You can file this under: Things That Matter When They Are Happening In Your Bathtub. Chicken manure is 95% less stinky if you don't feed commercial chick starter or layer ration. Feed your chickens real food, instead. I'm soaking grains (oats, barley, and wheat) for our goats. Which they LOVE. And for chicks. And to have a place to put a chick in a sink. Not to be confused with chicks in the tub. We're raising three Golden Comets, three Black Australorps, and three Buff Orpingtons in the bathtub. I've really missed having chickens and their eggs. Yesterday I milked a quart from Clove. That was her first milking and she'd already fed her baby! Her udder is impressive and, up to now, she's only been fed hay and alfalfa pellets.
That feed looks glorious! It stopped me short before I even started reading. Have you found a source for that grain?? I can't imagine affording our 60 hens on that quality food, but boy does it look elegant and delicious.
ReplyDeleteThat's just grits from Weaver Street. Feeding nine chicks is one thing. Feeding 60 hens is another. If the hens can't free range, all the rules change again. I found it difficult to figure out what the chicks would and wouldn't eat. I kept worrying grits and yogurt weren't enough. So I broke down and added some chick starter. They seem more satisfied, truth be told. We have less urgent peeing from the bathtub now.
ReplyDeleteFor the three warm seasons around here, I don't feed my hens anything more than kitchen scraps, access to the compost pile, and all the bugs they can forage. But they are truly free range. I'm sprouting barely, oats, and wheat from Reedy Fork Farm for my goats. When the hens need food, I'll give them the same. Reedy Fork is organic, non gmo, and they work to source as local as possible. You can actually call and ask them for the mix in my name. Or they will mix anything for you. 50lbs of my mix is $30, but that includes a surcharge for Gro-Smart. That's the feed store we use in town. Its cheaper to drive to Reedy Fork. I'm too lazy for that. Saxy carries Reedy Fork but their markup is huge. Kinda pisses me off, actually.