They're Eating More Than They Produce! Help!!!

[Joe Jordan]

Perfect information! I've been trying to get the wife to let me have a couple goats and feeder cows.
I'm lactose intolerant so the goat milk would be great! I'll have the wife read this.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

You might want to look into fermenting your feed. I know it has cut the waste down for me and they seem to eat less. It's a thought.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Why the limit on free-ranging? I bet my three don't go through 3 cups of feed per week. They free-range from early AM until dusk every day and I hardly ever see them at the feeder.

 

[MamaRudey]

I have several birds and go through about 130#s in a month & half... sometimes two. Mine free range 6+ acres a day though from sun up to sun down.

(80# bag of all purpose & 50# bag of 3 way scratch)

 

[centrarchid]

Joe may be up against a wall with reguard to predators preventing comfort with more extensive free-range management. Having other livestock and dog helps with that.

Joe, how many acres do you have and what to they look like? Do you have any farming experience?

 

[Joe Jordan]

I've only got 3 acres of hwy front property. Not enough to do much on. I will only free range when someone is present to watch and listen to the birds. They stay away from the hwy but not so much for our past dog, hence no guard dogs. Birds of prey are our biggest danger as they constantly are looking for opportunities from road kill. As an addictions counselor fermenting anything is out of the question. Just sayin'.

Thanks for all ya'lls input! Wife put the hammer down on any other livestock. So, I'll just deal I guess.

 

[centrarchid]

I've only got 3 acres of hwy front property. Not enough to do much on. I will only free range when someone is present to watch and listen to the birds. They stay away from the hwy but not so much for our past dog, hence no guard dogs. Birds of prey are our biggest danger as they constantly are looking for opportunities from road kill. As an addictions counselor fermenting anything is out of the question. Just sayin'.

Thanks for all ya'lls input! Wife put the hammer down on any other livestock. So, I'll just deal I guess.

The feed fermenting bit does not involve production of ethanol you can drink. Alcohol content is similar to what you find in bread. Best value I know of with fermenting is with intact grains where process initiates germination process making some carbohydrate portions more available and it also activates some vitamins. Process need not progress to point where ethanol evolved so maybe if done properly could be considered working with sprouted grain as feed. Some folks are fermenting actual feed but that to me is similar to slopping hogs and may degrade some vitamins already incorporated into feeds. Stuff does seem to stimulate appettite in thirds though.

Consider chicken tractor route. Birds can use it as roost and can be periodically released for free-range foraging. I consider vegetative plant intake as provided by a properly moved to chicken tractor to spare at least some feed needs for adult chickens.

 

[donrae]

How long is that bag of feed lasting you? That would be a good piece of info.

But it seems to me you're trying to do two things.......keep pets/non-productive animals but also want a financially feasible flock. You really can't do both! If you're keeping the roosters and polish as pets, you can't expect their keep to be "earned" .

We buy 3 bags of all-in-one every 2 weeks. That feeds around 30 birds, mostly layers but also 3 chicks, 4 bantam hens kept to be broodies, 2 roosters and 3 big nasty ducks. I don't free range but ALL my kitchen scraps go to the birds. Right now that's a LOT of tomato ends, etc as I'm canning up the last of the maters. It just depends day to day what they get there.

 

[Cindy in PA]

9 birds should go thru 50-60 lbs. a month. Right now you say you are getting 6 eggs a day, so I would believe you are getting at least 10 dozen a month even with the off days. With eggs at $1.50/dozen which is lower than in the store, you would be making the $15.50 for feed. Is that not the case?

 

[mandelyn]

Eventually you need to think about the cost of the individual. You already have 3 who eat and don't produce. The others will have a big molt at around 18 months of age, and they'll quit laying for weeks more than likely. Winter will see some slacking off too. Then age becomes a factor, where each bird is down to 3 -4 eggs a week, and less that next year. It's a reality that you are feeding more birds than are producing, or you sell/process the less productive birds.

Supplement by pulling weeds/grass and giving that to them. Grow a small garden, anything not perfect for the table goes to the birds. That put a dent in my summer feedings.

Rodents steal an incredible amount of feed, and you may not ever even see one. I noticed some droppings for the first time about 2 weeks ago. I set traps inside shoe boxes and put them in the coop near the feed. I've caught 26 mice in 2 weeks. Average 3-4 a night if I remember to reset the traps. I set 4 traps at a time, just the regular old wooden snap traps with peanut butter.

Never saw a live mouse. 26 thieves thwarted, who knows how many left. Built everything with hardware cloth, the building is steel, not sure how they even found their way in or where they're living!