Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[RBerryChicks]

 

[Angiebubs]

PyschoPeep: Possibly to warm? Whats the temp and how old is it? Can it get away from heat source? Does it stand like that alot?

 

[PsycoPeep]

Yeah, it might be kinda warm in there. But it might've been sleepy when I barged in and starting grabbing and flashing their eyes, too. She's 3 wks, so a little small. I got her and that white crested black boy same day from same person and he's a lot bigger than her, already. But everyone says boys grow faster. Plus w/9 being in the tub, maybe she's getting pushedaway from the food? I guess there could be several things going on. Someone in another group said to put a few drops of apple cider vinegar in their water. Someone else said too warm like you did, someone else said she just looks sleepy, and someone else said any time a chick has drooped wings that means they have coccidiosis and will die in a few days if not treated. So of course I'm in freak out mode right now. Will it hurt them if I give them the corrid or sulmet and they DON'T have it? Is it ok to treat them all anyways just as a precaution? Or shouldn't I do it?

 

[babylady4]

Just checking in from Rapid City SD!!! Badlands were beautiful!!!!

 

[Bigfamily4me]

I'm glad the badlands weren't... Well... BAD! How toxic has pig been???

 

[RBerryChicks]

I forget who mentioned a meet for bville area peeps, but I'd be up for that sometime! (Coop tours??)

Hey Amyb: I mentions a meet for the bville area peeps - there are about five of us that I am aware of. I don't know about the others by my June is rather booked up, but maybe in July or August.

I butchered 30 this past Saturday.

I order my Cornish x from Sunnyside ( beaver dam ).

Have never had any with health issues.

I have experimented with feed options. Hands down fermented feed is the only way to go with the meaties.

We are newbies but, last year we grew two batches of meaties before we ever got layers. We like the Cornish X and of the first batch of 50 we lost about 5 or 6. We got them from a shop keeper/farmer in the area in April and I'm not sure what hatchery they were from. After 4 weeks in the brooder we moved them out to the tractor and as was mentioned by raimnel, they were moved a couple of time a day and yup really fertilized the lawn!

We built a mobile coop for batch #2 (75 straight run from Sunnyside), lost about 8 or 9. They were moved out to the fenced pasture at about week 4/5 placing their water and feed out around the pasture so they HAD to move, also as chicks they had roosts about a foot off the ground, so they got exercise. We fed them once in the morning and once at night. They got lots of wild grapes, bugs, cherry tomatoes and some even liked my basil

. In both cases we sent them to butcher at 8 weeks and our average bird weight on the second batch was about 6 lbs. We've decided to do only one batch of 150 this year and will get them from Sunnyside the first week of July. This may have just been beginners luck, but we were pleased with the out come. I am interested in trying the FF this time around because they do generate a LOT of fertilizer and with the cost of feed having gone up - I understand this stretches out the feed. Kildare . . .I'd be interested in how you do your FF.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

TO- Those sure do look like call ducks to me.

Psycho - If you're worried about coccidiosis, it wouldn't hurt to treat with some sulmet for a couple of days.

 

[Angiebubs]

Psycho: if the only symptom is this one chick with dropped wings in this one picture, I would not treat them. You posted this picture last week too right? So it hasnt been acting sick since then? Birds naturally will drop their wings when warm, as a way to cool off their body heat. Personally, I think that treating too quickly (no signs of sickness in breathing, sneezing, poop, energy etc) can cause birds to build up an immunity to medications unnecessarily. IMHO

RBerry: I have been reading out Fermented Feed for the past year and finally took the plunge a couple months ago. Still waiting to see full outcome. To date though, they are eating less, and they LOVE it-almost more than they love scratch. I did not have any issues that others speak of, where they wouldn't eat it.
Of all the reading I have done, the most informative has been at:
www.naturalchickenkeeping.com Personally I want to understand WHY something works rather than just jumping in-this site explains it well!
Basically FF: Take your usual food (I use crumble layer food) and cover it with water, stir it once or twice a day and let it ferment (Should have a one inch cap of water on top). (I add a small scoop of scatch to mine, and sometimes wheat berries, split dried peas or whatever-but not necessary and it can unbalance the proper ratios of protein) After reading the article, I went with the L.A.B. to obtain all the great benefits. This just means adding a small amount (tsp per gal or so) of something that has LIVE culture such as buttermilk, yogurt, etc (Read the label to make sure it has active culture). Keep it covered. You can add a tsp of ACV (Apple Cider vinegar) to this to counter act any alcohol build up...easiest thing is to go read that website above! FF is also suppossed to help them build up a better "gut" to give them better immunity to diseases, and it increases the protein content of the food so that they eat less.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Well isn't that nice . . . I don't have any buckets with lids to start my FF in. Some girl at the bash won most of them . . .

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Yeah I kinda hoped she'd share!!!