What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

I'm mixing, and she's eating, about 100- 120 g. of dry crumble by weight, with water. Amazing how much water it soaks up, so she seems hydrated as well. 2 for 1. I got her some black oil sunflower seeds, for dessert with her vitamins after dinner.

That sounds like enough to me if she's eating it all. Why are you worried? A good diagnostic for starvation, as often the case, lies in the poop. Birds which are well into starvation mode usually produce poops which are just a puddle of clear liquid with a few small, dark green lumps in it. If her poops are normal, that's a great sign. Might be worth grating some vegetables in with her mash for an added boost?

 

[Shetland lover]

The results of your breeding are always fun to see. They are just so pretty! We had a wet and wild night, and will be under flood watch until Wednesday night. Thankfully I live on good elevation, away from water. Our little town on the shores of Puget Sound has gotten flooded from having king tides, and copious rainfall at the same time, It could happen again this week.

We have snow for the first time this year! Stan stopped dead at the run door. He was stood on one leg and started his moaning noise. He does that if he's worried about something. Eventually, after blocking the gate (much to the girls' annoyance) he turned tail, jumped back in the coop and hid in the nest box!

 

[Shetland lover]

I had a dog that licked oven cleaner off a metal rack...she was incredibly sick, but survived. And the fur on her rear end was bleached white for the rest of her life!

Oh my! She got a permanent reminder of her mistake!

Elliot also drank half a bottle of weedkiller that spilled. He is an idiot - he nearly died when he ate 30 metres of cotton thread. We cannot leave anything 'stringy' around and all cables and wires have to be hidden after he chewed through a phone charger and electrocuted himself.

 

[Shetland lover]

It has been -4° C here all day.
After Stan freaked out over the white stuff, everyone got oat milk, mixed grain porridge with fresh blueberries and cranberries for breakfast, plus a bowl of warm tea.
I've had to break the ice on the waterers 3 times today. The second time, it was only because Ferdy came to tell me there was no water! It's not usual for me to have to break ice multiple times a day so it never occured to me it may have frozen over. Doh!
Everyone had a lovely time running in and out of the kitchen to keep warm and have treats while I made a lime, coconut and cardamom cake for tomorrow and slowly froze to death
At bedtime, Gladys frightened Ferdy so badly he ran to me and jumped 6ft onto my shoulder for protection, whilst screaming in fear. I'm not 6ft but I was stood on a step stool trying to repair some netting and I thought it was impressive given he's only 10 inches tall. She didn't even touch him, just said something in 'chicken' and gave him the side eye.
I brought him in with me once everyone was in bed and he was shaking. He got a big cuddle and a few treats to help take his mind off things. He then spent the next 20 minutes stomping around the house ranting and being generally angry about whatever she'd said. If a chicken can curse that's exactly what he was doing
He's currently falling asleep on my shoulder, snuggled into my face. I daren't move in case I disturb him and set him off again! He's still grumbling about Gladys' behaviour every now and again.
My boys are so silly!

 

[Smokerbill]

I've started keeping track of how much feed my chickens go through. The last 50# bag lasted my eight chickens 23 days (Nov 5 - Nov 28). That amounts to 0.2718 pounds (4.35 ounces) of feed per day per chicken. I guess that's about right for large size dual purpose laying hens.

 

[Nomadicus]

If I have 200 chickens that is a 50lb bag a day. 31 bags a month or 3/4 ton a month. I need a 5 acre block of high yielding stock corn and a grinder that grinds into a mash. Need some high quality fish meal and some cotton seed meal to mix in and let them fight over it. I have watched old friends do this with their pigs they were feeding out for market. They even make a pellet machine for farmers if you would like to use one for waste prevention. I saved over 8k a year buying from the Alabama Farmers CoOp vs TSC. For a few pets it wouldn't make a difference. I do use close to 50lbs a day.

 

[fuzzi]

If I have 200 chickens that is a 50lb bag a day. 31 bags a month or 3/4 ton a month. I need a 5 acre block of high yielding stock corn and a grinder that grinds into a mash. Need some high quality fish meal and some cotton seed meal to mix in and let them fight over it. I have watched old friends do this with their pigs they were feeding out for market. They even make a pellet machine for farmers if you would like to use one for waste prevention. I saved over 8k a year buying from the Alabama Farmers CoOp vs TSC. For a few pets it wouldn't make a difference. I do use close to 50lbs a day.

I need to order some feed, thanks for the reminder!

 

[ChicksnMore]

We have snow for the first time this year! Stan stopped dead at the run door. He was stood on one leg and started his moaning noise. He does that if he's worried about something. Eventually, after blocking the gate (much to the girls' annoyance) he turned tail, jumped back in the coop and hid in the nest box!

What a little chicken!

 

[ChicksnMore]

Oh my! She got a permanent reminder of her mistake!

Elliot also drank half a bottle of weedkiller that spilled. He is an idiot - he nearly died when he ate 30 metres of cotton thread. We cannot leave anything 'stringy' around and all cables and wires have to be hidden after he chewed through a phone charger and electrocuted himself.

We used to have a moluccan cockatoo determined to chew electric cords. Had to watch her like a hawk whenever she had free time indoors. And a bottle fed kitty that grew up in love with chewing computer cords. Think something about them reminded her of her baby bottle.
Makes me grateful for non-chewing chickens! Though they still find ways to get in trouble don't they?

 

[ChicksnMore]

I've started keeping track of how much feed my chickens go through. The last 50# bag lasted my eight chickens 23 days (Nov 5 - Nov 28). That amounts to 0.2718 pounds (4.35 ounces) of feed per day per chicken. I guess that's about right for large size dual purpose laying hens.

I should try tracking food consumption some time just to see if my thoughts on it match reality.

One of the things I like about my dwarfs is how little they eat. Now that the hamburgs are laying I can compare egg size, and their eggs are almost the same size as the dwarfs. Just a tad bigger. But their body size and food needs are another story! Think each hamburg has the mass of 3-4 dwarfs. They're not heavy feeders but do eat more. Funny thing is the yokos weight is probably 2-3 dwarfs worth, lay similar size eggs and they eat about double what the hamburgs do. Not sure why the yokos eat so much feed compared to the hamburgs. It's not about egg production... they're not prolific layers. But they eat the most of any of my birds. Even the huge peacocks eat less.

At least that's how it seems to me...I really should track it sometime to be sure!