What to feed chickens to lay more eggs.

[Kjordanov]

funny The week I switched back to gamebird breeder mine started laying again, not withstading the other feeds (rabbit) they get into.

So your hens lay better with a game bird feed rather than later diet? Maybe I should try that. Only 3 out of my 5 hens lay

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Too much distilled water can be unhealthy too though, so be careful. Distilled water is great for detoxifying the body, as it's pretty aggresive in it's absorbtion properties, so it can strip the body of neccessary minerals and such. Of course all depends on the level of distillation and duration of comsumption.

Those are all myths.

 

[Quyen Le]

Human and animal bodies have the ability to learn to adapt with whatever the environment, food supplies and water... Try to avoid sudden change. If you want to change, do it gradually. Many people get sick when they try other's diet.

 

[themadchicken]

Human and animal bodies have the ability to learn to adapt with whatever the environment, food supplies and water... Try to avoid sudden change. If you want to change, do it gradually. Many people get sick when they try other's diet.

I very much agree. I have always feed my flock a 3 grain mix with layer pellets. They have been started on this at 4 weeks of age. About a month ago my supplier changed the pellet in the feed and the flock started to waist more food then they ate. I changed suppliers and the feed. All though the grains remand the same the mix changed. I added a layer pellet to compensate but the hens refused to eat them. In the last month i went from 13-14 eggs a day down to 7-8 eggs a day. My hens look like they have all joined a health club and have drooped a pound or two. In the last week the eggs have started to increase. I'm back up 13-14 eggs a day in the last couple days, but this could be due to the increase in temp.I did add a new vitamin supplement to their water. but my hens still look a little skinny. I'm a little curios as to what was in the pellets that was added to the feed that caused my hens to be so fat!

 

[mrwoodboat]

I was glad to see others mix layer and game bird feed. I have been using a 16% layer and 30% game bird mix with ours. They also get to free range a limited amount during the week and pretty much all weekend.
I do have a question about sweet feed- when they are out foraging, they get into the sweet feed we give as treats to the other animals- it is a 12% feed, should I not let them eat this or is it ok in the limited amounts they get to eat? Wondering if I should mix a small amount into their daily feed as a treat?
thx

 

[ehecatl]

Thank you, for your concerns. I heard about the cons of distilled water too, however, we have been drinking distilled water for 3 years and feel excellent. Our dogs are also healthy.
The ACV book by Bragg recommends to only drink distilled water and the Supreme Science Food Healing course also recommends distilled water. I am following those recommendations and have not noticed any contrary side effects.

I've been drinking most always distilled water for 35 years and consider my health to be the better for it, although like the animals, I only drink as much as I desire, and not the lots-of-water propaganda promoted in the last decade. That is important when it comes to healthy use of distilled water. Don't drink more than natural desires. I produce my own distilled water in solar distillers of which I've built a dozen or so in my life.

My hens have both distilled and some murkey water from the ground in one part of the yard that comes from the neighbors city water, although it's full of algae. The hens drink both but the cat only drinks the distilled water.

 

[Eva2012]

I've been drinking most always distilled water for 35 years and consider my health to be the better for it, although like the animals, I only drink as much as I desire, and not the lots-of-water propaganda promoted in the last decade.  That is important when it comes to healthy use of distilled water.  Don't drink more than natural desires.  I produce my own distilled water in solar distillers of which I've built a dozen or so in my life.

My hens have both distilled and some murkey water from the ground in one part of the yard that comes from the neighbors city water, although it's full of algae.   The hens drink both but the cat only drinks the distilled water.

OMG, amazing ; would you share/sell your solar distiller plans? Or could I purchase one from you? My 12 gallon Waterwise distiller needs repair and I am looking for a backup model.

 

[Chris09]

Doesn't ACV affect the calcium level and make the shells thinner and easier to crack

It can make a chicks need for calcium higher and if the need isn't met then bones of chicken and shells of eggs will start to get thin and brittle.

It's kind of like the "naked egg" trick where you put a egg in a canning jar then filling it up with vinegar. About a day or two later the calcium of the egg is dissolved or how you can tie a knot in a chicken bone that has been soaked in nothing more than vinegar.

ETA - -


Poultry are very sensitive animals to blood acidbase disorders (Ergun, 1992) and thus, the blood
pH should be close to physiological limits of 7.35 to
7.45 (Dibartola, 1992; Carlson, 1997). This is necessary for the maintenance of protein structure and
function, which is an essential condition for normal
progression of metabolic events. A deviation from
these physiological ranges may cause predisposition to many microbiological diseases, metabolic
disorders and losses of productivity, etc. (Haskins,
1977; Dibartola, 1992; Carlson, 1997)

Chris

 

[ehecatl]

OMG, amazing ; would you share/sell your solar distiller plans? Or could I purchase one from you? My 12 gallon Waterwise distiller needs repair and I am looking for a backup model.

In the 1970's and '80s there was an Organic Gardening show on KPFK radio Los Angeles with Dr. Will Kinney of Escondido Ca. He had made quite a science of the making of solar water distillers. I visited him often and used many of his methods and developed more since I have been a specialist in metal work for most of my life.

In the 1980s I built a number of solar distillers of stainless steel for distilled water aficionados in Orange County.

In the 1990's I did not build more distillers but had a small stainless steel distiller I built myself with an effiecent internal channel system and other innovations, which for only about 6 square feet of glass surface area, produced about a gallon of water per day.

In the early 2000's I moved to Central Mexico, where I now live. About 5 years ago I built a little art home, with a copper solar distiller, about ten feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide, which provides ten or 15 liters of distilled water per day, plus hot shower water for a household of 6. You can see that distiller briefly in the middle of this video -

A few years ago I moved from that home and left the distiller behind.

I then built, and still use, the most economical, but very functional solar distiller I have produced yet.

It is built with a body of pine, a natural insulator, on a metal stand. It has an inner liner of super heavy duty black vinyl that they line ponds with. The collection trough where the water collects is stainless steel. In this following photo you see a plastic tube that leads to a small plastic collection bottle. A purist would have a stainless tube and a glass collection bottle, but it is not so easy finding things in rural mexico and I am not that concerned. However hard plastics are better than soft plastics, because the soft contains phalates, which are estrogin mimickers.

I built this last one for only about equal to $50 of simple materials, and am very pleased with its functionality. It has a 1/2 sq. meter surface area, and produces about 4 liters per day naturally, and about 10 liters per day if I run an internal heating element during the night.

I am retired from this sort of work, but if you PM me I could probably put together a list of design tips if you wish to build your own solar water distillers.

 

[Michael Apple]

It can make a chicks need for calcium higher and if the need isn't met then bones of chicken and shells of eggs will start to get thin and brittle.

It's kind of like the "naked egg" trick where you put a egg in a canning jar then filling it up with vinegar. About a day or two later the calcium of the egg is dissolved or how you can tie a knot in a chicken bone that has been soaked in nothing more than vinegar.

ETA - -


Poultry are very sensitive animals to blood acidbase disorders (Ergun, 1992) and thus, the blood
pH should be close to physiological limits of 7.35 to
7.45 (Dibartola, 1992; Carlson, 1997). This is necessary for the maintenance of protein structure and
function, which is an essential condition for normal
progression of metabolic events. A deviation from
these physiological ranges may cause predisposition to many microbiological diseases, metabolic
disorders and losses of productivity, etc. (Haskins,
1977; Dibartola, 1992; Carlson, 1997)

Chris

This is very true. Apple Cider Vinegar is a supplement and should only be used once in awhile. People often overlook the benefits of just adding a good vitamin-electrolyte-probiotic in the water a couple days a week in addition to boosting the protein of feed for layers. Scratch and corn put fat on the body. A good quality organic pellet or crumble, or even the addition of non-fat dry milk or fish will put muscle on the body. Chickens digest calcium fast so it is important to mix enough oyster shell in the feed. I gauge it by how much oyster shell is left in the feeder at the end of the day.