The Old Folks Home

[drumstick diva]

Having finished that now the guy has to break ice on their waterers

 

[bamachicks8]

there must be an old folks early bird special at denny's

 

[Alaskan]

So no wild blueberries? What is the ground covered with then?

By my house there are only a few blue berry bushes, some places have lots more. Going North from my house there are a few unhappy wild raspberries, and then lots of watermelon berries, and different varieties of ground growing berries. Like bear berry and trailing raspberry.

And mosses, and mushrooms.

South of my house are no berries, chocolate lilies, pushki, fireweed, wild roses, horsetail.

 

[Alaskan]

oh, and fern, lots of ferns and mosses

 

[chickisoup]

Having finished that now the guy has to break ice on their waterers

yep. that's exactly what I did next. Brought in my waterer that was a solid block of ice. One too many -20o and lower nights. Finally had to give in and just put out the two-stage heated waterer before the next round of frigid cold hits tomorrow night. Today we actually got up to +15o!!!! Then it started to snow, sigh.

 

[Cynthia12]

 

[Peep_Show]

Hoping some folks with chicken experience can give some insight here. This particular hen is getting mothier by the day. She was the first to lay and was getting feather pulled pretty brutally by some of the other birds. I've never had a chicken look like this, though. Is there something else going on? Bird is coming up on six months old, never been wormed or dusted. We're having a heatwave in comparison to the rest of the United States. I cannot see any obvious parasites.

Any ideas or suggestions? (I've got an inquiry out in another forum, but the more opinions the better)

Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What does mothier mean?
If no parasites (look with a magnifying glass under wings and around vent), then protein would be my next thought. Feathers are about 90% protein (and sulphur based protein).
What is the protein percentage of the feed and what percentage of total intake does the rest of the offerings provide? What is fed besides feed?

 

[Peep_Show]

"Mothier" means where she used to have red sleek feathers she now has that dark stub fuzz.

Their non-GMO organic layer pellets are 16%. They get scratch (8%), apples, greens, hulled millet, Calf Manna, ricotta cheese, BOSS, dried meal worms, bread, in assorted combinations once a day to snack on (treats).

Do I need to up the protein?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'd cut out everything but the cheese and mealworms for a couple days. They need a total of 16% protein. The scratch and everything but the cheese and worms are pulling that down. Even BOSS is less if it still has the hulls on.
The layer pellets are balanced and even though you're providing a good combination of things, my thought is that you're cutting the protein.
For an inexpensive quick fix, canned mackerel has all the amino acids and is cheap per ounce.