Washingtonians

[drumstick diva]

Greg Richardson - loved the video, thank goodness my family is not athletic or harboring any death wishes . How do these dareveils manage to get health insurance? I really do believe most are trying to get as close to dying as possible without actually doing so. What a rush for them -not for me

 

[itsren]

What's the earliest you'd switch a flock to layer feed if you had babies in it? My smallest girls are currently 11.5 weeks old. I have enough feed for maybe 2 more weeks. Is that way too soon to go to layer? Or should I just suck it up and pay out the few extra dollars for grower again, until they're 16 weeks?

Jessica, I'm glad others commented on this. I don't think I saw this post. I have some Medicated Start and Grow you can have. My girls didn't finish it. They didn't look like they ate much at all while I was on vacation. I think my pet-sitter may have been feeding a lot of scratch. I already switched my girls to Layena.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
That coop and run turned out so nicely - you guys did a great job finishing it!

 

[FirewifeJess]

What's the earliest you'd switch a flock to layer feed if you had babies in it? My smallest girls are currently 11.5 weeks old. I have enough feed for maybe 2 more weeks. Is that way too soon to go to layer? Or should I just suck it up and pay out the few extra dollars for grower again, until they're 16 weeks?

Jessica, I'm glad others commented on this.  I don't think I saw this post.  I have some Medicated Start and Grow you can have.  My girls didn't finish it.  They didn't look like they ate much at all while I was on vacation.  I think my pet-sitter may have been feeding a lot of scratch.  I already switched my girls to Layena.

Thanks Renee! So do you think it's 100% safe even for layers? Maybe I'll just mix it in really well with unmedicated so that it's diluted a bunch WDYT?

 

[itsren]

Thanks Renee! So do you think it's 100% safe even for layers? Maybe I'll just mix it in really well with unmedicated so that it's diluted a bunch WDYT?

Well... I can't guarantee the medicated is 100% safe. All I know is the one person at Purina that I talked to said the medication stays in the gut and doesn't pass through to the egg.

Can you pen the younger girls up with it in your small pen for a while each day? You have a small tractor you could use. That way they'd be sure to get some medicated in their system, but the layers won't.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: Wow. Some get their feathers ruffled really easily around here. He doesn't care if it's a mutt or pure bred either. He like all kinds of chickens.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Thanks Renee! So do you think it's 100% safe even for layers? Maybe I'll just mix it in really well with unmedicated so that it's diluted a bunch WDYT?

Well... I can't guarantee the medicated is 100% safe.  All I know is the one person at Purina that I talked to said the medication stays in the gut and doesn't pass through to the egg. 

Can you pen the younger girls up with it in your small pen for a while each day?  You have a small tractor you could use.  That way they'd be sure to get some medicated in their system, but the layers won't.

Oh I think they'd be beside themselves if I penned them up separate from the rest of the flick, they are very used to free ranging. I don't thing they Need the medication either. If the feed is free I will for sure take it off your hands though, thanks!

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Ah, OK, so the issue people have is not so much with mixing breeds, but rather calling it "Favacauna" because it is not actually a breed because it won't breed true? I can see that, fair enough. As long as we're not berating folks for mixing what breeds they have on hand just to see how it turns out, I've got no beef.

As far as layer vs. grower feed: Back in mid-June I added two two-month-old pullets to our flock of three laying hens (no, I didn't quarantine - rookie mistake, but it turned out fine). I asked at the feed store if I could just corral the two pullets and feed them a small handful of dried mealworms each day until they lay, and they said that was a fine substitute for grower feed as long as they're also getting plenty of layer feed, which of course they are. They probably would've been fine anyway without the mealworms since they free-range all day in our huge backyard and are awesome foragers. They've been growing like weeds and one of them looks ready to lay any day now, I think. Here they are, my two Exchequer Leghorns. They're hatchery stock, though that's not where I got them. Sorry, no sunlight for the pic, this is Seattle after all, haha.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

That coop and run turned out so nicely - you guys did a great job finishing it!

x2! It looks nice and was obviously well thought out and planned, with everything a chicken could want or need.

 

[Dwkuska]

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