The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

Baby ducks and the dog are so sweet! And love the little baby chick! Congrats on your hatches

 

[ChooksChick]

Seriously??!? 1300 unread messages??

You people really should speak up. I'm sure you have *something* to say! Why so quiet?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I want Non GMO feed and Organic. Can I get it in Pellet or Crumbles? The mash seems to have a trash factor to it. They eat all the seeds but some of the grind is trashed. Does anybody know ?

Pellets and crumbles (after the pellets are passed through the crumbler) contain a binding agent that may not be approved for organic. It's usually a lignin sulfonate which is approved for organic with restrictions.
Perhaps most organic manufacturers opt not to use it.
Making pellets and crumbles also require several additional pieces of expensive equipment along the process line. Any feed, certified organic, wouldn't be allowed to be processed on the same production line as conventional feed.

What works for me is to ferment the organic feed. The fines get suspended in the grout like mixture and don't get wasted. Just wetting the feed prior to feeding will have the same effect. It adds some labor steps to the feeding process but the feed savings and resultant improved nutrition are worth it.

Keep in mind that even organic feeds need supplemental nutrients like amino acids, vitamins and minerals that inevitably would end up in the fines. That means, the chickens are not getting some of the most important nutrients in their feed when offered in a traditional dry feed system.

With fermented feed, we're not only improving some of the nutrition but we're not losing other constituents in the feed that we've paid for.

Seriously??!? 1300 unread messages??

You people really should speak up. I'm sure you have *something* to say! Why so quiet?

I'm convinced it's because I'm the ultimate thread killer.




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Daughter posted a picture.

~ Everything I need for tomorrow's 2 day Halong Bay cruise, reading material and snacks.




I asked her if that was considered health food.
She said, "~Maybe I shouldn't have bought snacks when I was hungry.."

 

[pickitfarm]

My first hatch - my first chick.

What a pretty little chick

 

[Pozees]

getaclue, congrats on your first hatch!

ChickenCanoe, I got a chuckle out of your daughter's snack selections and her comment about when not to shop Been guilty of the same in the past!

Your comment about how food is made into pellets and then crumbles interested me, I didn't realize (I don't know why, I guess I never really thought it through) something had to be added to get the ground grains into pellet form. I have been meaning to go back to fermenting or at least soaking for months, and now that it's getting warmer I have to get on it. SO much waste - cleaned out pens last weekend and OMG, one pen was more food that bedding and droppings.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
They are so cute though....

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

eh?...where's that young upstart that's trying to wake all us old folks up?

(we could still prolly run circles around him with our walkers... )

 

[bamadude]

I stayed up late last night hoping u old timers found ur way back home from bingo

 

[bamadude]

eh?...where's that young upstart that's trying to wake all us old folks up?               (we could still prolly run circles around him with our walkers...  )    

im tired of running around in circles... hush up or i will nail ur other foot down too

 

[bamadude]

Yall old folks are alot of fun.