Thanks
The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!
- Thread starter Bulldogma
- Start date
@sunflower4you I add probiotics, and it ferments pretty fast...
You can get lactobacillus drops...
You can get lactobacillus drops...
Since multi quote isn't working I didn't even try. Now I have to try and remember everything I wanted to say.
First, Turk gave the same recommendation I was planning... give them wet feed.. it won't slosh and they get at least some water. However, when you do stop, it would probably still be a good idea to put a waterer in with them temporarily. I ferment my feed and I'm amazed at how thirsty my birds still get!
Dog house in a chicken run? Yes. I have a pen sectioned off in my yard bird pen that has a dog house and I fashioned a door for it. I'll try to remember to get pics tomorrow so you can see.
Bald spot on hen's neck... you said you checked for mites and lice. Did you only check the vent area? Be sure to check everywhere as those bugs can and do infest other parts of their bodies.
My hens which are molting have very little appetite right now too. I usually put a little rolled barley in the feed mix along with a tiny bit of BOSS seeds. Well, those brats were picking out the grains and that's all they were eating. It was only a small amount of each. Since its not a good diet to eat barley and BOSS, I had to put a stop to it so I started fermenting larger batches of what I give the chicks.. no whole grains, just the fermented pelleted feed. Slowly, they are starting to eat more.
That fermented feed feeder idea is a good one. I will most likely not include any grains in that as the birds will only pick out their favorite things if there is a seemingly endless supply of them. I will soak their grains separately and toss them some at the end of the day just to get them to eat a little bit more.
I hope I remembered all the comments I wanted to make.
First, Turk gave the same recommendation I was planning... give them wet feed.. it won't slosh and they get at least some water. However, when you do stop, it would probably still be a good idea to put a waterer in with them temporarily. I ferment my feed and I'm amazed at how thirsty my birds still get!
Dog house in a chicken run? Yes. I have a pen sectioned off in my yard bird pen that has a dog house and I fashioned a door for it. I'll try to remember to get pics tomorrow so you can see.
Bald spot on hen's neck... you said you checked for mites and lice. Did you only check the vent area? Be sure to check everywhere as those bugs can and do infest other parts of their bodies.
My hens which are molting have very little appetite right now too. I usually put a little rolled barley in the feed mix along with a tiny bit of BOSS seeds. Well, those brats were picking out the grains and that's all they were eating. It was only a small amount of each. Since its not a good diet to eat barley and BOSS, I had to put a stop to it so I started fermenting larger batches of what I give the chicks.. no whole grains, just the fermented pelleted feed. Slowly, they are starting to eat more.
That fermented feed feeder idea is a good one. I will most likely not include any grains in that as the birds will only pick out their favorite things if there is a seemingly endless supply of them. I will soak their grains separately and toss them some at the end of the day just to get them to eat a little bit more.
I hope I remembered all the comments I wanted to make.
While it almost makes my throat swell up thinking about (meaning I wouldn't do it), I know a few 'breeders' in colder climates that give their birds NO water on bitterly cold periods but rather add various warm liquids to the dry feed, making a mush like consistency. I've seen the birds and the chicken droppings ...all look healthy but I would personally drag water on my hands and knees to my chickens in gallon milk jugs before I failed to give them clean water, at least twice a day....but that's me.
It won't hurt to offer your birds water at stops but if you make a good gruel, for a 12 hour trip...they might not even bother to drink. Unless they are packed in such a way that makes giving water easy along the drive, dragging them out and back in could cause more stress than needed...
Not being contrary, merely offering up information about what I have personally witnessed. 12 hours is not an especially long time and most animals, including chickens get lulled into a bit of a trance as they move along the highway.
TURK
Agreed that they at least need access to fresh water. On days when we stay below freezing here, I bring mine lukewarm water a couple of times a day. I have noticed though, they don't drink nearly as much since starting them on FF.
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I have fermented my feed using ACV, and also bit using ACV. Both work great, and my chickens didn't care one way or the other, they just really enjoy the fermented feed.I know. That's the problem.
Can somebody just tell me if they ferment without a starter? I guess that's my main question. Water and feed sitting in a bucket for a few days is easy enough for me!
Yes. Easy to do. All the ACV does is give it a kick start.
Agreed Turk. I guess I was "assuming" they would be in a place that is easy to reach and work with. A wet gruel of sorts is certainly preferable to dry feed to facilitate care when traveling.
- Jul 22, 2014
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Update on my fermented feed since this is my first batch ever. I chose to lacto-ferment, but I thought I would try to do it without a starter. So I just put some feed in a pail and added water to cover. I checked it every so often and added water to cover a few times since the feed soaked up so much water. Last night was the end of Day 2 on the batch and it is doing good so far! I stir it 2-3 times/day and now when I stir it I get nice bubbles that float up to the surface. When I stop stirring, I just have about a 1 inch layer of water over the feed. When I put this feed out for my girls yesterday morning (1.5 days into fermenting), they ate a lot of it. Apparently they liked it. I am going to keep this batch going until it gets low and then add more feed and water. Very pleased with the results so far.
Deciding to go to FF was more instinctual for me rather than a researched thing. I noticed they weren't eating much of their dry crumble so I thought well, they must not like it because it is cheap. So then I switched to an organic dry mash and I thought that would solve the problem. But they still weren't eating a lot of the mash and they spilled a lot on the ground. So I looked at the waterer. Then I looked at the feeder. And I thought, why not pour a little of their water into their feed and mix it up so it is more palatable, kind of like cooked oatmeal. From there, FF was not a big leap so I took it. Wind chills in the 20s today. Maybe not the best time to start FF, but what the hey. This learning experience called chicken-keeping that I am embarking on is an adventure, subject to change.
Deciding to go to FF was more instinctual for me rather than a researched thing. I noticed they weren't eating much of their dry crumble so I thought well, they must not like it because it is cheap. So then I switched to an organic dry mash and I thought that would solve the problem. But they still weren't eating a lot of the mash and they spilled a lot on the ground. So I looked at the waterer. Then I looked at the feeder. And I thought, why not pour a little of their water into their feed and mix it up so it is more palatable, kind of like cooked oatmeal. From there, FF was not a big leap so I took it. Wind chills in the 20s today. Maybe not the best time to start FF, but what the hey. This learning experience called chicken-keeping that I am embarking on is an adventure, subject to change.
I think this question has come up before but I'll ask again. Any thoughts about feeding acorns to your chickens? I have a ton of them this year and wondering if they can be put to any good use. I've broken a few open for my birds and they've been indifferent.
Any time I've fed acorns to my birds, they went berzerk over them. However, they have a lot of tannins so it is something you probably want to limit. Or, after they are cracked, if you soak them in a bucket of water, maybe put the acorns in mesh potato bags or onion bags or something like that. Soak them in clean water every day and maybe just take out one bag to give to the girls once a week or something.
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