Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Bigfamily4me]

Ha! I knew I'd ruffle some feathers!!!

 

[Dooner]

I agree with Amy! And if you have way more than you need, then yes it can be considered a white elephant too.     

Hatcheries don't sex chicks by feather sexing method. They look up inside their vent. Ouch!    I did the feather sexing thing for my orps. (Pipe down, boys). Did NOT work. As for all your room for chickens,    

  I was thinking along the same lines as BBP. Whistle, whistle........... Speaking of which (the whistling), I seriously miss DrH!    

 

[Dooner]

Hi Celtic chick, Dooner here. Don't know if you all remember me. I have not been on line for quite a while. I went to the batch a year ago. Sill have my huge flock of five. Everything is okay. I travelled for a job for the last year and a half, so I was only home for a day or two a week. Now I am working back inthe great state of Wisconsin..

 

[delisha]

Hi Dooner..welcome back

hope to see you at the next picnic bash

 

[zeke]

DL deep litter

sorry I don t know what deep litter refers to. can you please explain. thanks............ I guess I ve got some terminology to catch up on.

 

[Angiebubs]

WB Dooner!!! I don't thinkw e met at the last bash?

Zeke: DL Method is where you put down a layer of hay or pine shavings and leave the chicken poop. On a regular basis, you mix it up and add more of your bedding material. This is best done on a dirt floor..although some have added dirt to the mix. The idea is that it will all break down/compost, allowing some warmth for the flock during the winter. If done properly, it decomposes and there should be no smell. I think that sums it up?

Babylady: We do get a majority of food from here-Mike hunts so plenty of venizen...he also does his own processing (Sausage, has a couple smokers, grinders,stuffer, chamer of horrors stuff like that) And we have a 70 x 70 veggie garden, about 15 fruit trees, eggs, berries, and I would like to add honey. The only thing missing is the beef and chicken :-( Mike has talked about buying a bunch of chickens and feed and seeing if the farmers nearby would just add them to their meat chickens.And we buy 1/4 organic or hormone free (Something like that) cow. Also have a well, now if we could get rid of the mortgage payment we would be golden!!!!

 

[delisha]

Quote: It builds up a community of beneficial microorganisms that keeps the eco system in your coop running better. Healthy soil food web cuts down on plant pathogens since the good microorganisms are able to out compete the bad. A similar effect may be taking place in deep litter, but in this case the good microorganisms out compete the protozoa that cause cocci. Meanwhile, low levels of coccidiosis protazoa in the deep litter may act like a vaccination, inoculating your chicks with low levels of the disease that their immune systems can fight off and then become resistant to. However the specifics work, the poultry scientists showed that chicks raised on well aged deep litter had a lower mortality rate than chicks raised on young deep litter or without deep litter. Deep litter is a great way to keep your birds brimming with life. If it is done correctly you can add some heat to your coop, because it acts like a compost pile too. I am working on DL myself. It is a learning process. I liked the added heat, but, I think I had to high of moisture for the amount of air flow I had. I am going to add more air flow next winter.


http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Chicken_health_benefits_of_deep_bedding/
http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/animal_husbandry/ani_chik_poultry rearing.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/mode...litter-system-ze0z1208zwar.aspx#axzz2PjU8UOub

 

[unkadan]

zeke, deep litter is basically the use of an organic bedding material like straw, leaves,old hay, spreading that on the floor (preferably dirt) of your coop. Let the birds scratch, dig, crap in it,,,,toss some scratch feed dailey to encourage that action. Add more bedding on a limited but regular basis. What you have going (if done right) is an active compost floor, the bacteria break down the poop and bedding and this action keeps the odors down. This also provides some heat in the coop for winter, as well as giving the birds something to do, avoiding boredom problems. If you are a gardener I highly recommend this idea.

This can be done on a concrete floor, but then you should start with a layer of active compost or garden dirt to instill the initial bacteria......

clear as mud, right?

 

[JustJohn]

Angie I am moving in!!!!! Staying at home on that many acres you could justify it by raising ALL of your own food! I know you do not want to do the butchering part, but it is so much kinder to know that what you are eating has been well taken care of and has lived an amazing life instead of what really happens to our food.

TO, I will take whatever syrup you can spare! My kids love the REAL stuff! I usually end up buying it from Sam's so I can get it in a decent quantity!

Judge, leave the chickie alone. If it is supposed to hatch, it will. Now having said that I DO assist the Calls, but only because they have such difficulty hatching. If I did not assist I would hardly hatch out any babies. The last hatch of Taffy's I believe we had 9 make it; best hatch I had before that was 4.

Well the prom kiddos are off to Olive Garden in all of their finery, and then to the dance. I managed to get some fantastic pictures of them at my sister's house and after they eat I am going to meet them over at my neighbor's house for more pics, and THEN I have to head over to the dance to take even MORE pictures! Good thing I got up at 4:30 this morning!!!!

BBL!

Of the 48 posts I read to catch up, all I have to add is..... Boy am I glad my MOM did not chase me all over on my Prom night!


Oh and I'm Glad I didn't say what BigFam said either. Tisk Tisk

 

[WIChookchick]

yeah.. I should be running and hiding too, I have also helped a little, if only to widen the pip area a tad. The only chicks I lost were the serama's and I found out that they would not have survived anyway, my hen is short legged and that creates a lethal cross in serama chicks.
They either don't hatch or fail to thrive.. that happened with mine.



And I have to share this with Just John..
I saw your "brother" and his van today...
he had a license plate that said "Just Jim"...

LOL