Everything is better after a good night's sleep.
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Washingtonians
- Thread starter Napalongtail
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Yup that should be prime garden stuff.
Ohhhh... Nannie berries... NOW I get it.
Yup that should be prime garden stuff.
Ohhhh... Nannie berries... NOW I get it.
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I caught on, but not everyone is going to be well versed in Van Morrison lyrics so it's no wonder you put a scare in folks!
I caught on, but not everyone is going to be well versed in Van Morrison lyrics so it's no wonder you put a scare in folks!
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Is there anything wrong with feeding them dry cat food? Maybe soaked in milk?
Well, thats what I've been trying to find out. I had asked a while back and also on other threads if anyone has fed dry dog food and haven't heard if anyone has actually done it yet.
I had a beautiful favorite Dark blue copper hen a few months ago get an enlarged crop. some of you will remember ?
We irrigated and held her upside down to drain her several times a day, we tried everything...I spend alot of time then searching and studing how and why crops can get plugged...and dog kibble and cat kibble were mentioned alot...since the bird's crop is pretty dry, not having stomach acids to break down the kibble, I imagine the hard stuff can stay in there or worse, lodge in the passage leading to the gizzard, and the bird can starve to death.
Another surprise was both grapes and little cherry tomatoes...I was giving my birds all of these things.
I now cut grapes and cherry toms or any small marblyly thing in half, and saturate Jack's leftover kibble until it is soft, before I give it to them.
There is always a bird who will find a too-large piece of gravel...and there is not too much I can do about that...but I will not do the cat/dog kibble/grapes/tomatoes or little round hard things.
The softer, (like mash) the feed is, the better it is absorbed by birds anyway.
Is there anything wrong with feeding them dry cat food? Maybe soaked in milk?
Well, thats what I've been trying to find out. I had asked a while back and also on other threads if anyone has fed dry dog food and haven't heard if anyone has actually done it yet.
I had a beautiful favorite Dark blue copper hen a few months ago get an enlarged crop. some of you will remember ?
We irrigated and held her upside down to drain her several times a day, we tried everything...I spend alot of time then searching and studing how and why crops can get plugged...and dog kibble and cat kibble were mentioned alot...since the bird's crop is pretty dry, not having stomach acids to break down the kibble, I imagine the hard stuff can stay in there or worse, lodge in the passage leading to the gizzard, and the bird can starve to death.
Another surprise was both grapes and little cherry tomatoes...I was giving my birds all of these things.
I now cut grapes and cherry toms or any small marblyly thing in half, and saturate Jack's leftover kibble until it is soft, before I give it to them.
There is always a bird who will find a too-large piece of gravel...and there is not too much I can do about that...but I will not do the cat/dog kibble/grapes/tomatoes or little round hard things.
The softer, (like mash) the feed is, the better it is absorbed by birds anyway.
I was thinking as long as what is in cat and dog food is ok to feed chickens it would have to be soaked anyway since most kibble looked too large for the chicken to swallow. I guess there is cat food that is smaller.
While we are on the subject of swallowing things, I have a coop that used to be a childs playhouse. It's modular and the way it's set up with the walls attached to the floor the rain runs down the walls and seeps in along the floor. I thought I'd wrap the house in plastic for the winter until I can put up tar paper and siding. Well the chickens started eating the plastic and by the time I noticed quite a bit was gone. I know they can't possibly breakdown plastic and things like that don't just come out the other end like dogs so, where did the plastic go? The chickens are acting fine with no crop issues but wondering if its just sitting in their crops waiting to be a problem someday. I've seen chickens free ranging and watched them find and eat some weird things, not all of them organic. How does that stuff go through their system? or does it?
While we are on the subject of swallowing things, I have a coop that used to be a childs playhouse. It's modular and the way it's set up with the walls attached to the floor the rain runs down the walls and seeps in along the floor. I thought I'd wrap the house in plastic for the winter until I can put up tar paper and siding. Well the chickens started eating the plastic and by the time I noticed quite a bit was gone. I know they can't possibly breakdown plastic and things like that don't just come out the other end like dogs so, where did the plastic go? The chickens are acting fine with no crop issues but wondering if its just sitting in their crops waiting to be a problem someday. I've seen chickens free ranging and watched them find and eat some weird things, not all of them organic. How does that stuff go through their system? or does it?
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I have no idea other than it just slides out...
I have had young birds get under the house and eat alot of styrofoam and it never seems to bother them...it goes through as they somehow just get small enough bits to pass through.
I covered the compost!
I have to start a seperate pile for smart pills for Illia as the rest have somehow gotten mixed in with the chicken poop....and I am making GF bread...and gonna cook off a medium turkey on the big barbie tomorrow so we will have lots of rib sticking food for the next few snowy days.
Illia:: I am after a good scratch recipe for:
1) Pizza crust
2) banana walnut bread (quick bread made with baking soda not yeast if possible)
and JB:: yes a get together sounds great, I think we can ride share up your way instead of having yet a seperate food fest down here.
OK, I am off to cleaan coops and will log on later all!
I have no idea other than it just slides out...
I have had young birds get under the house and eat alot of styrofoam and it never seems to bother them...it goes through as they somehow just get small enough bits to pass through.
I covered the compost!
I have to start a seperate pile for smart pills for Illia as the rest have somehow gotten mixed in with the chicken poop....and I am making GF bread...and gonna cook off a medium turkey on the big barbie tomorrow so we will have lots of rib sticking food for the next few snowy days.
Illia:: I am after a good scratch recipe for:
1) Pizza crust
2) banana walnut bread (quick bread made with baking soda not yeast if possible)
and JB:: yes a get together sounds great, I think we can ride share up your way instead of having yet a seperate food fest down here.
OK, I am off to cleaan coops and will log on later all!
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YAY! glad to hear you guys are doing well!!
YAY! glad to hear you guys are doing well!!
batten down the hatches heather! How are you feelin' lately?
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