Jesse Newcome

Cool... thanks.

That was very thorough... thanks. I will make sure to include a lot of kale in my feed mix once I clear out enough room on my land to grow my own.

Since we're here, I was going to post this question in the mushroom forum, but you might know...

Is there anything on that ingredient list that is unsuitable for organic mushroom production? The reason I was investigating the ingredients in the first place was because the feed increases yields when used as a supplement to straw and fixes the flavor loss of using straw alone. I know there is other stuff I can use, but I like the pellets.

Today, I was googling some of the ingredients in my certified organic layer pellets and came across menadione nicotinamide bisulfate. At first , I just searched menadione, and found this Natural News article... http://www.naturalnews.com/024244_food_pet_sodium.html. It isn't exactly the same... the middle word on mine is nicotinamide and the one in the article is sodium... but it also says it goes by many names. Can anyone comment on this?

I thought I scored with this stuff. It's grown and produced locally and certified organic. It's just too bad that the USDA sets the organic rules and they really can't be fully trusted, so on occasion, we still must question ingredients, even on certified organic stuff. I'm not saying that this particular ingredient is bad... I don't know that yet and it's hard to sift through all the conflicting google results. I just don't think the USDA is properly researching all the things that they allow in organic food and I'm sure they are even more relaxed on animal feed.

I can avoid feed during summer by free ranging, but I haven't established any way to supply my own winter feed yet. So I guess I am stuck with this stuff for now.

Does anyone see any other questionable things on this ingredient list?

http://blueseal.com/files/feeding-and-mgmt/poultry/1001-organiclife-layer.pdf

a killer for sure...

My coop is secure at night... never had a problem there. After the first fox attack occurred in the morning, I moved grazing hours to 12PM - 7PM and for about two months I had no problems... thought I had it beat. But recently, the fox has changed hunting hours to all day. It ninja'd a bird at 2PM one day and then another one at 4 while I was outside with the dog and a rifle in hand. The dog won't tolerate permanent guard duty... she's too much of a princess. Plus, I would rather avoid any potential vet bills. I have heard many claims that the goose can potentially fend the fox off or at least buy enough time for you to come running when you hear the alarm. It makes way more noise than the chickens when it's upset. One problem I have had is not hearing the chicken squabble in time to intervene. The lady that I bought it from said that she hasn't lost a single bird since she started raising geese.

I am getting tired of this fox eating my birds, so I bought a goose for ten bucks from a lady a couple towns over. I heard they make good flock defenders, so I figured I'd give it a shot. To test this goose out, I put it up against my dog. Here is the vid...




Please share your experiences using geese to defend your chickens.

OOO... I want some super worms too. I also thought about breeding crickets or something. My raw milk farmer uses some sort of fermented clover hay for the cows to help preserve some of the richness of the free range milk over the winter. I was thinking of trying that once I get some more land cleared.

The darker yolks were more flavorful. I have noticed this even more since I have been cut off from them. It's like having to go from organic craft beer back to sheeple beer. Or like buying a tomato from the grocery store after having feasted on CSA tomatoes all summer.

I am in Western New York. I stopped feeding them in the beginning of July. Production stayed the same... 1 egg from each bird per day, every now and then skipping a day. The shells were stronger after I stopped the feed. I haven't needed any supplements, even in the winter with the pellets. I had 6 hens, but the fox left me with three and I am back to pellets and yellow yolks until I can come up with some better protection. I'm picking up a goose this weekend.

My second pic has one of the eggs from the time above on the right, but the egg on the left is what happens when I go back to layer pellets. Stupid fox!