YO GEORGIANS! :)

Carcar, I have two Brahmas that I hatched from Papa Brooders. The eggs were sent as gold/blue Brahmas. I always believed I had one male and one female. They are now a little over 5 months old. The male has always been more red than the 'female'. Now, I am wondering about the 'female' as it has a lot of reddish coloring in her wings/shoulders. I usually associate that coloring with males. 'She' still has almost no color in her face. I am not familiar with Brahmas as these are the first ones I have ever had. They are big chickens and are so slow to mature. Can you send me some photos of your females so I can see what they might look like? I will try to get a photo of both of them tomorrow. Thanks for any help.
This is the male, Beau.
 
GAM, did I miss photos of the Lavender Opingtons? What do you guys do with all your chicks, ducks, etc. Do you sell everything? Is that your goal? To breed and sell? Just wondering about all the chicks you hatch.

I am thinking to hatch chicks for renters, but will need a buyer for all the chicks I hatch. Do you guys just advertise on Craigs list? Or do you have a place that will sell them for you?
 
Someone beat up my brahma last night. She had a nice nick in her comb. I have a bad feeling my barred turken isn't going to be around long. Anyone have turken bantams?
 
becky and my granddaughter. Now that's a hatch!!!

Congrats! What a cutie, and already a chicken lover
big_smile.png
 
NO, all the pans have drain holes. Here is what I wrote so far.

Growing Fodder for your Animals

What is Fodder?
Fodder is growing greenery, usually barley, wheat, BOSS, and other grasses without soil to feed to your livestock.

Why grow fodder?
  1. You can feed it to any livestock
  2. Saves on feed bill.One pound of seed = 5-8 pounds of fodder feed
  3. Healthy for your animals

    What you need to grow fodder:
  4. A container to soak your seeds in
  5. A strainer
  6. Fodder trays. (7-10) You can buy fodder trays online or you can make your own from whatever you may have at home. Don’t let the trays be too deep as the air can’t circulate and may contribute to mold.Your trays will need to have drain holes in the bottom.You want your seeds to stay damp, but not soaking. Google fodder systems and choose your favorite trays and set-up.
    How to grow fodder:
  7. Put your seed in your soak container and add water so that you have 2” of water over the top of your seeds.If you are using wheat, you may need to rinse the seeds several times to get the glue like substance rinsed away.Wheat can mold easily if this is not rinsed well.Soak the seeds at least 5 hours but not longer than 24 hours.
  8. Use your strainer to help you rinse the seeds again.REMOVE ANY SEEDS THAT ARE FLOATING AS THESE ARE DEAD AND WON’T SPROUT AND WILL ONLY CONTRIBUTE TO MOLD.
  9. Place your seeds into your trays.Don’t have more seeds than ½” deep.The seeds will continue to swell and if your seeds are deeper than this, you may get mold.
  10. Mist your fodder at least twice a day.The goal is to keep the seeds damp.Fodder grows best in temperatures between 60-70 degrees.It does not require a lot of light.
  11. The fodder should be ready on day 7, so I make one tray a day and feed my chickens one tray a day.That keeps the cycle going.
What seeds are best to use:
*Barley
*Wheat
*BOSS - Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds

Useful Websites
*BYC – Growing fodder for chickens thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens/4120#post_14630890

My set up is made so you can water the top trays and they drip into the trays under them.

I don't use these type of trays anymore. They are too high and too flimsy. I use fodder trays with holes that I got from amazon, but you can use cheap plastic, litter pans, etc. You just need to put the holes in the bottom. You tube has some great homemade ideas! So easy!

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and picture, Flowerbh. I have a total newbie question, please. How do you know how much fooder to give them? Do you still feed them the layer pellets? Do we have to worry about overfeeding chickens like we do dogs? Or do they eat only what is enough for them? Thank you again for the great info!
 
GAM, did I miss photos of the Lavender Opingtons? What do you guys do with all your chicks, ducks, etc. Do you sell everything? Is that your goal? To breed and sell? Just wondering about all the chicks you hatch.

I am thinking to hatch chicks for renters, but will need a buyer for all the chicks I hatch. Do you guys just advertise on Craigs list? Or do you have a place that will sell them for you?


We eat some of the roosters and the rest stay. We have had way too many roosters running around for a long time. But we don't over run due to attrition.
 
As Robo said, we keep many. Roos eventually end up in the freezer (though I'm not processing any until after cliff's swap shindig.

I have sold, given, traded birds in the area. When spring gets here and I get set up to isolate breeds I will sell more.
 
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