Year-'round eggs, almost...

[bluelacedredhead]

Down, try sprinkling the seeds in their grain. If they are too busy right now with rain and worms and bugs after your drought, I doubt it they will bother with the peppers til they get that out of their systems.

But in winter especially, when they are confined to the indoors, they'll appreciate the pepper seeds. Or dry some peppers now and grind them to sprinkle on their feed in winter.

I used to grow Garden Salsa and Big Jim hot peppers. Before that Long Cayenne. But this year I'm growing Chicken Heart peppers...Little Cannibals aren't they, lol

[cff]

Most any hot pepper will work, if its fresh out of the garden I chop it up and mix it into there feed. I always feed in clean feeder pans and try not to feed more than the birds can clean up in 10 - 15 minutes twice a day.

This helps to keep the mice at a manageable level and the birds pick up less bacteria than they would if fed on the ground.

Ground cayenne pepper sticks to a damp feed really well, if you've soaked your grains or used organic vinegar on your feed.

As an added bonus 5 of the 9 different strains of coccidiosis can't live in a the high PH provided by the vinegar.

The white of an egg has a Ph of 9 the yoke is 6.5
The high PH of the white protects the yoke from bad bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

When you combine both the white and the yoke on your plate it has a perfect Ph of 7.75.

Baking Soda has a Ph of 8.0, Its a cheap addition to your poultry water if you don't use vinegar @ A table spoon per gallon.

A whole egg is 65.5% water, so clean water with a high Ph is a must have for healthy poultry.

The very best breeder feeds use fish meal for a meat protein source, a sprinkle of fish meal over your damp feed is a good addition to any ration.

Two table spoons of flax seed in 4 - 6 ounces of water heated to a boil will make a slimy soup that does wonders for the shine on feathers if your into showing poultry. Add the mixture over your feed daily and watch the feathers come to life. Used just enough to dampen dry feed.

Dang its late again

[flowerpower]

CFF, what great tips! Thanks. All animals seem to be attracted to the smell of vinegar. It's good to add it to all the water bowls.

[bluelacedredhead]

I just hardboiled some old eggs then ran them, along with two cloves of garlic through the food processor. Added some of the V-4 juice I made last night and sent it out to the Bantam house this morning...talk about aromatic

[cff]

BLRH"

You should smell these sour/ soaked oats, been sitting in a trash can full of water for two weeks. Its one of those smells you just can't completely wash off your skin

[bluelacedredhead]

Two weeks?? CFF, I didn't realize that you would let it steep that long? I would think that would contribute to Fungal poisoning (eggsample: Aflatoxicosis)??

[cff]

Blue "

I add apple cider vinager to the water when I start a batch, most of the time I soak 100 lbs of oats for a week and then start feeding them till there gone.

Never had any problems and the oats are 50% of my ration

[bluelacedredhead]

Thanks CFF, That's good to know.

[bluelacedredhead]

Update on what we've done with some of CFF's suggestions.
Until we started culling birds for the winter, we had far too many eggs for us to consume, so every Sunday I've been hardboiling 2 dozen eggs, then mashing them after cooling them and adding a goodly portion of $1 store powdered garlic. Paintman has been feeding them to the bantams and he said this morning that it must be working cuz there's no mites to be found in there at all!!! Thanks Hayne

[cff]

Glad to hear your getting some results. My son and I went to a local auction yesterday and I purchased a trio of white Silkie bantams (so ugly there cute). I'm hopeful we'll be able to raise some to sale this spring. We don't have many bantams but a few are nice to look at.

[bluelacedredhead]

Yep, Silkies sure are cute/ugly!! We had blue ones for a while, but I needed another breed like I needed another hole in my head....

When you get to hatching some out and have extras for the table, I actually have a recipe here somewhere that was specifically created for the silkie meat.

[cff]

Would that be silkie pot pie ;D ?

[flowerpower]

Woo Hoo! I got an egg on Sat. Finally, the molting is over. How eggciting!

[bluelacedredhead]

Told ya Told ya, nananananana....

[johno]

Mine are on strike.