Bad News

[Paul]

I was in our local feed store Monday, June 23, purchasing feed for our chickens and goats.  Presently feed is the highest that I can ever remember it being at harvest time.  The owner told me that next week it was going up $1.80 per bag (50 lbs.) across the board (meaning every kind of feed) due to the floods in the Corn Belt.
 
Now for some good news!  If you have space and like to grow plants-plant some watermelons!  Chickens love them and grow well on them!  We have a lot of them growing and are going to plant some more.  The chickens will get to the point when they see me carrying one, they will come running and wait for me to open it for them.  They will eat all except the thin outer rine.  It\'s a delicious treat for them, that didn\'t cost much to raise, which will help cut the feed price some.  Our growing birds are on self feeders and they are never allowed to get totally empty.

[Guest]

I just paid about $15 per bag for 50 lbs of the starter/grower I use.  Last year I paid $11.  I go through about 100 lbs a week of starter/grower...that\'s not counting the layer feed....ugh.  I free range my laying hens and I do rotate and let some of my breeders free range, too--so that does help a little, as they aren\'t all that interested in feed if they\'ve been eating bugs all day.  But my Marans roosters decided to get aggressive, so that has really put a limit on their free ranging--and those birds go through a lot of feed.  I also keep Polish, and I just can\'t free range those silly birds.  :p

Wish I hard more garden space to grow some melons--my human kid loves \'em, too!

[Guest]

I was just in the store too and I noticed that scratch grains where up to $11 a bag and cracked corn was up to $10 a fifty pound. That\'s crazy, I pay $10 for layer from Kent and that bound to go up. Lucky to all the farmers that did not drown out because I heard corn could be at almost $8 a bushel by fall.

[Paul]

Sorry I\'ve been so slow to respond!-been busy planting more melons.  Let the human kids eat all they want first then give the rest to the chickens-even if it is only the rine.  LOL!!!

[Guest]

Whenever I have extra cucumbers from the garden, or if they get away from me and turn yellow, I split them lengthwise into quarters, and the hens just go nuts!  The next morning, all that\'s left is the rind!  So we always put in a few extra cucumber hills.  And any kind of tomato.  Also, the garden is far enough away from where the hens  free-range area that they have not discovered it (yet).  I wouldn\'t like for them to \"help themselves\".  

[Guest]

We\'ve been free ranging our older flock (although I am rethinking it, I may just let them out for limited amounts of time, since the back yard now smells like chicken!)

We also raise meat rabbits, so the chickens have been eating the waste pellets and the \"treasures\" that are in the pans when I dump them. Kinda ewwwww, but then the larvee doesn\'t hatch to be more flies!

I\'m so hoping that they\'ll eat zuchini, since I always have more than I know what to do with!

I know the prices for my rabbit pellets have jumped about 3.50 a bag since Feb. I highly doubt it\'ll drop back down if the crops are better this year.

[Mike Gilbert]

My chickens have always loved zuchini.   I just split it down the middle.   Sorry to say I didn\'t plant any this year, but they also like any extra lettuce, cabbage - almost anything green.   They also like grass clippings from the lawn if gathered before it dries out.

[Guest]

My chickens have been sneaking in the strawberry patch!  They have the red beak to prove it.

[Paul]

Some of our youngsters enjoyed their first watermelon yesterday.  Some reason this one rotted on it\'s bottom, so we didn\'t get any-but there soon will be more!