Super nice warm day yesterday. Feels like summer is here. DH was getting the mowing started and I was out spraying my deer repellent stuff. DH was at the fence talking with Mr. Neighbor so I stopped to visit, too. Then Mrs came out with an empty egg carton, so I went back inside and grabbed her a carton of 2 dozen. I have so many! She said the lady that does their taxes has 17 chickens and so many eggs. Then she said "but all her chicken's butts are bare/plucked and she doesn't know why!". I said mine are doing the same exact thing! I don't know either, but now I don't feel so bad, haha. My half sister posted the question on her chicken facebook page she follows. There are too many "answers" as to why. They are bored and need to free range. ok, well, the other lady's I'm sure all free range, they live on a big bunch of acreage. Need more protein. I give them the recommended 16% layer feed and a daily handful of mealworm dried bugs, which are supposedly 50% protein. They need a dust bath. They take them all the time. They dig little holes in the dirt and sit in them (especially later afternoon/early evening) and fling dust everywhere. Mites. I add the stuff in their coop during each cleaning to keep out mites. One lady answered that she tried everything and nothing worked.
Still no shooting (knock on wood!). Interesting that the guy was so "you want a war? I can go to war! I got lots of money, blah blah" and then has completely stopped the shooting.
I slept in until a little after 8 this morning. I've been having lots of vivid dreams the last few nights. Usually I don't remember much of my dreams.
Today is chicken coop cleaning day. DH is going to work on the watering system for the whiskey barrels. He's still working on his pickup, but can't go any farther until the rest of his parts come in this week. I should probably do some house cleaning, too. LOL
I owned a livestock feed store for 30 yrs. The nutritionist I used to answer customers questions I couldn't, always said 18% protein for layers was the best. Also grit and oyster shells free choice. I also personally gave alfalfa hay to my chickens. I took a flake and tied it with multiple hay strings so they had to "fight" the flake to get to the alfalfa. It occupied them so they didn't pick at each other. An older man suggested that years ago and it seems to work. If I free ranged them they didn't have seem to have as many issues either but that wasn't always possible.
ReplyDeletethe extra protein seems to be the most common suggestion. I do have some grit. I'm going to also try some type of treat they have to work for to see if that helps keep them busier. Thanks for the info!
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