[JulieWall]

How are you supposed to feed different diets to a small flock when a percentage of the birds are just coming into their first moult and the others aren't because they are this years hatch? Then there are the old ladies who have ceased laying much but still live with their pals. Try putting down a dish of chick crumbs for the hatchlings and telling their mum and her flock it's not for them, lol.

[shygirl]

I feed them all the growers ration and feed oyster shell separately, the laying birds will take what they need.

is there a withdrawal period for eggs when feeding growers to laying birds? i thought there was a growth promoter in the feed, and i put my birds meat birds (fed on growers) onto layers for a few weeks before eating them?

i think the con of feeding a blended feed such as layers pellets, is that its easier for gm feed to creep in. i know harbros sheep crunch has gm feed in it. feeding whole grains, i guess, is more likely to come from local farmer/british farmers.

[Clansman]

How are you supposed to feed different diets to a small flock when a percentage of the birds are just coming into their first moult and the others aren't because they are this years hatch? Then there are the old ladies who have ceased laying much but still live with their pals. Try putting down a dish of chick crumbs for the hatchlings and telling their mum and her flock it's not for them, lol.

Its obviously not possible when birds of different ages and at different stages are kept together, again i'm talking about the ideal situation where the flock are all the same age.

Most of us on here with small numbers probably don't run our birds that way.

[Clansman]

is there a withdrawal period for eggs when feeding growers to laying birds? i thought there was a growth promoter in the feed, and i put my birds meat birds (fed on growers) onto layers for a few weeks before eating them?

i think the con of feeding a blended feed such as layers pellets, is that its easier for gm feed to creep in. i know harbros sheep crunch has gm feed in it. feeding whole grains, i guess, is more likely to come from local farmer/british farmers.

Yes the GM thing is possible but legally they have to state if GM foods are included.

There shouldn't be growth promoters in food nowadays, I think what you mean is anti-coccidiostats?

For chicken eggs and meat its usually a 14 day withdrawal period

[Castle Farm]

I hope these posts haven't worried to many new to poultry keeping.

The rights and wrongs of how to feed your birds have been discused for many many years.

As long as they are fit and well looked after, free from lice, flees and red mite. In a clean airy dry house with fresh clean water and some fresh greens or a cut up ripe apple they should be fine.

[Clansman]

Agreed 

However rather than put it as right or wrong i'd say both ways are good, one way will just improve the performance.

Its similar to the lighting factor for laying birds.

Birds will lay just fine on natural daylength but if you give them a little artificial light they will lay for longer and therefore lay more eggs.

Neither way is better than the other as such, its just whatever you are looking for from your flock.

Will we start another thread on lighting?? 

[JulieWall]

Good idea! I wonder if anyone has actually costed out the whole lighting/performance thing? Do birds have shorter lives/poorer health if they don't have an off lay period?
Do we think aesthetics are more important than productivity or should chickens pay their way?
lots to discuss there too.

[Clansman]

You'll get a dozen different answers to those questions

Cost wise the artificial lighting programs are well worth doing, that's what the commercial guys do.

I worked with battery and laying hens for many years and although they are rarely cost effective after the second year they will still lay well if kept on lighting programs for a good few years albeit producing fewer although larger eggs.

They can live for many years even after they stop laying so I don't think it shortens their life or results in poorer health.

I have pure breeds because I like the look of them but I also like to make them work.

Even battery hens won't lay all year round, they need to moult and have a recovery period between laying stints.

[shygirl]

There shouldn't be growth promoters in food nowadays, I think what you mean is anti-coccidiostats?

For chicken eggs and meat its usually a 14 day withdrawal period

yes, maybe it was that, iim sure you shouldnt feed growers to layers if you are eating the eggs/meat.

Good idea! I wonder if anyone has actually costed out the whole lighting/performance thing?

i have done incubator / heat lamp pricing - after 2 years of spring electric bills of £450 for 10 weeks - i have reduced my bill by 85% by not turning the blasted things on. of course i didnt make a £400 profit on any chicks i raised so its been an expensive hobby. 

[JulieWall]

We built a new chicken house a few years back - when I say house I mean one we could stand up in so more like a shed with nest boxes and perches really - and hubby put two decent sized glazed windows in it to up the light levels. They loved it so much that they stayed inside all winter despite the pop hole being open and they all carried on laying in the winter for the first time ever! It was that really bad winter so the snow may have increased the light levels further still 
My main discomfort with artificial lighting in poultry houses is that I think it deprives the birds of one of their natural behaviours, the chance to give their bodies a rest and regain condition after the reproductive season. It takes a lot of calcium to make the egg shells and I suspect their bones suffer without the off-lay period, not so much very young birds but after a few years they are just like us women, struggle to keep bone density with advancing age and no amount of calcium supplements can give the body the ability to absorb the stuff. Endocrine systems become less efficient and the knock-on effect leaves all sorts of bodily functions a bit clapped out. ....... None of which is really relevant if you rotate your stock but if you intend to keep them longer then worth considering.

[AndynJ]

  Oh my 
Well for me the chickens work, the dog works, the wife works & the kids when anyone of them doesn't earn their keep the end is nigh.
If my wife has a day off she usually just eats soup as a full blown meal would tip her over the edge from earning her keep  I have brought the gun in doors these days as I don't think she's got long left but most of the chickens are ok so that's fine.
   If I stick a head torch on my wife will I get a bit more graft out of her 

[Kitchen Cottage]

http://www.permacultureglobal.com/posts/3797

The joys of Essex clay is that we have nettles to burn.  In fact I use them quicker than they can grow for my welsh cob and piglets and chicks.

I do find this helps as a conditioner.  I add it as a porridge with oats warm in winter, with a bit of honey and they seem to like it.

[JulieWall]

http://www.permacultureglobal.com/posts/3797

The joys of Essex clay is that we have nettles to burn.  In fact I use them quicker than they can grow for my welsh cob and piglets and chicks.

I do find this helps as a conditioner.  I add it as a porridge with oats warm in winter, with a bit of honey and they seem to like it.

Good to know, thanks. Do you wilt the nettles before feeding them to the livestock?