Chickens !!!

[Lazi]

I was wondering what other chicken keepers feed their chickens on ?

Do folk buy the 20kg sacks from home centres ? Or do some folk make their own mix ?

We're already feeding ours table scraps and the trimmings from our veg that we sell when we're cleaning them before taking them down to the local michi no eki and they have a fenced off part of our forest to free range in.

Also what do folk use for bedding ? Sawdust, hay, collected dried leaves ? Do saw mills and lumber yards use sawdust for anything or do they throw it away or burn it ?

e2a:

One last question, what do folk use to worm chickens or deal with mites ?

[hml]

The other biggest problems were the neighbors. It is a BIG mistake to put chickens (or any livestock) out in the boonies where you can't keep a CONSTANT eye on them, especially at night. Camping with them occasionally in NOT a good idea and won't work in the long run. You have to keep them close to home and preferably in a place you visit frequently and often, like several times a day. I kept them in an abandoned Karin orchard behind my house out of sight where I could watch things from my living room, but the neighbors still insisted the smell was offensive. In fact there was no smell because they were free range and i buried the manure whenever the tractor was moved but the neighbors INSISTED there was a smell. Its hard to argue with prejudice so i had to give up on them. The neighbors I mean

You could have buried the neighbors with the tractor...

[guyjeen]

You could have buried the neighbors with the tractor...

Or he could have buried the chickens with the neighbors, with the tractor, or the chickens and the tractor with the neighbors, or the neighbors chickens, tractor with something else being manure. Any way it works.

[twelvedown]

What's the deal with giving chickens shell grit? I remember an aunt doing that... Is that to make the egg shells strong or keep the chickens healthy or what?

[Lazi]

Thanks for replying Countryboy,

I forgot to mention we are feeding them grain bought from the home centres but will most definitely look into getting a silo and deliveries next year when we increase numbers as you suggest. Right now we've only got 21 as we don't want anyone in the village to panic and hopefully by next year they will have got used to the idea and pretty much forgotten about them. Right now they are running in part of our forest which is only a couple of hundred metres from the house but a good distance from any neighbours and we check them a couple of times a day. Bought a solar powered electric fence charger and am currently running three poly wires which seems to do the job, heard an awful yelping a couple of nights ago coming from down that way and can only presume something tried to get inside.

Their sleeping accommodation is a basic copy of the Purina Mills plan widely available on the Net



We're hoping to branch out into selling eggs when the chickens are old enough and slowly expand next year, neighbours permitting.

Did you use anything to control worms or mites ? I've been looking to get hold of some diatomaceous earth if I can find it.

What's the deal with giving chickens shell grit? I remember an aunt doing that... Is that to make the egg shells strong or keep the chickens healthy or what?

Grit is to help them digest their food and oyster shell is to provide calcium for egg shell formation I think.