Jessica, your birds are very pretty. I like looking at yours because mine came from the same place. It gives me a good idea what to expect a couple of weeks later.
Washingtonians
- Thread starter Napalongtail
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I am probably WAY behind but what the hay. We have EAGLES, hawks, cougar, fox, yodel dog, bear, bob kitty, raccoon, opossum, Weasel, rats, neighbor dog and HUMANS !
Quote: I can't believe he ate the whole thing and didn't even share wiff da chookies. Greedy guy!!!!
Well I have not quite smoking all the way yet, but I have drasticaly cut back. Only had 4 today and should be at none tomarrow!
When I was at Bothell feed center the other day there was a guy there talking to one of the gals at the counter, talking about how he wasa thinking about finding a home for his turkeys...... I promptly introduced myself and gave him my number. Today when I was takeing fuel to one of our jobs, the guy called and said I can have them. There are three tukeys, two of which are ready now and one that is setting on eggs in their woods and I can have her when she is done. So I will be in a hurry to build my turkey pen by the end of this week! Did I mention these are free!!!!! Oh yeah.
Speeking of free, I got a call from Bothell Feed center today. Apparently somone dropped off a Black Cochin mix rooster. Not sure this is what he is but he looks a lot like Jaxx my Black Cochin that I just sold. But this guy is smaller and has a beard and muffs. Anyways, who ever dropped this poor guy off put him in a tote with a mesh lid, no water or food, but soaked him in water first. They have no idea how long he was out there baking in this box in the sun. I am their go to person if somone has roosters or chickens that they don't want. This guy is very sweet, has no problem being cought or held. But he is very happy to be out of that box now. He is in my quarenteen area for now then he will be let out with the girls.
Hope you all got to enjoy the sunshine today!
The only way to quit smoking is to STOP.
Period !
There is no such thing as "tapering down" although that does help if you STOP.
BTW~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Chantex" does help alot !
It is kinda spendy, but worth it considering it is your life & health at stake !
Ask a dr. for a RX~~~~~~~~~~~~calms the nerves.
Here is hope you make it....I DID~~~~~~~COLD TURKEY IS THE ONLY WAY TO STOP.
* Pick a date in the near future, and avoid "triggers" and say this is the day I will stop!
Destroy all cigarettes the night before, when ya go to bed, and the next day you will NOT BE A SMOKER.
I will help ya if ya need a champion.
Spent grain from the brewers is just grain minus any sugars. It has 30-40% protein and the rest is fiber. I use fresh spent grain all the time my birds love it. Used with fresh greens and grains that are mostly carbs (hence cheap) it can make a great feed.
I am not looking for a boyin fact we might sell these but mom likes them and cuddles with them so they stay for a little while.
Its just super rare for me to hatch all girls... most times it a lot of boys!
Turkey starter has more protein then most chicken stuff... normally about 25-30% protein.
Whole grains do make a better feed but if your like me with no extra $, spent grain with a good mix of starch/carbs/oil grains, oyster shells and fresh greens makes a cheap well rounded feed.
Most spent grains can be gotten fresh from micro brewery's and cheap to free depending (free is normally to those who will pick up everything they have and every time they have it.)
What you want to do is make sure to follow the %'s......
% protein
% carbs
% minerals
% fat
% etc
(%'s depend on what your making it for)
I like the books I posted due to the fact that they post recipes as well as tell you what % this grain has vs that grain vs etc....
One thing you have to watch for is vitamin deficiencies mainly A and D's
Some of the books even have photos of what the birds will look like if they do have a deficiency
I use 1 bag layer mixed with brewers grain, starch/carb/oil grains, oyster shells, and alfalfa crumbles (run pellets through my apple grinder that is for cider)
Fresh Brewers grain is moist so I mix all dry stuff in a barrel and have the brewers in 5 gallon buckets. I scoop brewers then I scoop the dry and mix at each feeding.
I also mix in any left overs and then place in the feed trough.
Every 3 months or so I feed squashes cut in half seeds and all to the birds.
I have never had any problems with my birds having any deficiencies or being unhealthy nor have I ever had any mites, lice or bugs/worms of any kind. (they have a large dry area to dust bath in as well)
In fact I have a couple girls that are so fat they can't get on the roost any more. The 2 hens are large bodied and well.... piggies
So figure out what %'s you want to use for your flock then find the mix that will give you the right % making sure you cover the vitamins as well as everything else.
Why I use the whole grains is because it is cheaper, and fresh...not used.
Scratch runs -$14
Oats run $13-14
Add a bag of turkey starter-$18 and mix it up...do the math too.
Better than 3 bags of brewery waste & GMO soybean meal at $18 a bag....(flockraiser)
Saves a few $$ and the birds love it, ducks do especially well with it also.
For layers I use layer crumble & toss them the scratch-oat mixture 2 X a day (as well as greens & WW bread)
Chicks get medicated Start & Grow for 3 weeks or so, then the high protein (no seeds) and Cored water.
#- months or so the started birds get the high protein with the seed mixture combined.
Broilers get medicated start & grow for 2-3 weeks then Turkey starter & corid water.
At 1 mo I can add the seeds to their feed.
They also graze after 3 weeks of age.
Spent grain = protein that is not soy based...... and way less then $15 for a 40lb bag. Possible free if you have a agreement to take all the grain from a small brewery every time they brew.
Spent grain = Barley, oats, rye and wheat that is cooked and no longer has any sugar. Hence the fact that it is 30-40% protein and the rest is fiber.
I do not buy feed with spent grain. I get it fresh from the brewery. It has a nice fresh nutty aroma and the girls love it.
I get it fresh every week and it provides my protein base for all my feed mixes.
Instead of using 2 50lb bags of feed a week I now use 3-4 bags a month since I mix grains that are high in carbs/sugar with the spent grain.
I also add in any grains of low cost that is high in fat/oil; like sunflower seeds.
Spent grain or brewery grain is not bad nor is it unhealthy. But just like everything else fresh is better.
I get brewers grain from a local micro brewery source the day they make it.
The major thing is to get the right % for a well balanced feed with the ingredients you can get.
CR - glad you had fun! and welcome back 
StarryEyzz - Nice coop!
drumstick diva - Thanks! My mom just informed me that Tiny is named Licorice
SadieSue - Your number 1 boy looks a lot like caramel did when she was that age
HarveysHens - Based on what I see in the photo it is a pullet but they are young, Andalusians have a long tail like leghorns.. very upright and long but no sickle feathers on the girls.
StarryEyzz - Nice coop!
drumstick diva - Thanks! My mom just informed me that Tiny is named Licorice
SadieSue - Your number 1 boy looks a lot like caramel did when she was that age
HarveysHens - Based on what I see in the photo it is a pullet but they are young, Andalusians have a long tail like leghorns.. very upright and long but no sickle feathers on the girls.
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All of the above (well, I don't know what a yodel dog is). I'm not sure what kind, but we have Owls that ask us "Whooo" in the trees every night, too.
For the most part, the daytime predators are the scariest... black labs, stray cats, and we have lots of eagles that fly overhead. I don't know if they'd swoop down during the day, though. They fly very high above our house.
We're in the process of trying catch and rehome a stray cat. Such fun.
I have not been on in a while - This is the last week of school for the kids, and we have been catching Alex up on one project after another with major term projects due for everysingle subject!
For Social Studies he had to write a Glog (Like a Blog) for a future Worlds Fair to be held somewhere in Washington. He had to some up with a name, a logo, a slogan, 10 areas of impportance (technology, science, clean water etc....) a theme, a list of countries and companies with what they will be displaying with hyperlinks to them, a location for the fair, a 7 day schedule of events.... Yikes! Luckily he had just gone to MEF the other weekend, so that gave him some good ideas. The slogan he came up with is "Forever Green in the Evergren State" and came up with all sorts of ideas for sustainable living, ag practices and technology to support it. Wow, I don't remember working on projects so involved in 7th grade, but then we never had the WWW which makes doing research a whole lot simpler!
He had a just as detailed report to write on a frog-pond ecosystem he had been sudying since March. Most of the kids did most of the work oin class, but Alex did not. All he had were temperature and water chemistry readings for the days they visited the pond and initials for the invertebrates he saw with totals of hown many. We somehow turned that into a 14 page report and he had to fill in details from memory.
What I really came on here to tell you about is this:
We put four 3 week old chicks under a broody cuckoo marans last night and she totally accepted them! One of my friends has to make an emergenc month-long trip to Oregon and did not know what to do with the chicks her daughter hatched in science class. Mamma hen totally took to them. They were are in the main coop and this morning the chicks flew down from the nest box, and Mamma freaked out. She huddled them into a corner with her wings spread. Curious hens were watching. When she saw none meant harm, she calmed down and they all went to a waterer for a drink. A broody Barnie from the other side of the coop saw them and ran over. 2 RIR mixed cicks were curious and ran over to check her out. Mamma hen was clucking away trying to coax them back, the other 2 chicks were huddled under her. The Barnie hen allowed the RIR chicks to check her out, and then she went back to her nest. The 2 more cautious chicks flew back into their nest box. Mamma did not know where to go, so I grabbed the 2 loose chicks put them in the box, and she joined them.
For Social Studies he had to write a Glog (Like a Blog) for a future Worlds Fair to be held somewhere in Washington. He had to some up with a name, a logo, a slogan, 10 areas of impportance (technology, science, clean water etc....) a theme, a list of countries and companies with what they will be displaying with hyperlinks to them, a location for the fair, a 7 day schedule of events.... Yikes! Luckily he had just gone to MEF the other weekend, so that gave him some good ideas. The slogan he came up with is "Forever Green in the Evergren State" and came up with all sorts of ideas for sustainable living, ag practices and technology to support it. Wow, I don't remember working on projects so involved in 7th grade, but then we never had the WWW which makes doing research a whole lot simpler!
He had a just as detailed report to write on a frog-pond ecosystem he had been sudying since March. Most of the kids did most of the work oin class, but Alex did not. All he had were temperature and water chemistry readings for the days they visited the pond and initials for the invertebrates he saw with totals of hown many. We somehow turned that into a 14 page report and he had to fill in details from memory.
What I really came on here to tell you about is this:
We put four 3 week old chicks under a broody cuckoo marans last night and she totally accepted them! One of my friends has to make an emergenc month-long trip to Oregon and did not know what to do with the chicks her daughter hatched in science class. Mamma hen totally took to them. They were are in the main coop and this morning the chicks flew down from the nest box, and Mamma freaked out. She huddled them into a corner with her wings spread. Curious hens were watching. When she saw none meant harm, she calmed down and they all went to a waterer for a drink. A broody Barnie from the other side of the coop saw them and ran over. 2 RIR mixed cicks were curious and ran over to check her out. Mamma hen was clucking away trying to coax them back, the other 2 chicks were huddled under her. The Barnie hen allowed the RIR chicks to check her out, and then she went back to her nest. The 2 more cautious chicks flew back into their nest box. Mamma did not know where to go, so I grabbed the 2 loose chicks put them in the box, and she joined them.
That's what I did. used a 2X8. they are about 6 ft long. heres an idea for the cleats. You know how Lowe's and Home depot stack their lumber like 2x4's and 2x6's etc. there is a small piece of wood (cleat) that separates one layer boards from the next layer.. they usually fall on the floor then are swept up and thrown away. usually I can make two cleats out of one of these pieces. they work really well ! I had to show my first chickens how to walk up them. give them a little push! they got the hang of it . then any new chickens I get just learn from the older ones
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