Wasted Feed.....

[pozarnsk]

Well I'm a country kid who moved to the city for 10 yrs(Dallas TX), and now back to the country again. The money aspect was a pipe dream, but I don't need it, the chickens are so my kids can learn what WORK is, and learn responsibility in seeing livestock depend on them, and in some small way, the family depend on that livestock. In this "video game generation" we are raising I believe this is very important, even in my "hobby farmish" sort of attempt.

Sorry, kind of went off there.....

 

[arlee453]

You might try just raising the feeder another little bit. Make it at least crop high or just a TAD bit higher so they have to stretch up to get the feed out.

Oh, and nice one Dave....I see you sneaking that Bob P. quote in on here... lol

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Raise the feeder, yeah that'll work.

I am the one, true Plamondon Acolyte, arlee. Again, visionaries are little known in their own time.

 

[pozarnsk]

So I just googled this Bob guy......from what I saw in 5 min he is a Canadian politician. Who apparantly is a chicken expert too?????

 

[pozarnsk]

...and seems he's kind of a liberal guy, which doesn't sounds right according to that quote Dave posted.

 

[Davaroo]

Wrong guy. I was unaware until today that there is a liberal Canuck politico by the same name.

Here's the right guy:
www.plamondon.com

 

[greyhorsewoman]

So I've come to the conclusion that much of what people believe is fantasy-based, except for topics they are intimately familiar with, from direct personal experience. You can learn from others, indeed you would be a fool of you didn’t. But what you have not done with your own hands, you do not truly know.

I certainly found this to be true of poultrykeeping. I've found much of the material written by non-farmers to be harmful, loaded with Pollyanna-esque assumptions.
For example, these armchair experts and even practitioners who should know better, will happily tell you that everything the mainstream poultry industry does is wrong. Conversely, they stand fast in their belief that anything the mainsteam industry DOESN’T do is correct, and will work like a charm. In my experience, this is wildly inaccurate.

Because I had read a lot of such contemporary material before I moved back to the country, I had a lot of unlearning to do. It was a slow, painful process. I read in several places that there was something wrong with commercial White Leghorns and other modern hybrids, and that a "real" farm would use heritage breeds. I tried it, and all the heritage breeds were crummy layers, and many of them had nasty temperaments as well. On the other hand, commercial hybrid layers took to low-density free range like ducks to water. So the whole issue was pure superstition.

(Not that you shouldn't raise heritage breeds if you want to -- I always have a few -- but choose a breed with a reputation for being fun to have around, and don't expect to use them to make you any real money.)

So I've seen a lot of fads, superstitions, and wishful thinking in the poultry field.
Many people have lost their life's savings by believing this stuff, whether in a flashy way, such as pouring all their retirement savings into a busted emu farm in 1993, or more quietly, by moving to the country and trying to make a living according to the methods advocated by those who like to promote alternative lifestyles."
- - Bob Plamondon, August 19, 2007

Ditto, davaroo >> Much wisdom in the statement above.​

 

[silkiechicken]

I put my feeders so high that they have to stretch to eat out of it. Well the rooster doesn't have to stretch much. They waste less but still waste. Best of luck!

 

[pozarnsk]

Davaro,

That's scary. Almost like looking at myself 30 years into the future. I'm an engineer, just move moved back home to ND after working in the semiconductor design industry in Dallas for 9 years. Still engineering but moved out to the country and starting to raise livestock. Weird. And I've also written some articles for the conservative news site, worldnetdaily.com. Even weirder......


Thanks for the info.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Oh, dig deep into the Plamondon. You have but scratched the surface, young one. Embrace it.

*** Youll probably find that Bob is not unique. More than a few people share his path. Once all the idealistic dust is cleared from your head you find he is right on the money. Get a couple of his books. Good stuff.

But this isnt new. At the risk of an off topic veer, let me share two of my favorite quotes, written way before any of us were around (do NOT read these as political - they transcend such trivial concerns):

"If you are not a liberal at 20, then you have no heart. If you are not a conservative by 40, then you have no head."

and

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on."

Who wrote these? Winston Churchill.