The Old Folks Home

[Beer can]

Too much protein is not a good thing. Somehow people with "heritage" breeds are convinced that their chickens are different from other chickens and that they do better with high protein. When egg production is lower than expected, they do not consider that the too high protein might be a cause. There is a reason why layer is 15 to 17%.

What about one's you plan on butchering for meat, jersey giants and langshans? I plan on hammering the protein to them, free cottage cheese, ground fish, duck weed, sprouted grains and kale and spinach from the garden. Mostly to save money being those breeds take forever to get to max roasting size. How much protein is too much?

 

[Double Kindness]

Dang it can't upload picts. But it is mostly out, but one leg is shivering a lot.

 

[ronott1]

What about one's you plan on butchering for meat, jersey giants and langshans? I plan on hammering the protein to them, free cottage cheese, ground fish, duck weed, sprouted grains and kale and spinach from the garden. How much protein is too much?

Use a feed that is in the 20% protein range and then two weeks before butcher, grain feed them with a good grain(corn, wheat and etc.) soaked in goats milk or raw cows milk.

They will gain more that a pound and often two pounds in the two weeks.

Your birds are Dual purpose not broilers so they do better without the protein waste. They will just pass the extra protein out with their poo so you are spending extra for nothing gained.

 

[Beer can]

Darn, the plan to save $ might not be worth it. I get cottage cheese free, and the kids catch tons of bluegills, free too. I didn't want to buy much feed after getting them off chick starter.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Thank you for the lovely pictures, Cyn. What views!

We're only getting 4 inches tonight!

 

[chickwhispers]

Alicia you can have the 19" of snow we got this past weekend, hope to have the driveway shoveled by end of the week. They are saying few days with 1-2inches except every time they say that they upgrade. I really do love shoveling and don't mind the cold just hate the gusty winds and blowing snow. No wind and I can shovel happily all day

19"

love these nicely done. i like the chairs.
we are doing foam and wrap now.

Thank you, that's one of my favorites. Sorry again about your chicks.

I've been a coffee addict for about 25 years. Sometimes I'd drink 2 or 3 pots a day, usually if I was working the midnight shift. Evening shift was the only time I wouldn't drink coffee.
I quit cold turkey a few months back, switching to tea and water with lime. However, I make the coffee for the family in the morning so I've been tempted back. I drink about 2 half cups topped off with a bit of cream and almond milk.

How's this?

That's like my area, extreme cold to extreme heat.



Quote:
What state are you in? Squirrels are hunkered down.

Quote:
Very nice pictures.
We haven't had very much snow this year. Most was in Nov and Dec but barely enough to shovel.A dusting yesterday morning.

Big straws can work unless the chick is too big. You can even slit the straw segment lengthwise and use it as a cast and something to attach the tape to.

another good idea

Thanks And ditto!

Chickwhispers very pretty pictures!

Thank you!

DH came home to rip apart the the snowblower. Broken belt . . . and NO one has one in stock.

DH says we will have to shovel the driveway-- all 1100 feet.

Trying to figureout how to make a serpintine belt . . . .

Insult to injury! Not nice!

No way! We have Daffodils and Tulips coming up!

Nice!!!

I have some sort of bulb coming up... no clue what it is, cause it doesn't produce flowers.

-Kathy

Look up Resurection Lilies. They have the leaves come up in spring but the flowers don't come up until late summer early fall.

Sorry to hear about the chickie leg issues and the pea fowl sicknesss.

Yeah for eggs in the bators!

I am

. Been doing farm work on this beautiful day. Getting close to finishing a llama pen/shed.

Nice and awesome score on the pallets. X2 on eggs in the bators too!

Some random "dude" asked me to post this here for his buddies!


What happens when they send us old car guys to the nursing home!

random "dude"!

chickwhispers your snow pictures are great!

SCG I hope the suet feeder becomes visible again!

Thanks!!!

Ok I'm freaking out a bit.

I have only hatched 2 chicks so far, and this egg has been pipping for 30 hours + and is only this far


I don't want to intervene, but will it be ok? So new to this.

Good luck on the hatch!

 

[chickwhispers]

@Cynthia12 Great pictures!

 

[ozexpat]

After hatching more than 4000 chicks with incubation ramped up to 500 eggs in the bator and more each week here is my take on the whole incubator thing.

Lots of really good people here in byc have written great learning center articles and others offer great advice. Many however just regurgitate misinformation that has no evidence to back it up. Stick to the advice of smart people like those who offer citations like Kathy or @Sally Sunshine or have proven methodology and wear a byc educator badge like Ron.

If you are going to incubate, have all the tools you need when you start. This includes accurate thermometers and hygrometers. Chickens should pip on day 20 and be done by day 21. Sure you will read that it can take 23 days but generally its because you have done something wrong - most probably your bator temps are too low. Its easy to blow 60-100 bucks on eggs but people balk at a 30 buck thermometer and 15 dollar flashlight that will help you so much they could pay you back in one or two hatches. A usb temp data logger is a great toy if you are having temp issues. A gram scale is great for your first half dozen hatches.

Do proof of concept hatches first. Shipped eggs have a myriad of problems. Before attempting the tough eggs, do five or six hatches of local eggs. If you are worried about what to do with the chicks - just give them away. I can just about guarantee you will find homes for free chicks on craigslist. My practice eggs were 10 bucks a doz. I then moved onto TJ eggs. Once I knew my bators were tuned and technique was good, I started with shipped eggs. Some hatches were great, some awful but at least I was not second guessing myself.

Lockdown at 18 days is almost an urban chicken myth. Yes, stop turning them on day 18 but your eggs need to lose 11-13% of weight to hatch successfully. Two of the easiest things to prevent increased dead in shell late losses are correct amount of fluid loss from the egg and adequate turning from the start of incubation. You need to up humidity before the first pip occurs. if you can heat chirping from inside the egg, its about time. If your eggs are at 11% on day 18 then put the brakes on the evaporation process by increasing humidity then If not, wait.

Opening an incubator during hatching is not like when a plane window gets blown out and the flight attendants get sucked out. The membrane wont suddenly suck down, shrink wrapping the chick. Shrink wrapping is called such because the end product is similar to look at. it takes sustained low humidity or long pip to zip times to shrink wrap. opening the bator is a must for me as I dont have enough room for all the chicks in the hatcher ( I will build another soon) so we pluck chicks every 6 hours that are dry. The room is at a min of 65% humidity but normally 75%+. The bator is opened chicks are pulled and bator is closed.

Shipped eggs from sea level will hatch at a lower rate at 2000 feet than eggs laid at 2000 feet hatched at sea level. Know your eggs.

Wash your hands before you handle incubating eggs. Incubators also do a great job of propagating bacteria.

My methods work in my environment. I train people to incubate by instructions. They dont know the science and therefore they dont overthink. Over handling eggs and overthinking the hatch will cause more problems than not.

Practice, perfect then be a machine.

 

[ronott1]

Darn, the plan to save $ might not be worth it. I get cottage cheese free, and the kids catch tons of bluegills, free too. I didn't want to buy much feed after getting them off chick starter.

Yes save money!

Do you have a brewery near you? Even one of those hipster micro breweries? You can mix in spent grain from them at about 50% with chicken feed. Many places will give the grain to you fro free. I need to find one for myself.

Chickens do not digest dairy too well but a bit of cottage cheese should be fine for them.

 

[chickwhispers]

Thanks Oz! I haven't hatched and I'm learning so much from you and Ron and Kathy and Sally! And many more. I can't wait to start but I'm clearly not quite there yet!