poultry forum wanted

[porterswoods]

There is a lot of poultry knowledge on this forum. What did you need to know?

 

[porterswoods]

good layer's mash

I have never come across a good quality layers mash in shops. I had Countrywide mash in an emergency and it set like concrete in the feed bin and clogged the augers, many frustrating hours spent clearing them. Went to Pearce's in Thame today their mash looked more like dust.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

What about this forum?

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/

Enough people on that GREAT forum keep hens, and also some good advice about bees

 

[Andy Duff]

We could ask admin for a change to the forum-
Bee & Bird Keepers Anonymous but I think there may already possibly be a BBKA out there somewhere

BABKA anyone?

 

[tonybloke]

pete, why don't you give Jen at Picton farms a call? she keeps and breeds poultry.

 

[kighill]

medicial wise we are all right for now ish. what do you know on breeding pure breeds and keeping breeds pure!

I know it is very expensive to replace them should a fox get in the pen.
20 out of 23 were lost a couple of years ago.

My electric fence failed when a large branch fell onto it allowing the fox entry.

Although I still have the odd pure breed I tend to buy them from auction at a decent price. Having said that I would always advise buying from the breeder when possible.

I used to use the PP forum but did not really have a problem. Keyboard bandits are on most forums and seem to enjoy passing on opinions and comments.

 

[Stephenw]

Im planning to worm shortly before they come into lay o avoid withdrawal period.

Steve

 

[onriver]

I never realised I had access to this expertise! I've 2 problems - 1st is eggs with thin shells. I've 4 hens, they have ground shells available on demand, a run giving them plenty of foraging opportunities and frequent access to the great outdoors, but still lay eggs that break when breathed upon!. The 2nd is a bit more basic.... the hens have a run and a house - perches supplied, next box separated by cardboard to reduce its attractiveness but I still have hens that prefer to spend the night there, crapping but not laying. Any advice?

 

[Brosville]

Thin shells are usually lack of grit/oystershell, but can also be symptomatic of general poor health, or going into or coming out of moult. At this time of year, unless you're giving them extra lighting you can't expect a lot of eggs -in spring, a feather duster will lay!

The nest box thing is a bad habit they've got into, which can be hard to break....

 

[Stephenw]

A hens first egg can just be the egg without the shell as it hasnt been able to develop properly, what you could also do it feed ground up egg shell after you boil them and give it to them.

Steve

 

[Brosville]

"what you could also do it feed ground up egg shell" - if you're going to do that, it has to be ground very fine so as to be unrecognisable as eggshell, or it can give them the idea that pecking shells is a good idea (and can induce egg-pecking/eating).

Egg eating can be dealt with by removing the eggs frequently from the nestbox, and replacing with a handful of golf balls- they soon get fed up with "bouncing beaks"

 

[Erichalfbee]

I keep all our eggshells and pop them in the bottom of the oven when I'm using it.
The resultant baked shells are very grindable. Add them to something wet like a mash porridge. The hens will devour that

 

[oliver90owner]

in the bottom of the oven when I'm using it.

Probably a good idea. Remember BSE (mad cow disease)?

 

[porterswoods]

I never realised I had access to this expertise! I've 2 problems - 1st is eggs with thin shells. I've 4 hens, they have ground shells available on demand, a run giving them plenty of foraging opportunities and frequent access to the great outdoors, but still lay eggs that break when breathed upon!. The 2nd is a bit more basic.... the hens have a run and a house - perches supplied, next box separated by cardboard to reduce its attractiveness but I still have hens that prefer to spend the night there, crapping but not laying. Any advice?

How old are your hens? my advice on your problems:

1. Thin shells are caused by 3 things disease, lack of calcium or old hens. I am going to assume that they are in good health and under a year old. To boost calcium give plenty of grit and make sure that there is limestone flour in it. Limestone flour is mixed with our layers mash and we make sure the troughs are emptied once a day to force calcium intake, the hens don't eat it out of preferance.

Check the calcium content of your feed, and see if you can get one with more in it. As birds get older they need more in their diet.

If you are using pellets mix with veg oil and limestone flour to make it stick to the pellets. You can also put a product called shell max in the water which is supposed to improve shell quality.

Old hens produce a lesser quality egg. At 100 weeks old you can only hope to get 40% usable eggs. If it is disease then give a poultry tonic to aid recovery and shell quality should come back.

2. Hens have to be trained to use nest boxes. At peak laying time move the hens from where they lay their eggs to where you want them laid. Hard to do when they have the habit already.

A darkened secluded nest area is where hens should want to lay. If you do not want them in the nest box at night, then close it off or make a more attractive area for them to roost.

Ours close and open automatically which is not a viable option for 4 hens, but the principle is the same. Train them to roost somewhere else. move them from the box at night to the perches, it may take a while tho.

Make sure there is nothing detering them from perching, i.e red mite. It may be that the nest is where there isn't any. To check for mite use a white business sized bit of card and push it into any cracks where it will fit. When you pull it out it should still be white. If it is smeared with red or brown, depending when they last fed, you have red mite and should treat it.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

in the bottom of the oven when I'm using it.

Probably a good idea. Remember BSE (mad cow disease)?

Try telling that to the hens that eat their eggs before you get them!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Two reasons for doing it.
1. oven cooked shells are very friable and grind well.
2. If you rinse the shells then heat them in the oven it removes all "eggy" taste and smell thus not encouraging egg eating.
Never considered the BSE angle. According to DEFRA regs even hobby poultry keepers are not allowed to feed their hens anything that originates in the home kitchen.
My hens really hate cooked veggie peelings and rice and pasta so I don't pass on the left overs.......cough cough cough ....let alone the odd bit of tuna for moulting

 

[oliver90owner]

Try telling that to the hens that eat their eggs before you get them!

Yes, agree, but you have missed the subtlety that individuals (which need to be culled or re-trained) eating eggs is one thing; feeding shells back to all the rest of the stock is another. Think about it.

 

[The Cumbrian]

Never considered the BSE angle.

NOt being a poultry keeper I am not sure I am understanding this.

Surely the point of BSE was a prion (think 'the right term) crossing from one species (sheep) to another (cattle). Scrapie (virtually the same disease had existed in sheep for a couple of centuries. Then with feeding sheep remains as protein to cattle a similar disease appeared (1985/86) in cattle.

Feeding egg shells to poultry (assuming we are talking about hens eggs to hens) isn't likely to do the same thing.

 

[Drew]

T'other Half tells me that the forum used by ex-battery-hens.com is pretty good - I think its actually a Yahoo Group discussion/forum.

 

[oliver90owner]

Feeding egg shells to poultry (assuming we are talking about hens eggs to hens) isn't likely to do the same thing.

The analogy was a simple one - nothing particular about prions from sheep or crossing species, but the same can apply to your whole stock of poultry. One chuck has a pathogen that is then spread nicely to all the others. Great.

Perhaps I should have used the analogy of feeding honey, of unknown provenance, to a colony of bees. Perhaps, as a beekeeper, that might remind people of the necessity to observe at least a modicum of 'bio-security'. Other examples might be regular cleaning of kit, scorching timber boxes, etc, etc.

The risk of hens eggs passing on a pathogen may be low (loads of hen sh*t around for that, for instance), but should not be over-looked. A localised infection can soon turn into an epidemic within the flock.

Bet the commercial poultry keepers do not follow the practice of feeding back raw egg shells to the whole flock, or even to more than a single flock.

Even more thinking to do, so I will be ready for the next dissenter.

RAB