Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[itsren]

Quote:
Nope. No roos can stay here. We plan to keep them as long as we can. As long as they are in the brooder, we should be fine. I'm not sure how old chicks are before they start to crow - mine will probably crow early because my goofball husband walks by them and crows at them now.

Depending on how my youngest son continues to handle the news that his chick is a boy, we may or may not try to find a home for him where he can visit him. My son knows we'll keep trying until we get a black pullet that he can keep, so he's handling the news OK. So far, so good.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Renee you may want to bring a carrier or box with you to Chehalis. Never know what may available for rustling!!!

Something that may bebig enough to hold an adult bird.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

1

 

[itsren]

Quote:

Quote: So is that 5'2" including the 4" hawk ???

Ignore him. CR...

be nice to the new people. Give them time to realize that you are a jokester before you mess with 'em. LOL.

Majo -

See there ya go tryin to set me up for disaster AGAIN by changing my posts AGAIN (compare the 2 above) and then there's the time YOU put the waitresses phone in my pocket and ratted me out for it. Oh yeah I can feel the love!!!!

You are funny - and so full of it!

Fortunately, the website NOTES when someone edits their post.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:

Quote: So is that 5'2" including the 4" hawk ???

Ignore him. CR...

be nice to the new people. Give them time to realize that you are a jokester before you mess with 'em. LOL.

Majo -

See there ya go tryin to set me up for disaster AGAIN by changing my posts AGAIN (compare the 2 above) and then there's the time YOU put the waitresses phone in my pocket and ratted me out for it. Oh yeah I can feel the love!!!!

You are funny - and so full of it!

Fortunately, the website NOTES when someone edits their post.

See they caught ya didn't they!!!!!

 

[Greg Richardson]

[FONT=times, helvetica, ARIAL]Free chicken food![/FONT]
Build a high protein dispenser
and feed your chickens for free

By Jeff Hoard
HM Ranch
Reese River Valley, Nevada​

Here at HM Ranch we are set up to weather problems of all kinds. We, like many, have noticed that we live in "uncertain times" and that's why we set the ranch up the way it is. Like I've stated in other articles, we are not doomsayers, but are setup and prepared for tough times no matter what the reason. Whether times are good or bad, our lifestyle stays about the same.
In this article I will explain how protein can be grown for free and dispensed right in your chicken yard, while only needing to deal with it about 10 minutes every few weeks or so. The dispenser also has another benefit that I will cover later in this article.
Now I'll explain what this is and how it works: the high protein feed is—maggots! Unfortunately, that immediately turns a lot of people off. (Maggots do not end up in your eggs or meat.) Nutrition is nutrition. This is "all natural" 101!
Today, mankind has gotten so far away from the basics that now only processed foods seem acceptable. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to processed foods. Bugs and greens "as is" are not feasible for commercial operations or for easy distribution. But if the cost of feed continues to rise or if one little "burp" in the system happens, it can leave you without chicken feed. Folks need to have alternatives. Again, these are uncertain times, which call for creativity, resourcefulness and action. Bugs, worms, slugs, maggots and greens are the most natural diet for chickens and have been since the good Lord made the first one (or maybe the egg came first).
Any time you see a chicken out in a field scratching and digging, that's what it's after. You would be surprised at just how many bugs are eaten. Hundreds of maggots, worms, grubs, etc., are eaten by the average homestead chicken in any typical day, so I am not proposing anything new in feed type here, only an easy and free way to grow and dispense feed and, most importantly in our opinion, enforce a self-reliant lifestyle. A fairly high percentage of egg production can be maintained with this alternative-maggots and greens.

The components that make up the unit.​

Our dispenser is what I would consider a deluxe model, mainly because of the vent system I fabricated, which is also used to hang the unit. The maggots fall to the ground and are very clean. I like to place a piece of plywood under the unit to keep the maggots out of the dirt. (We don't want dirty maggots!) There is very little odor from our dispenser because of the vent system. It is easy to load with virtually no maintenance needed. As the pictures show, the main component is a five-gallon bucket. I cut the bottom out of it while leaving a 1" lip to hold a round piece of grate (or heavy wire mesh). After that was installed I rolled some light wire mesh into a cylinder shape the diameter of a coffee can lid (which stays at the bottom of the wire cylinder and both are placed on the grate). That is where the dispenser is loaded, or "charged." This wire cylinder holds the charge and keeps it from falling out. The charge can be many different things. For us we will use any meat, scraps, guts, road kill, etc. (Raw, fatty meat products are best.) We do not use chicken. Although if worse came to worst, we would, if that was all we had. We just feel better using something other than chicken under normal circumstances. Nor would I use anything sick or dying. For the most part, we use jackrabbit in ours, but unfortunately jackrabbits are very lean and tend to dry out quickly, so we save our fryer grease and add that to the carcass.
The rabbits absolutely need to be "thinned" out here occasionally, so it is easy and the only cost is a .22 shell (or a few, depending on how my aim is on any given day).
At any rate, I wait for a good clean shot so as to limit any pain and suffering. We have to deal with jackrabbits anyway, at least they can be used in a productive manner with this system. Our dispenser will hold two. After I kill the rabbit, I'll run the whole thing through our chipper shredder machine (which does not take long). This basically tears it to shreds but still leaves the bulk of the carcass attached to itself. Now that "mess" is put into the wire cylinder inside the unit. After that, Mother Nature does the rest.
I mentioned ours as being a deluxe model and I'll explain. The hanger/vent was made out of scrap pipe. At the top I inserted a long piece of ABS pipe. The horizontal hanger is another short pipe that is welded over a hole that I cut in the main vertical pipe. A little below that are two more short pieces of pipe in a v-shape that stick out on each side of the hanging bucket. These just serve as bumpers (I'll explain why shortly). On the lid of our bucket, I inserted an appropriate sized PVC coupler and a piece of auto heater vent hose, which attaches from there up to the hanging pipe. This is how the odor is vented up and out at the top of the long ABS pipe. Like the vent system, the "skirt" that was installed on the bucket is certainly not a necessity but does perform some added functions. First, it keeps smaller birds from hanging off the bottom trying to eat their fill. Second, the skirt serves as a wind catch. Third, as the chickens go for the maggots they hit the skirt to hopefully dislodge a few more. Fourth, it helps keep the charge from drying out (very important). I did drill one small hole in the center at the top of the bucket's lid to allow for moisture to be added onto the charge if needed.

Christin shows off the high protein dispenser.​

Helping Mother Nature

Now I'll explain how it works and why it was set-up this way and how it helps Mother Nature do her job. First, you want to install your dispenser at least 20 feet away from the chicken house (preferably in the shade). This will help draw the flies away from the flock. (This is the other benefit of having a unit in your chicken yard.) The flies are immediately drawn to the charge. They then lay their larvae on the charge. Each larvae has hundreds of eggs which in a day or so turn into maggots and they feed on the charge. As they grow larger, gravity is more of a factor and with just one misstep they fall to the ground to be eaten by a waiting chicken. After the initial charge, the maggots should start dropping in about five days and there is continuous production from then on (as long as it is charged occasionally).
The bumpers and skirt help the process in that when the wind blows, the resistance on the skirt swings the bucket into the bumper to gently bang and dislodge more maggots. The one thing that we do not want is maggots turning into flies. A dispenser of this size will provide plenty of tasty, much-needed high protein snacks for a medium size flock and that's what this project started out to be, but I quickly realized that this can be "sized up" to provide a large portion of a flock's nutritional needs. A person could easily (probably more easily than this original unit) modify a 55-gallon drum and charge it just like you would throw garbage into a dumpster with a lid. A dispenser that large would provide a lot of food for a sizable flock. This is easy and very inexpensive. Having a scrap pile, ours was free except for a few sticks of welding rod for the hanger (which again is not a necessity).
But like I said before, modern-day folks do not like these basic ways, so we personally would not sell eggs using this as a primary feed method, but "if" times got real tough we would. But we would be up front with our customers, and if they felt uncomfortable and bought eggs elsewhere, we would understand. It's just a good idea to have a high protein dispenser on hand or the knowledge to quickly build one, just in case.
Can't help but wonder how all of you "all natural only" egg eaters are feeling right about now...
HM Ranch's DVD titled "Hoard's Hillbilly Heaven" includes a tour of HM Ranch. The "poor man's" guide to low-cost comfortable off-grid living, featuring an educational workshop detailing how we use the scrap pile to build our own inexpensive utility-generating devices. Available on eBay.​

 

[itsren]

Surely yadidn;s spect me to give ya pullet eggs.

You probably did give me pullet eggs - but you put them in the refrigerator!

And they magically morphed into cockerels. Haven't you read the studies (that are probably not true) where you can change the sex of a chick by messing with the temp of the egg?

 

[itsren]

Renee you may want to bring a carrier or box with you to Chehalis. Never know what may available for rustling!!!

Something that may bebig enough to hold an adult bird.

I was thinking about doing that. I figured if they sold birds, we might look for a couple of pullets.

 

[Ogress]

Wow, I did not realize 5 days had passed since I last checked in. At the rate this thread moves, that means I likely will not catch up.

Welcome to all the newbies!

Tomorrow I will be installing my new Pullet-Shut automatic chicken door (with solar panel). I will let you all know how it goes and if there were many bad words flying from DH's mouth as he helps. - the biggest challenge I see will be getting it to fit over an existing opening of a smaller size. There is a piece of metal flashing that I suspect we may need to remove from the current door, or, maybe we can build a new frame to put over it.

I also need to make sure I buy some of those things to neatly tack up the wire before DH glues the solar panel in place or the wires will be an ugly mess dangling all over the place with no enough slack in the line to tuck it neatly away - If you ever come here, one of the first things you will notice when you go out the back door to visit the chickens it the ugly bright yellow wire dangling at choking height around our house. That is the above-ground installation of our invisible dog-fence that DH did, and it no longer works because portions of it got caught in the weed-eater. (If anyone wants a job tacking it up and splicing in some new wire, let me know - I have some interior painting that needs to be done as well).

My old dog Willow is going to have a huge tumor removed from her head on Tuesday. She has had it for about 5 years, but it had been about the size of a grape. It started bleeding this summer; I thought because Shasta, my other dog, bites it when she is annoyed with Willow for eating her food. In the last 2 weeks, the thing has grown enourmously. It is raw and bloody. We finally got some cash last week so I could take her to the vet (I had a $14,500 medical bill from that infection I had in my leg this spring that maxed out my credit card - I feel guilty for not being able to afford to take care of the tumor sooner). I have been soaking it with Epsom Salts after taking her to the vet on Wednesday, and it has shrunk quite a bit, but is bleeding more. She had a full blood workout, and does not show signs of infection, but her thyroid levels were so low that they are not even detectable. I had always blamed her size on eating Shastas food, which she is exceedingly good at. Shasta is skinny. The thyroid medicine will help Willow with her weight and her arthritis. We have started her on antibiotics in preparation for surgery as well. Poor girl hates taking pills.

Willow is my first dog. She was already an adult when we found her on I-90 about 9 years ago, and she had a serious head injury at the time we found her. She has twice had to have shunts put into her head. I think this tumor grew in the same area where the shunts had been inserted. How long do big dogs live for? We think she is a Rottweiler/Lab/Pitbull mix. She is super sweet, and does not seem to notice the disgusting thing erupting on her head. The vet said her kidneys are working fine. My mom is laying on the guilt for not having her put down, but she seems like a perfectly happy dog to me. She thinks the vet wants money, but I don't think so. Willow is old and arthritic but she still gets excited when she sees her leash, even though her walks are shorter and shorter. Whenever anyone pays her any attention, her stubby tail wags like crazy. Her hearing is poor, and her eyesight is not what it used to be either, but as long as she seems content, I can't see any misery.

 

[itsren]

A little reading for the scientifically curious...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-drop-in-temperature-can-change-the-sex-of-chickens-1238516.html