Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

I like giving the chickens those expensive treats and they like it too.
I care for chickens because I like chickens, not for their eggs, or their meat.

We just love making them happy because they are so sweet and make us happy. We just ordered some of these:

To make it more interesting to get their scratch, in the winter when the foraging options are slim. I figure the boys will figure it out first and it will become a new "pickup" spot.

 

[MrsNorthie]

A feed calculator is designed to find the cheapest combination of feedstuffs that are available on the day and that satisfy the minimum nutritional requirements stated on the label or required by law, plus any other requirement of the manufacturer, such as being organic in your case. So organic will not be cheaper than standard feed, but it will still be using the combination of ingredients that were cheapest on the day when all the different nutritional requirements and possible combinations to reconcile them had been input. Unless you are buying from a firm that doesn't use a feed calculator to construct its ration...?

That is why many commercial feeds list only their average nutritional profile, not their ingredients, because the ingredients may differ with each batch.

Ours hate most normal commercial feed and prefer their whole grains and forage. They won't eat any pellets, I tried an organic non-gmo layer crumble feed for the girls, they wouldn't touch it. They aren't spoiled, they just know what they like. ;-)

 

[MrsNorthie]

I have 4 coops in a large poultry yard. The turkeys wander all over but the chickens stay away from the other coop members most of the time. I have a couple hens that lay in the others coops.

The ones closest to the house tend to be tamer because the original members were hatched in an incubator and they see me more. They are also getting more scraps because they tend to wander out of the poultry yard to get away from the turkeys. The turkeys like to sit against the house and harass the chickens.

Anyway they get cooked poultry carcasses. The closest coop pick them clean. The other coops hardly touch the carcass.
The closest I see eating mice, snakes and fledgling robin. Maybe the other do also but I don't see it because they are farther out.

We have to keep the turkey hens away from the chicken hens. They act like they are BFFs until they entice a chicken hen into their area then they gang up on the poor unsuspecting chicken and peck her. I have had to rescue 2. Once the turkey girls get something in their heads, they don't stop.

One of the turkeys has already gone broody at only 8 months old. It is one of the New Holland Whites, but she is sitting on both her eggs and the Harvey eggs, so we are letting her sit.

 

[MrsNorthie]

@MrsNorthie – How'd you all make out in this weather? Hope it wasn't too rough.

The weather was kind over this way last night (for once, this year). An inch of rain chipped away at the wildfires.

Drone shot with the chickenyard in the bottom corner. Nearest fire is a mile away Expertly contained the first night but still smoldering when the wind kicked up yesterday.
View attachment 4073909

Much bigger one burning on the other side of the county:
View attachment 4073910

We were alright, luckily, it really only lasted an hour or so and no tornado. I was awake about 3 AM ready to do something if it got rough, not sure what, in the dark (with all the chickens, turkeys, 3 dogs..) and rain wrapped tornadoes are kind of hard to see. :-(

Fires have been bad, all over this year. :-( I am glad they got it contained before it got out of hand!

 

[BDutch]

Ours hate most normal commercial feed and prefer their whole grains and forage. They won't eat any pellets, I tried an organic non-gmo layer crumble feed for the girls, they wouldn't touch it. They aren't spoiled, they just know what they like. ;-)

Did you ever try to give wet chick crumble? My chickens regard this as a treat. I give it once a day.
Even a few neighbours cats come to eat from it if they have a chance.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Did you ever try to give wet chick crumble? My chickens regard this as a treat. I give it once a day.
Even a few neighbours cats come to eat from it if they have a chance.

My dog is obsessed with chick-food mash too! I have to drop a spoonful for him or he'll end up tripping me on my way to the coop.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Did you ever try to give wet chick crumble? My chickens regard this as a treat. I give it once a day.
Even a few neighbours cats come to eat from it if they have a chance.

Yes, I have tried it wet, they just prefer the whole grains, dry or lightly fermented. I have tried a variety of feeds, just in case I can't get their preferred feed and they just don't like most commercial feed. We have the SC Farm Bureau grain elevator not far from us. I just need more large storage containers. So that is kind of my backup plan, in addition to growing more forage options if I can't get their favourite from the farm store.

https://www.scfbgrainelevator.com/copy-of-seeds

We just got some more blueberry bushes, aramanth seeds, herbs, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil and cilantro, and some heirloom corn, but to actually produce enough feed to sustain them comfortably, over a year, I think I would need more land and a big combine harvester. LOL

 

[fuzzi]

It's still cold. Two hours today. Everyone went out on to the field but they all returned to the area where they get fed and the run up to the old goose pen.
View attachment 4074218View attachment 4074219View attachment 4074220View attachment 4074221View attachment 4074222

Fluffy butts!!!

 

[fuzzi]

Ours hate most normal commercial feed and prefer their whole grains and forage. They won't eat any pellets, I tried an organic non-gmo layer crumble feed for the girls, they wouldn't touch it. They aren't spoiled, they just know what they like. ;-)

I still purchase and offer chick crumble, which the flock will eat from the feeders but prefer eating it on the ground. I supplement their diet with whatever I have on hand, some freezer-burned meat, greens from the yard and garden, bugs I have collected from the gardens, stale breads and crackers (very small amounts), old vegetables, fruit, day-old salad, and cat food.

Martha got a cutworm over the weekend, she inhaled it like spaghetti!

 

[fuzzi]

Did you ever try to give wet chick crumble? My chickens regard this as a treat. I give it once a day.
Even a few neighbours cats come to eat from it if they have a chance.

Someone here on BYC told me that wet crumble helps prevent pasty-butt. Once I started feeding wet crumble to young chicks I didn't see pasty-butt again.