Summer is a long way from gone here...
My chicken feed experiment has a clear winner!
Normally we begin to cool off the second week of Sept. It can't come soon enough.
October is usually the first cooler weather here, but more than cool we need rain.
School starts next week. The leaves on one of the trees (planted this year) in the back yard are changing. All the flowers in the gardens look old and tired, even the weeds look worn out. It's still hot but the humidity dropped down into the normal range - no 90 degree days with humidity in the 90's as well. Crickets, all the fall bugs are chirping at night.
I hope you all get some rain soon. The NE part of the US sure got a bunch.
Yes Porkpal. The last days of October usually show a drastic change, often drizzly rains too. Oh, I look forward to that.
This summer has been kind of scary. I've never seen anything like it.
Me neither.
We use commercial feed that has no antibiotics, but our chickens are also free range and get a lot of garden and kitchen waste. We keep our layers for four years and then butcher them for stewers at the same time that we butcher that spring's cockerels; we buy 25 straight run chicks so we can use the males as fryers. I would love to go organic, but we don't come out ahead with our egg sales even with regular feed, and there's no local supply of organic feed.
I try to avoid commercial feeds all together. I'll put out some high flyer 28 commercial feed and they will eat it but only if the oat flakes and cracked corn is gone. Can't tell me that oats or corn is bad and not nutritious since we are told that oatmeal is good for us. : ) I think that if we knew what crap was put into the commercial feeds we would be shocked! It's a way for big companies to dump junk that they can't get rid of and still make a buck. I'd love to have someone actually tell me what the ingredients are in those feeds. If I can't pronounce it I won't eat it. I think you would be surprised to find out what's really in those pellets. If my hens won't eat it and they would rather eat maggots, a dead raccoon or a mouse then that tells me something is not right about the commercial feed. Just my humble opinion. Chickens survived centuries without commercial feed so I'm sure that our little flocks can survive without it too. ;)
One thing my hens just LOVE is watermelon. :) I crack one open and ball out what we want leaving a lot of the goody in the rind and then put it out for them. They just love it. One hen is smart. She flies up in my apple tree and helps herself. We do share a lot of excess zucchini and tomatoes etc. from the garden and they all just love the veggies and fruit. They still aren't laying very well but I guess in time they will. Good news is one of the old broody hens laid an egg today so maybe things will turn around.
I agree Loon! Watermelon is a real treat with the chickens. Honestly, chickens are the best permiculture animal around. They are foragers and will eat just about anything (except commercial pellets), provide eggs and meat to eat, great entertainment and provide manure that's excellent for the garden. Even the feathers after butchering is high nitrogen fertilizer. We can use everything but the squawk. :)
Well the chicks still aren't laying well so we're trying something different. The man at the feed store said the farmers have had good luck feeding horse feed to the chickens. They swear by it so we bought some horse feed. They dove right into it. I'll let you know in a week or so if laying picks up.
What type of horse feed? There are about 15 kinds on the shelf, from sweet feed to senior. Are you using a pelleted type, or a grain mix?
Do chickens taste or respond to "sweet"? I know they like hot....
Some horse feed has molasses in it. Chickens really don't need molasses.
Of course horses aren't fed right either.
The work horses of the old days, did it on grass hay & oats.
There's nothing like nature to feed animals. It's all there for the taking, we've just been taught to depend on feed companies to "balance" the feed ratio. I think Chickens are smart enough to survive on their own if we let them. Somehow wild pheasants, turkeys, geese, ducks ect.. all survive without commercial feeds. Isn't that amazing?! Humans are the only mammals that continue to drink milk after they are weaned from their mothers. The food pyramid is making our country obese. We're being brainwashed into thinking we HAVE to have so many servings of everything to be in perfect health...I say it's way too much. As always, just my humble opinion. :)
Looking around me every day I certainly see people who are eating way too much of something!
I don't think either people or animals require any magic formula for a healthy diet. We are making it much too complicated.
IowaAnn, but wild critters weren't bred to put on weight quickly and to produce meat or eggs at the rate we expect from our domesticated animals. Nor could you turn a Pekingese out and assume it would be able to survive on its own; they are much too far away from their wolf ancestors. If we want our animals to produce decently we do have to supplement their diet with extra food. Not that I think that feed companies have the answer, but some extra carbs and protein, especially in the winter, are probably a necessity.
It is a grain mix and it does have molasses in it. We just give them one scoop a day in with their layer mash and some corn. They free range and eat everthing they can find from apples on the ground to little frogs. Hopefully, they will start giving us more eggs soon.
I guess I don't count on my chickens to provide lots of meat or eggs. It's just for our own consumption and if I have extra I give them to friends and family. I just enjoy what they give and they give me lots of joy and entertainment. It's so true that we have domesticated animals to the point that they could never survive without our help. I'm just saying that I don't know or like what is in the commercial feeds. This winter I'll have no choice but to feed the commercial feeds but for now i'm enjoying watching them going back to nature and eating bugs, grass, weed seeds, worms and even frogs and mice. : )
Loon, is it pelleted, granular or whole grains with molasses?
It is granular.
I just want six eggs a day.................enough to meet our breakfast needs for the family. I do not like having to buy eggs when I am spending so much time and money on these chickens. If they don't start laying my minimum soon they are going to freezer camp at the neighbors. I'm talking about the two year olds..............not the new chickens. They are now fifteen weeks old so should start laying by November if not sooner.
I like the antics of the chickens and love to watch them. They are not pets though and I've not allowed myself to bond with them like I have with our dogs and cats. They have a purpose to give us eggs and fertilizer for our veggie garden. They give plenty of nice fertlizer now they just have to start laying eggs. I am no expert on this stuff but if bugs and worms etc. are what they need they're getting it. We have 28 acres and twenty of that is woods. They go all over the place hunting and pecking and eating. I am just dumbfounded as to why they aren't laying better.
Maybe they are laying their eggs in the woods somewhere. ;)
My thought as well.
Some day you'll be walking around in the woods and find a huge nest of rotten eggs...or a hen setting on a huge bunch of eggs. Unless the raccoons find the nest and then you'll just have a bunch of egg shells. :) Seriously, they are probably laying somewhere else. Maybe keep them cooped up in the morning and only let them out at after 12 to see if they will lay in the hen house. This is such a mystery! Chickens that age should be laying well, at least an egg every other day. My hens lay an egg every day so I'm baffled by this.
We do keep them cooped up. We don't let them out till about 6 or 7 in the evening. We've even tried cooping them up for a couple days to see what happened. Nothing. We get about 2 to 4 eggs a day and that's it. We have 9 two year old hens that should be laying more than that I would think. They have a very large run and a very nice indoor coop with lots of rungs to perch on. They've been sleeping out in their run on a couple big ladders we put in there for them. We've even tried giving them a good talking to. Nothing. :) Hopefully, the horse feed will kick in soon and we'll get our 6 eggs a day.
Mine aren't laying much right now, either. I've got at least 30 12-24 month old full-sized hens, and we're getting 5-9 eggs daily. I attribute the slow going to the heat, and the recent upheaval of adding a bunch of new chickens to the mix. The last time I had April/May pullets, they didn't begin to lay well until the following spring, so I'm leeping that in mind with this years girls.
Ours are laying about 195 eggs a day from 225 hens. Kept that pace up right through the hot humid weather.
Do they have plenty of water at all times ?
Mine are not laying well recently either. They are molting earlier than usual - possibly due to the month-long 100+ degree weather. Then there is the snake... I guess he's out of rats and mice to eat (I certainly haven't seen any recently) and now he's dining on eggs. How many can a big snake eat at a time? I've seen him with two on the way down, but there looks to be room for many more.
Hm, Loon do you have bull snakes? I wonder if something isn't eating the eggs. just seems strange to have that many hens and only getting a few eggs a day...what kind of hens do you have? I want to know so I don't ever get that kind! LOL!
Remember I had the little hen that hadn't laid an egg. Later I discovered she had mites really bad, and also worms. She was not healthy.
They have plenty of fresh water daily. We hang the feeder from the ceiling of the lean-to so it's off the ground. It holds a couple gallons. We keep a big one outside also for when they are free ranging. I have rhode island reds and golden comets and one light brahma. The light brahma is the one who does lay an egg faithfully almost every day. That is the reason we bought ten day old light brahmas. They threw in a free one and added an extra brahma in case one died. They didn't die. The free fancy one is a dark feathered bird. Hubby swears he thought he heard it cock-a-doodle-do. I hope not. I thought they were all girls. Oh well. I had named her Oprah so I may have to change her name to Stedman. :) I use DE food grade in their food and also where they take their dirt baths and add organic vinegar with the muther in it to prevent worms.
We do not have big snakes here. We do have very small garter snakes but I've never seen any around the chicken coop. The hens would probably kill it or eat it. You should see what they do with a frog.
7 eggs today!! Yea!! That's more like it. Maybe the horsefeed does work after all. We'll see if they can keep it up.
That's great, Loon! Many happy egg returns!
One of our hens found a frog and it was hilarious watching her chase, catch and eat it. LOL! It's amazing what those critters will eat. : ) I love to watch the other hens chase the one with the delicacy...what a hoot!
I feed mine dry kitten food to give them extra protein. They all do free range. Mine are still laying thru this hot summer as long as I keep an over head water sprinkler going every other day to keep the water pans area and hoophouse cool..I do give mine leftover scraps and make winter treat blocks for them..which reminds me..it is time to get started making those!
Fogot to add: They are running around in this misting rain I am having from Tropical Storm Lee, fluffing out feathers, and chasing after treats I have given them..what a sight watching them play..lol
This message was edited Sep 4, 2011 7:07 AM
Chickens are the best entertainment and we enjoy watching their fun antics. Hilarious!
Moodene, What are winter treat blocks?
I wish I'd had my camera when four of my white light brahma chickens flew up into the apple tree and roost there. It was a beautiful site. Next time I let them out I'll have my camera since they all go running that way first. They fill up on apples then look for worms and frogs. We have so many frogs because this is a wetland area by the lake. Our barn cats killed a mouse and dropped it. One one the young hens picked it up and all the others were chasing her. She somehow managed to gobble that whole mouse down. Thought we'd have to do the choking manuver on her. :)
LOL! I can visualize the whole scene! I love to watch them.
I heard on NPR this morning that someone has determined that cows that are given names give more milk. Do you suppose it works for hens' production too? Loon are your hens named?
We only named a few. Whitey got her name because at the time she was the only white hen we had. Henrietta got her name when I took her to the vet with a broken leg and they had to put a name into the computer. I can't really tell the others apart hardly. The one new one who is black and brown we named Oprah but she may be a rooster. :) I will say that Whitey lays an egg almost every day so maybe naming her did help her lay good. I don't know.
as the days get shorter, the hens will naturally slow down on laying eggs, -esp, the older dual purpose breeds, - I have lights in my coop on a timer, to maintain daylight hrs, --I have 250 hens and get about 225 eggs/day, -- some of the hens are 9 years old, --and still lay well, -- I am not a "true believer" in commercial feed, --it is made from what ever is cheepest that month, --so it varries, --just because the label say's it is got so much of diferent nutrients, it does not mean that it is available and digestable., -- I wash out my coop daily, and look closely to see what is comming through the hens un-digested, -- some feeds have a lot of wasted feed coming out the back end, I feed oyster shell [make it available] even though the company's say that it is not needed, -sometimes they eat a lot, and sometimes they dont. -- but it helps them digest some of the feed formulas that would have had a lot of waste. Chickens that get outside and can forage , esp on grass , will live much longer and produce a lot longer, --and-- will be happier and have eggs with better nutrition for us humans to eat. [I don't name my chickens]
Michaelp, I totally agree with you about the commercial feeds. If we knew what was in the recipe to make commercial feeds we would be shocked. What do you feed your 250 hens?