The Tetra Tint thread.. (Photos, info) ❤

[zinia8]

The only time I had any problems with my birds is when they out grew the brooder box. They were pulling feathers out of each other.Found the answer to that problem here on BYC more room. This ended as soon as they went into the coop and run. I also let them free range as much as possible they are great foragers and hardly eat crumbles dump more on the coop floor than they consume. This is my first time at the rodeo. Thats why I came to BYC

 

[THunter]

Quote:
Any person that any experience with poultry will tell you that you are cramming those bird in a undersized pen.
But who am I to say I've only Raised and Breed chickens for 30 + years now and been showing then for the past 15 but, I would bet that there will be more people that will agree that you birds are over cramped in a undersized pen than you will find agree with you!

Chris

Okay dude, if you've been raising chickens for 30 years, I've got you beat by nearly 10. That aside, do your math. I actually had 50 chickens to begin with and we're talking CHICKS man, not full grown birds. They were purchased the day before Easter. A 16' x 18' pen is 288 SQUARE FEET, plus an 8' x 8' enclosed "coop" for an additional 64 SF (for clarification the birds are not cooped up at night and prefer to sleep roosted in the run). That is 352 SF for 50 chickens not even 2 months old. So, 352 SF divided by 50 birds is 7.04 SQUARE FEET per bird. By the recommendations of Backyard Poultry magazine (which in my opinion views birds more as pets than workhorses), 8 SQUARE FEET PER MATURE CHICKEN INCLUDING THE COOP is sufficient for chickens that are not free range. So, yes, I guess it's my fault. How silly of me. So yesterday, when the latest assault began on the easter eggers, we were down to 26 birds. That's a whopping 13.54 SF per CHICK--better than your show birds.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

I for one would still like to see pictures of the offending chickens. I'm not sure these are Tetras.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[zinia8]

http://www.babolnatetra.com/pdfek/tint.pdf

TINT was developed for the production of cream-colored eggs. This cream color is very popular in many third world countries. TINT is a white-feathered bird, and it is suitable for industrial egg production. It is characterized by a good egg production, egg weight and excellent feed conversion.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Any person that any experience with poultry will tell you that you are cramming those bird in a undersized pen.
But who am I to say I've only Raised and Breed chickens for 30 + years now and been showing then for the past 15 but, I would bet that there will be more people that will agree that you birds are over cramped in a undersized pen than you will find agree with you!

Chris

Okay dude, if you've been raising chickens for 30 years, I've got you beat by nearly 10. That aside, do your math. I actually had 50 chickens to begin with and we're talking CHICKS man, not full grown birds. They were purchased the day before Easter. A 16' x 18' pen is 288 SQUARE FEET, plus an 8' x 8' enclosed "coop" for an additional 64 SF (for clarification the birds are not cooped up at night and prefer to sleep roosted in the run). That is 352 SF for 50 chickens not even 2 months old. So, 352 SF divided by 50 birds is 7.04 SQUARE FEET per bird. By the recommendations of Backyard Poultry magazine (which in my opinion views birds more as pets than workhorses), 8 SQUARE FEET PER MATURE CHICKEN INCLUDING THE COOP is sufficient for chickens that are not free range. So, yes, I guess it's my fault. How silly of me. So yesterday, when the latest assault began on the easter eggers, we were down to 26 birds. That's a whopping 13.54 SF per CHICK--better than your show birds.

That's a whopping 13.54 SF per CHICK--better than your show birds.

You have no idea what size my pens are so how can you, "better than your show birds".

Before you start blaming a breed for your problem you should look at things that cause the problem you are having,
Are they getting enough protein in there diet (18% protein or better starter feed 20% preferred)
Are they a animal protein in there diet (chickens being omnivores and needing animal protein in there diet will find it one way or another)
Are they getting a balanced diet.
Are you over feeding treats and table scrapes.
Have you checked them for any parasites (lice and mites)

Chris​

 

[tls_ranch]

Quote:
Are you only feeding them twice a day? You mentioned a 9am feeding and a 4pm feeding. I think it's best to have feed available free choice at all times for penned chickens. If they are running out of feed during the day, they may be going into a feeding frenzy.

 

[THunter]

Yes, filling or re-filling twice a day. Most times they are out, sometimes not. I have noticed most of this activity has occurred after thunderstorms???? Will not feed free-choice, that would require 50 lbs/day the way they eat.

 

[Chris09]

Depending on breed of egg layer and quality of that breed 50 eight week old chicks should be eating at least 5 to 10 pounds of feed a day.

Chris

 

[THunter]

These are starving then. Remember, too, there are only 20 now.

 

[Chris09]

OK,
2 to 5 lbs then, and that would be the weight of a feed that is around 20% protein.

Chris