Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[JulesChicks]

see that is kinda my thought went and bought pipe to three more
there is 3 now
Well answered my own questions here through out some food and corn on the floor
now have 8 eggs the two long metal feeders I was going through 9 bags a month
135.00 a month in crumble

Wow, that seems like a lot of food to me. I just tracked my feed for the first time this past month since I have my largest number of chickens to date - just over 30. I only have 8 hens, 2 of whom just completed being broody and are raising one chick each - so they didn't eat much for that period. I have 3 cockerels that are 22 weeks, 3 that are 18 weeks and they eat a lot. The rest are pullets at 22 and 18 weeks. I feed organic and I ferment it. Fermenting it takes a little extra effort but it stretches the feed considerably, is great for their health and there is no feed left out to encourage rats/mice. So for 30 days, I fed 4 bags of feed total - 2 Scratch and Peck Naturally Free Grower and 2 Organic grower crumbles (Nutrena?) I mix because I like the whole grain but I like the consistency I get mixing it. They get oyster shell free choice, that way I can feed everyone the same feed (all ages). Took me a while of trial and error but I'm happy with this method now. I spent about $110 feeding organic but to almost double the number chickens. Fermenting may not be for everyone, but you can ferment any feed and stretch it and give your girls some healthy gut flora. We plan on processing a few cockerels this weekend and then hopefully the feed bill will go down a bit!

ETA: Half of my flock also free ranges, the rest of the grow outs will too eventually, but we just built a big run for them and haven't let them out yet. Not that there has been much grass to eat with it all dead until this past week! Always bugs though.

 

[Hinotori]

OK what in the hay is going on with my birds 18 layers two days at 5 eggs only down from 16 or 12 ? I have changed how I feed I was going through 9 50lb bags each month so instead of things they could kick out or poop in I made one shown on here

This is the one amazon sells for 99.99 mine were about 12 each

That's a lot of food. I only go through 8 bags a month and I have 23 large fowl hens, 20 silkie hens, 3 silkie roosters, and 8 bottomless pits...err silkie cockerels. Only the large fowl get a few hours of free range a day

 

[Leigti]

I also ferment my chicken food. And I also mix scratch and pack grower with A pellet food. And I have Oystershell on the side. I have 12 large breed chickens, nine of which are laying right now. Three more should be in the next couple months. They are anywhere from two years to four months old. They are free range during the day.
I say all this, not to bore you to death , but to give the background for the fact that I use 100 pounds of feed per month give or take. I don't know if that's good or bad. I probably overfeed them.

 

[Leigti]

And for all the people who responded saying they may have checks available, I will talk to my friend this weekend or early next week and let her know.

 

[lynnehd]

I also ferment my chicken food. And I also mix scratch and pack grower with A pellet food. And I have Oystershell on the side. I have 12 large breed chickens, nine of which are laying right now. Three more should be in the next couple months. They are anywhere from two years to four months old. They are free range during the day.
I say all this, not to bore you to death , but to give the background for the fact that I use 100 pounds of feed per month give or take. I don't know if that's good or bad. I probably overfeed them.

You're not boring me, lol!

What brand of pellet food do you use?

 

[Manningjw]

I normally do alot of hatching but with my injury and surgeries I have not done any. The hens havedone some hatching for me and my daughter incubated some eggs but now that I am on my feet I am finally ready to start doing some winter hatching. We raise the chicks indoors so the weather is not an issue but they do end up a good size by the time they go outside in the spring. I need to do a flock reduction before I start hatching, though, so I am only hatching the best possible chicks.

I am a big fan of broodies doing the work in the winter - saves a lot on energy and effort on my end.

I also need to do a flock reduction before I hatch again but I am having a really hard time figuring out which birds to sell.

 

[pennyJo1960]

of the group I am hatching I am only keeping a few hens.. A fried is moving out
close to us she wants a few birds and would rather have her own gives me a place to more
pullets maybe one cockerel

 

[Leigti]

You're not boring me, lol!

What brand of pellet food do you use?

Well, right now I have a combination of blue sky, Modesto, and Union point brands.

 

[Leigti]

I'm not sure if 100 pounds a month for 12 chickens is good or bad. How does that compare with other people?

 

[pennyJo1960]

I'm not sure if 100 pounds a month for 12 chickens is good or bad. How does that compare with other people?

sure seems like allot but it isnt - two bags of crumble easy that is 50 each 100 lbs all day long