able to find are from China. I've never found a US source for them. I'd love to know if there is one.

I also don't do much with supplements either and the nutritional yeast is more of a food product to me too. Way back in the day when I was having babies I would take some brewers yeast while I was preg and/or nursing for the "B" vitamins. I just got interested in it again thinking of using it for the birds. Then I decided to take a bit for iron and "B" vitamins since I had a "medical" need... for myself a few weeks ago. It was the first time I had purchased any since the 1970s!!!

I did get the Lewis Labs and it really does taste pretty good - especially compared to the stuff I used to get. But the substrate is different and that's probably why it tastes so good!

 

[Shan30]

Hope everyone had a great weekend

I need some advice. Last Tuesday I gave up on breaking a broody and gave her three eggs.
No one was bothering her or laying in her nest until yesterday when 4 more eggs appeared under her. I don't know which are the old or new eggs.

So she is now blocked off from the others but still in the coop. (Seriously ramshackle chicken wire quick set up)

I'm now not sure if I should pull all the eggs out and set new ones under her (she's a tiny silkie and I don't want her sitting forever), just wait it out and see what happens or maybe steal the first few that hatch so she will stay on the nest and hope she will take them back?

What would you do?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hope everyone had a great weekend

I need some advice. Last Tuesday I gave up on breaking a broody and gave her three eggs.
No one was bothering her or laying in her nest until yesterday when 4 more eggs appeared under her. I don't know which are the old or new eggs.

So she is now blocked off from the others but still in the coop. (Seriously ramshackle chicken wire quick set up)

I'm now not sure if I should pull all the eggs out and set new ones under her (she's a tiny silkie and I don't want her sitting forever), just wait it out and see what happens or maybe steal the first few that hatch so she will stay on the nest and hope she will take them back?

What would you do?

This is exactly why I segregate my broodies ... even marking their eggs doesn't work for long-term to make sure we don't gather them, and my flock seems to be attracted to nesting boxes that look "good" because someone else is already in them.

If think if it were me I'd let her sit, see what hatches in a reasonable amount of time, and then deal with the unhatched eggs in a way that seems appropriate at the time. A lot can change between now and then ...

If, at the time she gets up off the nest to tend to chicks the unhatched eggs look viable I might try to finish the hatch in an incubator and then give her those chicks when they hatch and see if she'll take them. She probably will ... I've never had a hen not accept "store bought" chicks into a clutch of chicks she hatched herself. And I don't even have silkies!

 

[delisha]

Hope everyone had a great weekend

I need some advice. Last Tuesday I gave up on breaking a broody and gave her three eggs.
No one was bothering her or laying in her nest until yesterday when 4 more eggs appeared under her. I don't know which are the old or new eggs.

So she is now blocked off from the others but still in the coop. (Seriously ramshackle chicken wire quick set up)

I'm now not sure if I should pull all the eggs out and set new ones under her (she's a tiny silkie and I don't want her sitting forever), just wait it out and see what happens or maybe steal the first few that hatch so she will stay on the nest and hope she will take them back?

What would you do?

Piece of cake..

Go out at night and candle the eggs..the ones with live embroys are the ones you give back to her..the new ones will not b that developed..just cook them up and feed them back to her..

 

[Shan30]

Piece of cake..

Go out at night and candle the eggs..the ones with live embroys are the ones you give back to her..the new ones will not b that developed..just cook them up and feed them back to her..

Hmm never thought of this, I guess I could do it either way and leave the 4 new eggs if I wanted as well. I'm just a bit worried the the original eggs may have been harmed when all the others were climbing in and out of her box.

I think I'll give this a go. Thank you.

If for some reason I can't tell I'll just leave them all and get my incubator out of storage just in case.

 

[aoxa]

Les - I agree. I don't even like to buy mealworms from China and the only DRIED mealworms I've ever been able to find are from China. I've never found a US source for them. I'd love to know if there is one.

I also don't do much with supplements either and the nutritional yeast is more of a food product to me too. Way back in the day when I was having babies I would take some brewers yeast while I was preg and/or nursing for the "B" vitamins. I just got interested in it again thinking of using it for the birds. Then I decided to take a bit for iron and "B" vitamins since I had a "medical" need... for myself a few weeks ago. It was the first time I had purchased any since the 1970s!!!

I did get the Lewis Labs and it really does taste pretty good - especially compared to the stuff I used to get. But the substrate is different and that's probably why it tastes so good!

Are my chickens out of their minds? Bought two things of dried mealworms and they were not impressed. I even tried to hydrate them to make them a little more appetizing (it said so on the container). Won't be buying those again...

 

[delisha]

Quote: mine will not eat the dead ones..the live ones are a whole different story..I tried to grow them but they just would not breed and reproduce..

 

[aoxa]

mine will not eat the dead ones..the live ones are a whole different story..I tried to grow them but they just would not breed and reproduce..

Okay good. Mine aren't crazy My chickens like crickets best of all. I haven't bought any since last spring, but they went absolutely insane. Also have bought night crawlers intended for fishing. They loved those as well.