sci.agriculture.poultry, alt.cooking-chat, alt.permaculture,
rec.gardens, aus.gardens

Chickens – supplementing their grain diet?

My Brother has some Chickens in his backyard to lay Eggs. I have to be
honest and say that since Noah floated the Ark, I have been a hardcore
dedicated Egg-a-holic. And then some. Add some bacon/polish sausage/
chorizo sausage……and SWISS BROWN mushrooms……and it’s game on!
I particularly like Eggs where the yolks have a really rich orange
colour, and are full of flavour. At the moment, the Chickens are being
fed the proper Pellet Food from a local Grain & Fodder retailer, but I
am trying to “supplement” their diet to make their Eggs taste
absolutely A1. I don’t just want the Chooks’ diet to be “reasonably
good”…..I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. At the
moment, I am getting box load after box load of vegetable scraps from
some local grocers – and I am continuing with this. They mainly
contain lettuce and cabbage scraps, but there are often some carrots,
cauliflowers, avocadoes, etc. (Some of the more choice vegetables get
carefully “selected out” by my brother…..but that’s another matter
entirely) I also know that the Chickens go crazy over thistles and the
like.
Anyway, I heard somewhere or other that, along with LOTS of greens,
the addition of some protein to the Chickens’ diet can help boost the
flavour of their Eggs. So I thought of worms! I’ve recently set up an
ultra-basic compost pile by digging a very shallow hole in the Chicken
Yard, filling it with as many food scraps as I can lay my hands on,
watering them in, covering it with hessian, then watering the hessian.
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully. Once it reaches
this stage, I will simply remove the plastic tub and the hessian, and
let the Chooks go to town.
I am hoping for any and all advice, in regards to what I am doing
here, particularly with the worm-compost pile.
• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?
Like I mentioned before, I want the Chooks to have the best diet
possible to give the Eggs the best flavour. As an aside, the Chickens
seem to dig and scratch about like nothing I have ever seen. Quite
funny to watch how they actually do this. I have even seem them sort
of “rub themselves about” in the dust in drier weather, and this is
VERY funny to watch. What is this they are doing? They often get quite
aggressive when other birds, such as doves and pigeons, try to eat
their food. They really are funny critters to watch. When we’re out
the back having wine and beers, and play the Stereo, the music really
has some sort of effect on them. They will often come over and jump up
on the garden table or on the Stereo. Weird.

You may want to look at raising black soldier fly larvae.


"Gas Bag" wrote in message
...
sci.agriculture.poultry, alt.cooking-chat, alt.permaculture,
rec.gardens, aus.gardens

Chickens – supplementing their grain diet?

My Brother has some Chickens in his backyard to lay Eggs. I have to be
honest and say that since Noah floated the Ark, I have been a hardcore
dedicated Egg-a-holic. And then some. Add some bacon/polish sausage/
chorizo sausage……and SWISS BROWN mushrooms……and it’s game on!
I particularly like Eggs where the yolks have a really rich orange
colour, and are full of flavour. At the moment, the Chickens are being
fed the proper Pellet Food from a local Grain & Fodder retailer, but I
am trying to “supplement” their diet to make their Eggs taste
absolutely A1. I don’t just want the Chooks’ diet to be “reasonably
good”…..I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. At the
moment, I am getting box load after box load of vegetable scraps from
some local grocers – and I am continuing with this. They mainly
contain lettuce and cabbage scraps, but there are often some carrots,
cauliflowers, avocadoes, etc. (Some of the more choice vegetables get
carefully “selected out” by my brother…..but that’s another matter
entirely) I also know that the Chickens go crazy over thistles and the
like.
Anyway, I heard somewhere or other that, along with LOTS of greens,
the addition of some protein to the Chickens’ diet can help boost the
flavour of their Eggs. So I thought of worms! I’ve recently set up an
ultra-basic compost pile by digging a very shallow hole in the Chicken
Yard, filling it with as many food scraps as I can lay my hands on,
watering them in, covering it with hessian, then watering the hessian.
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully. Once it reaches
this stage, I will simply remove the plastic tub and the hessian, and
let the Chooks go to town.
I am hoping for any and all advice, in regards to what I am doing
here, particularly with the worm-compost pile.
• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?
Like I mentioned before, I want the Chooks to have the best diet
possible to give the Eggs the best flavour. As an aside, the Chickens
seem to dig and scratch about like nothing I have ever seen. Quite
funny to watch how they actually do this. I have even seem them sort
of “rub themselves about” in the dust in drier weather, and this is
VERY funny to watch. What is this they are doing? They often get quite
aggressive when other birds, such as doves and pigeons, try to eat
their food. They really are funny critters to watch. When we’re out
the back having wine and beers, and play the Stereo, the music really
has some sort of effect on them. They will often come over and jump up
on the garden table or on the Stereo. Weird.

On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:20:23 -0700 (PDT), Gas Bag
wrote:


• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?

I've long heard that coffee grounds are not good for worms. And here
is a link I found while researching the same thing primarliy for
self-sufficiency purposes:

http://www.lionsgrip.com/recipes.html


Hal

In article ,
"Amy Blankenship" wrote:

You may want to look at raising black soldier fly larvae.


"Gas Bag" wrote in message
...
sci.agriculture.poultry, alt.cooking-chat, alt.permaculture,
rec.gardens, aus.gardens

Chickens – supplementing their grain diet?

My Brother has some Chickens in his backyard to lay Eggs. I have to be
honest and say that since Noah floated the Ark, I have been a hardcore
dedicated Egg-a-holic. And then some. Add some bacon/polish sausage/
chorizo sausage……and SWISS BROWN mushrooms……and it’s game on!
I particularly like Eggs where the yolks have a really rich orange
colour, and are full of flavour. At the moment, the Chickens are being
fed the proper Pellet Food from a local Grain & Fodder retailer, but I
am trying to “supplement” their diet to make their Eggs taste
absolutely A1. I don’t just want the Chooks’ diet to be “reasonably
good”…..I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. At the
moment, I am getting box load after box load of vegetable scraps from
some local grocers – and I am continuing with this. They mainly
contain lettuce and cabbage scraps, but there are often some carrots,
cauliflowers, avocadoes, etc. (Some of the more choice vegetables get
carefully “selected out” by my brother…..but that’s another matter
entirely) I also know that the Chickens go crazy over thistles and the
like.
Anyway, I heard somewhere or other that, along with LOTS of greens,
the addition of some protein to the Chickens’ diet can help boost the
flavour of their Eggs. So I thought of worms! I’ve recently set up an
ultra-basic compost pile by digging a very shallow hole in the Chicken
Yard, filling it with as many food scraps as I can lay my hands on,
watering them in, covering it with hessian, then watering the hessian.
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully. Once it reaches
this stage, I will simply remove the plastic tub and the hessian, and
let the Chooks go to town.
I am hoping for any and all advice, in regards to what I am doing
here, particularly with the worm-compost pile.
• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?
Like I mentioned before, I want the Chooks to have the best diet
possible to give the Eggs the best flavour. As an aside, the Chickens
seem to dig and scratch about like nothing I have ever seen. Quite
funny to watch how they actually do this. I have even seem them sort
of “rub themselves about” in the dust in drier weather, and this is
VERY funny to watch. What is this they are doing? They often get quite
aggressive when other birds, such as doves and pigeons, try to eat
their food. They really are funny critters to watch. When we’re out
the back having wine and beers, and play the Stereo, the music really
has some sort of effect on them. They will often come over and jump up
on the garden table or on the Stereo. Weird.

Classic perennial of possible interest Russian broadleaf comfrey.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...&sa=X&oi=spell
&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Russian+Broadleaf+comfr ey&spell=1

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

g'day gas bag,

you pretty much covered it all, except maybe to say give them all and
most kitchen scraps, no meat scraps generally but any other food stuff
you might throw out.

you will be needing a very large worm farm if you want to raise enough
worms as regular food for the chooks diets, so the regular home
kitchen farms i don't think will do the job ubnless you run about 4 or
5 or so of them. then all yor kitchen scraps will be going to the
worms instead of the chooks. unless you start collecting scraps from
your neighbours.

maybe collect material from your local vege' shop ie.,. cabbage and
lettuce leaves, carrot tops damaged fruit etc.,.


On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:20:23 -0700 (PDT), Gas Bag
wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Gas Bag wrote:
sci.agriculture.poultry, alt.cooking-chat, alt.permaculture,
rec.gardens, aus.gardens

Chickens – supplementing their grain diet?

My Brother has some Chickens in his backyard to lay Eggs. I have to be
honest and say that since Noah floated the Ark, I have been a hardcore
dedicated Egg-a-holic. And then some. Add some bacon/polish sausage/
chorizo sausage……and SWISS BROWN mushrooms……and it’s game on!
I particularly like Eggs where the yolks have a really rich orange
colour, and are full of flavour. At the moment, the Chickens are being
fed the proper Pellet Food from a local Grain & Fodder retailer, but I
am trying to “supplement” their diet to make their Eggs taste
absolutely A1. I don’t just want the Chooks’ diet to be “reasonably
good”…..I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. At the
moment, I am getting box load after box load of vegetable scraps from
some local grocers – and I am continuing with this. They mainly
contain lettuce and cabbage scraps, but there are often some carrots,
cauliflowers, avocadoes, etc. (Some of the more choice vegetables get
carefully “selected out” by my brother…..but that’s another matter
entirely) I also know that the Chickens go crazy over thistles and the
like.
Anyway, I heard somewhere or other that, along with LOTS of greens,
the addition of some protein to the Chickens’ diet can help boost the
flavour of their Eggs. So I thought of worms! I’ve recently set up an
ultra-basic compost pile by digging a very shallow hole in the Chicken
Yard, filling it with as many food scraps as I can lay my hands on,
watering them in, covering it with hessian, then watering the hessian.
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully. Once it reaches
this stage, I will simply remove the plastic tub and the hessian, and
let the Chooks go to town.
I am hoping for any and all advice, in regards to what I am doing
here, particularly with the worm-compost pile.
• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?
Like I mentioned before, I want the Chooks to have the best diet
possible to give the Eggs the best flavour. As an aside, the Chickens
seem to dig and scratch about like nothing I have ever seen. Quite
funny to watch how they actually do this. I have even seem them sort
of “rub themselves about” in the dust in drier weather, and this is
VERY funny to watch. What is this they are doing? They often get quite
aggressive when other birds, such as doves and pigeons, try to eat
their food. They really are funny critters to watch. When we’re out
the back having wine and beers, and play the Stereo, the music really
has some sort of effect on them. They will often come over and jump up
on the garden table or on the Stereo. Weird.

In the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A natural History of Four Meals",
author Michal Pollan describes the routine of a super-efficient all-natural
farm in Virginia. The farmer rotates his fields with clock like precision
and the one process that might give guidance applicable to your situation
is the sequence of animals on a given field. First comes the cows. They
stay for a while eating the grass and dropping manure. Then the cows are
moved to the next field and the first field is left for a number of days.
This allows the cow flops to attract flies and develop a good crop of
maggots. Then the chickens are moved to the field where they happily peck
apart the flops, eat the maggots, and spread the manure in the process.

Consumers claim that this farmer's eggs and chickens are absolutely the
best to be had at any price. They happily pay a hefty premium and sometimes
travel long distances to obtain them.

Not that I'd expect you to invest in cows for your egg production but it
would pay to keep in mind that chickens really love their protein in the
form of insects and it does wonders for their taste and egg production.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Save the eggshells. Dry and pulverize them. Never a soft egg...

--
Dave

"Gas Bag" wrote in message
...
sci.agriculture.poultry, alt.cooking-chat, alt.permaculture,
rec.gardens, aus.gardens

Chickens – supplementing their grain diet?

My Brother has some Chickens in his backyard to lay Eggs. I have to be
honest and say that since Noah floated the Ark, I have been a hardcore
dedicated Egg-a-holic. And then some. Add some bacon/polish sausage/
chorizo sausage……and SWISS BROWN mushrooms……and it’s game on!
I particularly like Eggs where the yolks have a really rich orange
colour, and are full of flavour. At the moment, the Chickens are being
fed the proper Pellet Food from a local Grain & Fodder retailer, but I
am trying to “supplement” their diet to make their Eggs taste
absolutely A1. I don’t just want the Chooks’ diet to be “reasonably
good”…..I want it to be as close to perfect as possible. At the
moment, I am getting box load after box load of vegetable scraps from
some local grocers – and I am continuing with this. They mainly
contain lettuce and cabbage scraps, but there are often some carrots,
cauliflowers, avocadoes, etc. (Some of the more choice vegetables get
carefully “selected out” by my brother…..but that’s another matter
entirely) I also know that the Chickens go crazy over thistles and the
like.
Anyway, I heard somewhere or other that, along with LOTS of greens,
the addition of some protein to the Chickens’ diet can help boost the
flavour of their Eggs. So I thought of worms! I’ve recently set up an
ultra-basic compost pile by digging a very shallow hole in the Chicken
Yard, filling it with as many food scraps as I can lay my hands on,
watering them in, covering it with hessian, then watering the hessian.
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully. Once it reaches
this stage, I will simply remove the plastic tub and the hessian, and
let the Chooks go to town.
I am hoping for any and all advice, in regards to what I am doing
here, particularly with the worm-compost pile.
• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Chickens?
• Certain foods that are particularly good or bad for the Worms?
Like I mentioned before, I want the Chooks to have the best diet
possible to give the Eggs the best flavour. As an aside, the Chickens
seem to dig and scratch about like nothing I have ever seen. Quite
funny to watch how they actually do this. I have even seem them sort
of “rub themselves about” in the dust in drier weather, and this is
VERY funny to watch. What is this they are doing? They often get quite
aggressive when other birds, such as doves and pigeons, try to eat
their food. They really are funny critters to watch. When we’re out
the back having wine and beers, and play the Stereo, the music really
has some sort of effect on them. They will often come over and jump up
on the garden table or on the Stereo. Weird.

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:56:38 -0400, John McGaw wrote:

Not that I'd expect you to invest in cows for your egg production but it
would pay to keep in mind that chickens really love their protein in the
form of insects and it does wonders for their taste and egg production.

Lol, I could just imagine the neighbours rection to having a cow in out
backyard.

Gas Bag writes:
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully.

You are starting in winter, so by Christmas if you're lucky.

A better way to grow worms is to get a pile of cow manure and leave it
undisturbed (away from the chooks). In a month or so it will start to
develop a healthy colony of earthworms, and you can gradually harvest
some to feed to the chooks.

Earthworms are different from compost worms.

• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?

What's with all the binary characters?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:56:32 +0000 (UTC), John Savage
wrote:

Gas Bag writes:
Then I have covered the whole pile with a plastic tub of sorts. The
hole I have dug in the ground is actually quite shallow, so most of
the food scraps are actually above ground, not below ground level. I
am assuming that in a week or so, this compost pile should be
absolutely writhing with masses of worms…..hopefully.

You are starting in winter, so by Christmas if you're lucky.

A better way to grow worms is to get a pile of cow manure and leave it
undisturbed (away from the chooks). In a month or so it will start to
develop a healthy colony of earthworms, and you can gradually harvest
some to feed to the chooks.

Earthworms are different from compost worms.

how is that?


• Any specific do’s or don’t’s?
• How long should the worms take to fill up the pile?

What's with all the binary characters?

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:12:22 -0600, hal wrote:


Earthworms are different from compost worms.

how is that?

There are many different species of earth worms.
Most, if not all, of the farmed compost/bait worms are not natives. These
all tend to be top feeders and need lots of food provided for best
growth/production.

AFAIK Australian native earth worms are a mixture including both top
top/mid range feeders in places with a deep leaf litter and deep worms
in other places. The deep worms are the ones that go deep into the
earth and thus bring up minerals from the sub soil to the top, when
they come up to the top to feed.

If you want highest production in your "worm farm" then get the compost
worms nd keep the feed up. If you want to improve deep drainage, then just
spread your organic matter around in little clumps. The deep worms are
slower,but they do aerate deep down. Also tend to be the big thick worms
you see around.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:03:02 +1000, terryc
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:12:22 -0600, hal wrote:


Earthworms are different from compost worms.

how is that?

There are many different species of earth worms.
Most, if not all, of the farmed compost/bait worms are not natives. These
all tend to be top feeders and need lots of food provided for best
growth/production.

AFAIK Australian native earth worms are a mixture including both top
top/mid range feeders in places with a deep leaf litter and deep worms
in other places. The deep worms are the ones that go deep into the
earth and thus bring up minerals from the sub soil to the top, when
they come up to the top to feed.

If you want highest production in your "worm farm" then get the compost
worms nd keep the feed up. If you want to improve deep drainage, then just
spread your organic matter around in little clumps. The deep worms are
slower,but they do aerate deep down. Also tend to be the big thick worms
you see around.

most worms I've seen for sale as compost worms are called "red worms".
Most people around here call native earthworms "nightcrawlers" which
are much larger and not as red, although there are small red worms
that you can find in manure piles and such. So am I concluding
corrected that red worms are typically considered compost worms and
nightcrawlers are the deep worms, but both will work adequately for
decomposing your compost?

Hal

writes:
most worms I've seen for sale as compost worms are called "red worms".
Most people around here call native earthworms "nightcrawlers" which
are much larger and not as red, although there are small red worms
that you can find in manure piles and such. So am I concluding
corrected that red worms are typically considered compost worms and
nightcrawlers are the deep worms, but both will work adequately for
decomposing your compost?

Yup. You don't HAVE to buy worms. Eventually they will find your pile
of decomposing compost, but I have found this to take about 12 months.
It's very sandy, low fertility, with no gardening neighbours here. The
compost worms are short, thin, and orangey-red. Earthworms are fat,
longer, very dark in colour, and they live in soil. Both sorts will
find your pit of household scraps, but the compost worms will breed
in it, the earthworms will live around or under it.

I had a thriving in-ground worm farm and went away for 3 months.
When I returned it had dried out and all the worms were gone. It has
taken exactly a year of maintaining the pile for them to reappear.
They still haven't built up in any numbers, though.

To get your farm off to a fast start, I'd recommend getting a handful
of worms from a neighbour who has an established worm farm.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

terryc writes:
On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:56:38 -0400, John McGaw wrote:

Not that I'd expect you to invest in cows for your egg production but it
would pay to keep in mind that chickens really love their protein in the
form of insects and it does wonders for their taste and egg production.

Lol, I could just imagine the neighbours rection to having a cow in out
backyard.

How about cockroaches? Easy to rear, breed well, and can be raised
in plastic rubbish bins filled with corrugated cardboard. They feed
on the paper and glue. Just make sure the bins are escape-proof.

That way, you can feed your kitchen scraps directly to the chooks,
and supplement their diet with crunchy cockroaches from time to
time.

Now, which species would be the best to breed .....?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

I haven't been paying attention to your conversation but I thought
that this may be of interest:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-...eveal-Healthie
r-Eggs.aspx

Most of the eggs currently sold in supermarkets are nutritionally
inferior to eggs produced by hens raised on pasture. That¹s the
conclusion we have reached following completion of the 2007 Mother Earth
News egg testing project. Our testing has found that, compared to
official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for
commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain:

€ 1/3 less cholesterol
€ 1/4 less saturated fat
€ 2/3 more vitamin A
€ 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
€ 3 times more vitamin E
€ 7 times more beta carotene

These amazing results come from 14 flocks around the country that range
freely on pasture or are housed in moveable pens that are rotated
frequently to maximize access to fresh pasture and protect the birds
from predators. We had six eggs from each of the 14 pastured flocks
tested by an accredited laboratory in Portland, Ore. The chart at the
end of this article shows the average nutrient content of the samples,
compared with the official egg nutrient data from the USDA for
³conventional² (i.e. from confined hens) eggs. The chart lists the
individual results from each flock.
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016232.html