The Old Folks Home

[Highcotton]

Very nice charts on the feed Oz. Thanks for posting.

Thanks from me to Oz and thanks to you guys for helping me understand the calcium.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Chika I hope you get to feeling better. It will definitely be an upper watching your chickens however you can. I will be praying for you!



I feed all of my chickens and Ducks layer feed. I guess I should stop, In this small town I live in all the choices you have are grower, layer pellets, and scratch feed. Which is better?

Not scratch. I pretty much feed everyone grower in the feeders, with a bag of layer for their "breakfast bowl" each morning mixed with leftovers or flax seeds. I like the higher protein for my birds.

That being said, I have also fed young ones and roos layer pellets (if I'm noticing a lot of soft eggs I switch everyone to layer for a few weeks) and had no problems.

 

[chickadoodles]

Chika I hope you get to feeling better. It will definitely be an upper watching your chickens however you can. I will be praying for you!



I feed all of my chickens and Ducks layer feed. I guess I should stop, In this small town I live in all the choices you have are grower, layer pellets, and scratch feed. Which is better?

Thank you chicken that means allot to me!

 

[chickensnewtome]

Not scratch. I pretty much feed everyone grower in the feeders, with a bag of layer for their "breakfast bowl" each morning mixed with leftovers or flax seeds. I like the higher protein for my birds.

That being said, I have also fed young ones and roos layer pellets (if I'm noticing a lot of soft eggs I switch everyone to layer for a few weeks) and had no problems.

All of my chickens have been on layer for about 4 or 5 months now. The rooster that passed on was a newER addition to the flock that was a free ranger before being added to our flock. Could that make a difference to? He has been with us for about a month or so. I did switch not to long back to a feed for quail because I like the high protein but had to switch back to layer for the cost difference.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

All of my chickens have been on layer for about 4 or 5 months now. The rooster that passed on was a newER addition to the flock that was a free ranger before being added to our flock. Could that make a difference to? He has been with us for about a month or so. I did switch not to long back to a feed for quail because I like the high protein but had to switch back to layer for the cost difference.

I don't know for sure, but I doubt the food had much to do with it. Chickens die for no apparent reason frequently.

I will probably get some beef for this, but I'll admit to it. I raise all my ducklings on layer feed after they're about a week old and their bills are big enough to eat the pellets. If you give them too much protein, they grow too quickly and can get angel wing. To reduce the risk of this, you buy lower protein food. Well the lowest protein food without calcium I can get around here is 18% protein - that's still way too much protein. I can cut it with other items to reduce the protein, and I did, but they were still growing too fast. So I switched them to layer. They stopped growing as fast. They still get layer almost every single day as their food (the open bag of layer goes into the breakfast dishes that go out each morning, the higher protein food fills up the feeders in the chicken houses - the ducks don't have a feeder, just a dish that goes out each morning) and they're still happy as can be. I have 2 boys and 1 girl left (from the original 4 boys and 1 girl) and they're 3ish years old. I have never had a duck spontaneously die - I've lost a few to a fox and a ducking to a rat but no one has ever keeled over and died from being fed layer pellets. They do free range all day now, they didn't used to, but there's not much to eat out there from now until about April/May. So their main source of nutrition is the layer feed. I do realize ducks drink more water than chickens, and perhaps flush the calcium out easier, but I've also used layer in 5 week old chicks and I have had no chicks/adolescents drop dead. The only things dropping dead around here are the older birds. I don't know why they drop dead sometimes, but I certainly don't suspect the food.

 

[chickensnewtome]

I don't think I have shown yall many photos of me and my family so I thought that while I had the time I would share some.


This is my oldest and his BB gun he got for Christmas last year

Here is my youngest little princess

and my middle son Wyatt.


I know this is off subject but I talk to ya'll constantly and see plenty of yall's photos so I thought I would share to while I had the time.

 

[chickensnewtome]

I don't know for sure, but I doubt the food had much to do with it. Chickens die for no apparent reason frequently.

I will probably get some beef for this, but I'll admit to it. I raise all my ducklings on layer feed after they're about a week old and their bills are big enough to eat the pellets. If you give them too much protein, they grow too quickly and can get angel wing. To reduce the risk of this, you buy lower protein food. Well the lowest protein food without calcium I can get around here is 18% protein - that's still way too much protein. I can cut it with other items to reduce the protein, and I did, but they were still growing too fast. So I switched them to layer. They stopped growing as fast. They still get layer almost every single day as their food (the open bag of layer goes into the breakfast dishes that go out each morning, the higher protein food fills up the feeders in the chicken houses - the ducks don't have a feeder, just a dish that goes out each morning) and they're still happy as can be. I have 2 boys and 1 girl left (from the original 4 boys and 1 girl) and they're 3ish years old. I have never had a duck spontaneously die - I've lost a few to a fox and a ducking to a rat but no one has ever keeled over and died from being fed layer pellets. They do free range all day now, they didn't used to, but there's not much to eat out there from now until about April/May. So their main source of nutrition is the layer feed. I do realize ducks drink more water than chickens, and perhaps flush the calcium out easier, but I've also used layer in 5 week old chicks and I have had no chicks/adolescents drop dead. The only things dropping dead around here are the older birds. I don't know why they drop dead sometimes, but I certainly don't suspect the food.

Everyone else is doing great it was just this one rooster. My Ducks have been fed layer since about 6 wks old. They are doing great. Maybe it was just spontaneous chicken death

 

[Highcotton]

I don't think I have show yall many photos of me and my family so I thought that while I had the time I would share some. This is my oldest and his BB gun he got for Christmas last year Here is my youngest little princess and my middle son Wyatt.

You have a beautiful family.

 

[chickadoodles]

I don't think I have shown yall many photos of me and my family so I thought that while I had the time I would share some.


This is my oldest and his BB gun he got for Christmas last year

Here is my youngest little princess

and my middle son Wyatt.


I know this is off subject but I talk to ya'll constantly and see plenty of yall's photos so I thought I would share to while I had the time.

Chicken, you have a lovely family!

 

[ozexpat]

Thanks for sharing CNTM

A great family