Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Manningjw]

Newbie questions -
Why does chicken roost? Why do they have to roost? What happens to hens that doesn't roost?

They roost because it is in their nature. From my limited understanding - they roost at night for safety. They tend to find the highest point they can reach to sleep so they are off the ground and away from the nocturnal predators that they would be defenseless against. At night and early dawn chickens are very vulnerable bordering on helpless when it comes to predators, poor vision and seem almost sedated.

I have yet to have a hen that simply didn't roost by choice. Young chickens and brooding chickens will not roost, and chickens that are lowest on the pecking order without a safe spot to roost may not either but generally speaking they all find a place.

 

[Scram85]

We feed Purina Flock Raiser to all of our ducks, including ducklings, and all of our chickens in the coops. We use medicated chick starter for chicks in the brooder (I grind it smaller with a coffee grinder for Silkie hatchlings because they are so small) and then they get Flock Raiser crumbles to transition to the pellets the adult birds get. We feed all our egg shells free choice back to the hens so the drakes and rooster do not get too much calcium. They all forage but the ducks forage more than the chickens so they eat less feed and get more natural food sources in their diet. I love how well they weed and mow the grass for us while also cleaning up grass spiders and slugs that used to be everywhere in our yard but we have not seen any for a long time now.

I tried feeding Feather Fixer during molting but I am not sure it is necessary. I do it when the chickens look their worst and we just feed one bag, which does not last long around here. I have not done comparisons to see if there is much difference but it is supposed to make their poop toxic to mites so my hope is to catch any mites that could be in the wood of the coop. We use ivermectin pour on to prevent mites but it works better on the ones that live on chickens than the ones that live in coops. We do preventative treatments every couple months so I have not seen mites to know if the Feather Fixer is effective or not.

We used the Feather Fixer also without great results. They had a long molt which actually was the mites. We ended up separating the chickens. We moved them back with the group once they were healthy and had a few feathers.

Newbie questions -
Why does chicken roost? Why do they have to roost? What happens to hens that doesn't roost?

Good question. I have some two month olds that have never been around adults and they just started going on the roosts at night. Must be instinct.

 

[Chickielady]

We don't throw food away and we don't take government surplus food to feed to our chickens. The lentils are in my food pantry and I had not even thought of feeding them to the chickens until today. I just have not done anything with them because it is not something I would have purchased to eat, however we eat alot of food that stores would otherwise throw away because I am disabled and beggers can't be choosers.

At the end of every week there are people who pick up whatever food was not given to people and they feed it to their pigs. We get the same food the same day as the pig farmers and we eat it. I have had ulcers for two years from bacteria in the food we get from the food bank but I still eat it and feed it to my family. I am deathly allergic to mold and the fruit at the food bank always has mold on it (they say to pick the edible stuff out of the moldy stuff) so I have to pass on getting any soft fresh fruit that grows mold.

I do not waste food and I have taught my children not to waste food but I have worked with children who won't eat the crust on a sandwich and take more food than they can eat just to throw it away. I actually have raised pigs in the past when I taught preschool due to all the wasted food there.

You are really barking up the wrong tree here. I utilize resources most people would throw away because I don't believe in being wasteful.

Then I am very glad you said so.
Being a food bank (and Senior) food donator, I am sure you can see why people like me would be irritated at food being wasted.
Like seeing eggs I have donated being used by a group of teenagers in an egg fight, right there in the parking lot of the food bank.
Sometimes It makes me want to just stop donating.
We donate eggs, vegetables and canned foods that we buy, to both food banks.

I wish we could still acquire the tons of good food thrown out by grocery stores...imagine all the poultry and pigs that could be raised on that amount of feed !
You'd think there would be a government program dedicated to just that: gathering grocery store wasted food, and feeding it to a dedicated pork facility.
Then feed the pork to the food bank: a win-win if you ask me !
It could even be operated by the 4-H or FFA students.
And I am not barking: I am merely stating my opinion, and that will not change.
Glad to hear you do not waste the resources we all donate to the food banks.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yay! And funny little thing, holding out on you. That's what, 8 months or something? Her older sisters started laying mid January, at 5.5 months. One is a stinker about hiding her eggs though. What color did you get?

the true ee of the group is spending all the time in the 500 dog crate on the floor?
sorry did not see the fuzzy maybe a new photo today

 

[pennyJo1960]

We used the Feather Fixer also without great results. They had a long molt which actually was the mites. We ended up separating the chickens. We moved them back with the group once they were healthy and had a few feathers.
Good question. I have some two month olds that have never been around adults and they just started going on the roosts at night. Must be instinct.

My 4 olive eggers do not roost yet they lay on the floor in a group
I have a long table in there with several bird wide roost boards attached to it
but it was made of pallets most just roost on the edge board

 

[Chickielady]

ok so are we all in agreement our chickens have gullets and do not need corn soaked
... that is why I am planting 2 rows of cabbage will be planting all my salad goodies throught
the summer what we have extra that is good can go to a food bank or senior center
if it turns at all it goes to the chickens.. extra eggs I hard boil for the dogs
taking most to the senior center...

Penny, chickens and other fowl have a crop, which is basically a holding tank for food then funneled into the gizzard, which holds small stones used to crush the hard seeds.

They do not need to have their food softened and some soft food can be too soft and promote running droppings.
But
That all said, in many studies it has been proven that slightly softened (in this case I refer to sprouted grains and/or mash or crumbled grains) is far more "digestible" in the bird's case that means easier to grin up into small particles which are much more digestible.

Larger pieces could pass right out of the body, unabsorbed.
This is true with all livestock feed as well......like calf, horse and cattle feeds.
These feeds are easier to digest and more total nutrition can then be absorbed by feeds that are pre-ground, or in the case of whole grains, sprouted.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Thank you but was using the more generic terms
not qiute with it yewt thisa morning but darn good to have cor

rect me
how ya been

 

[Chickielady]

Thank you but was using the more generic terms
not qiute with it yewt thisa morning but darn good to have cor

rect me
how ya been

Ugh ! I have not had my coffee yet either!

 

[Chickielady]

Happy Mother's day to all !

Hope you enjoy your day & get spoiled !!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Ugh ! I have not had my coffee yet either!

I have had 1 cup thankfully the computer room is not
far from the kitchen

ok second cup starting to
wake up