Recent content by Den in Penn

They would have no problems eating any of those foods whole. Whole grains like corn and wheat are used in scratch feed, although some do use cracked corn. That list looks like it is from a home feed mix.

For most chickens they never seem to like to fly over something as unstable as the loose wire. I have had a bird that flew over the electric net. It never touched the top, straight up eight feet then glided out, much like a started pheasant does. Then there were the pullets escaped through...

If they are getting a balanced diet they will be all right. Hens that are kept indoors usually have no health problems from lack of sun light. True they do like to sun bath, but they can live with out. Besides most trees do let some sun through at some point, or the sun reaches in the morning...

A good balanced feed. The usual path is starter till six to eight weeks, then grower till point of lay or they actually start to lay. then layer. There are low calcium feeds out there that you can use is stead of a grower, all flock or a game bird feed. The feed requirements for a juvenile is...

The best breed of layer is the leghorn IMO. After that there are many that are good to excellent. Crosses like the sex links come close. The crosses aren't breeds though, as they don't breed true. A first generation cross can lay very well, but breed them and the hens in the next...

That type of feeder can waste a lot of feed, by the chicks billing and scratching the feed out. Put it on a tray or shallow dish to catch that feed. I put a cardboard collar around the base that sticks up around a third of an inch over the outer edge. Just having that higher edge saves a lot.

Maybe place it next to a wall. Put in something higher they can roost on near by. In my brooder/grow out tractor, I have what I call a practice roost, about four or five inches high. As well as a roost for when they are juveniles.

No egg shell is too soft and dissolves too rapidly for it to work as grit.

Put more places out in the yard where the bantams can hide. Pieces of plywood or pallets propped up so the older ones can't get under, things like that. Then leave the younger ones time out in the yard by themselves to learn the lay of the land maybe a day or so. After that leave the older...

Instead of saving starter for the next group of chicks, just use it up before going to the next feed. Non medicated starter can be used by any age chicken. Grower feed is good for any age as well, although it may be a little light on the protein for chicks. Feeding it out saves on the hassles...

Probably, but pullets have also been know to do that. It is one of the things young ones do to establish their pecking order.

What I said in the seventh post of this thread would work for yours. By the time your 15 week olds are laying the 5 week olds won't need the extra boost of protein, if you were feeding starter, and can go on a lower feed. So a grower or another low calcium feed with calcium supplement in a...

Limestone itself isn't bad for them. It has been used for calcium supplement. If your are talking about lawn and garden lime, a little won't hurt them but a lot can. I use a powdered or granulated lime on my lawn and garden. I really don't want to see if they would eat the pelletized lime...

It can take some time for them to make a dent in cleaning off the garden. When I let my 20 some chickens loose in the five thousand square feet of garden in the fall, it takes well into the winter the winter to see them really have an effect. I do have another third of the garden they are...

Your coop is a little small for 15 birds. The run us fine, if you only had one or two roosters. I had two brothers and their father cohabitation in a coop for a year, with around twenty hens. Of course they had plenty of space in the coop and the electric fencing. It was working, till one...