Oct. 21, 2024

From Day Old To First Egg-Part 2

Show Notes
Transcript

In this informative episode of the Poultry Keepers Podcast, Jeff Mattocks, Karen Johnston, and Rip Stalvey provide expert advice on raising poultry, covering essential topics such as feed transitions from starter to grower, vitamin B supplementation, and the pitfalls of medicated feeds.

The discussion emphasizes the importance of separating male and female chicks early, optimal feeding practices, and utilizing good sanitation techniques, including high-calcium lime and cover crops. Key aspects like the timing for introducing oyster shells, the effective use of mobile A-frame grow pens, and winter care for hens are also explored. Practical tips on determining maturity for showing birds and managing nutrient distribution through other livestock are given, alongside advice on consulting local extension offices for suitable plantings.

The episode rounds out with considerations for space requirements in grow pens, managing blood spots in eggs, and the economic aspects of supplementing layers diets with oyster shells for stronger egg shells.

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WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Poultry Keepers Podcast where we talk poultry from feathers to function.

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In this episode Jeff Mattocks, Karen Johnston and Rip Stallvee will take you through the things you need to know to raise birds from day old until they lay their first egg.

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So let’s get started shall we.

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So if you're going to use Corid or an Amprolium product, you may want to actually supplement with additional thiamine to protect yourself over that time.

00:00:38.884 --> 00:00:39.804
What Karen?

00:00:40.204 --> 00:00:41.554
Are you channeling Ingrid?

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No.

00:00:43.444 --> 00:00:46.814
Can conventional coccidiosis treatment like choroid be the cause of brain agony?

00:00:46.814 --> 00:00:51.704
Are you sure you're not channeling Ingrid?

00:00:52.503 --> 00:00:53.594
No, I didn't see that,

00:00:53.743 --> 00:00:54.984
that was why I was laughing.

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That, that was priceless.

00:00:56.863 --> 00:00:56.963
Yeah.

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That was priceless.

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What's our next question on our list here, Karen?

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Oops.

00:01:03.954 --> 00:01:04.554
Is it?

00:01:04.724 --> 00:01:05.093
Whoa.

00:01:05.623 --> 00:01:05.823
Yeah.

00:01:06.343 --> 00:01:07.024
You jumped the head on me.

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I clicked twice.

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Then I went back.

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At what age should I change chicks from starter to grower?

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And to me, here again, it's one of those things, it's not a hard and fast rule, but at this age, I switch them over, okay?

00:01:23.524 --> 00:01:30.713
But, Jeff, I'm going to reserve my thoughts before I get into trouble here, so what's your thoughts on that?

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Okay, so here is the simple rule of thumb for this, okay?

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This is the way I tell people.

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So Depending on your breed and how long until it reaches sexual maturity, like when do you expect to see the first egg?

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I take that timeframe and I divide it into three parts.

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Okay.

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So most of the time I'm working with a 24 week old, a lot of your Brahmas and different things will basically be pretty close to laying that first egg at 24 weeks.

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I would want 8 weeks on starter, 8 weeks on grower, 8 weeks on a developer, right?

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If I could have it the way it, ought to be the way I was taught, it would be 3 equal sections, right?

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You're looking at a 22 starter 18, 19 percent grower and a 16 and a half or 17 percent developer, right?

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That's the step down for the protein and the energy needs to change along the way as well, right?

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So once you're in that developer phase, you do not want a high energy fat building type feed because I don't want internal fat.

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We want the rest of the body to develop correctly, ovaries, testes, oviduct, all those sort of things.

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Anyway, that rearing period from chick to, I don't want to say maturity, but sexual maturity where you might see the first egg, divide that into three, and those are your break points.

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But still, going along with what Rip's saying, you have to be able to make observation.

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Are they fully feathered?

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Are these parts of their body You can almost put a calendar on it, but then you still have to make the observation, and see where they're at.

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And

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now I feel like things are, they might not be improving recipe wise, but availability wise with shipping and that sort of thing.

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Back 10, 10 years ago, I could not buy grower.

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Except for meat bird grower at the store.

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Do you know what I mean?

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Like

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you still can't Karen, you still can't.

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Yep.

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So how do people get this stuff that they call grower?

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Yeah.

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Availability really isn't.

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Any better than it was 10 years.

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It's a little bit lit just a little bit.

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I feel like you've got Quality, but you've got a lot more places that will deliver to you than used to be.

00:04:01.968 --> 00:04:09.718
Yeah, you got some new players in the marketplace that are making feeds available that weren't typically available 10 years ago I agree with you

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But how do you get to grower then because that's not gonna be something that's sitting on their shelf waiting for them to buy if they don't have your book, yeah.

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It's not.

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And honestly, I, if, once you find a really good starter, I'd much rather, so just, and we're happy to work with folks on these things, but if you can stay on the starter and if you're willing to hand add, like some oats to that or something else, some oats or some barley or, even some alfalfa meal.

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That'll bring the protein down.

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That'll keep the energy under control.

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Adding corn or weed or Milo is going to keep the energy level too high for that grower phase.

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So people could do hand ads if they're willing to do it.

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And that makes the most sense.

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Not, you're right, to find a heritage breed grower or a heritage breed, even developer in the next phase, nearly impossible.

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And, it's been my frustration, not with the group, but it's been my frustration with feed manufacturers, is they want to lump all chickens into very narrow categories, and this is all they make available.

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Yeah,

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I will say that I'm starting to see.

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Grower a little bit more than developer.

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I can't, the holding diet, because I can't, gosh, I don't know when I've seen that.

00:05:32.158 --> 00:05:32.988
No such thing.

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Yeah.

00:05:33.538 --> 00:05:34.928
No, I haven't either.

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And they figure most people with backyard flocks are just going to start feeding scratch or layer feed.

00:05:42.728 --> 00:05:43.809
And that's their idea.

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That 16 percent layer feed is their idea of a holding feed.

00:05:47.809 --> 00:05:58.209
And it's really not I'm working with a few mills trying to get these formulas out, but it's not, they're few and far between and, people just are not very close to'em.

00:05:59.009 --> 00:06:06.074
All right, so along those lines, John's asking, as you're switching, do you mix the different types of feed together when you switch over?

00:06:06.764 --> 00:06:08.483
I like a seven day transition.

00:06:08.533 --> 00:06:20.764
When you're getting close, I'd like to have, still have three or four days worth of starter, three or four days worth of grow or start, mixing them, 50, 50 or so, just so you don't have a sudden transition.

00:06:21.264 --> 00:06:27.353
But if he's got his own feeds or something for the folks who are making their own feed, we're always using the same ingredients.

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So I don't worry about a sudden transition.

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It's if someone's going from like a neutrino feed to a kombach feed, or if there's a big appearance change, or if there's a big aroma change, then you need to do a slow transition where you're mixing the two feeds together.

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All right.

00:06:47.504 --> 00:06:49.713
Ingrid's got a doozy here.

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Then would it be wise for people who feed medicated starter to plan on some vitamin B supplementation once they get their birds on the grower feed?

00:06:57.963 --> 00:07:04.084
Yeah, actually, they should probably be doing some extra vitamin B supplement the whole time.

00:07:04.374 --> 00:07:15.994
For folks who have been watching us for most of this two years that we've been going, they've heard me preach against medicated feed, especially folks in the groups where, I'm like, I am anti medicated feed.

00:07:16.184 --> 00:07:16.944
Sorry folks.

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There's no need for it.

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There really is no need for it.

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Rip, you just started chicks.

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Did you feed any medications?

00:07:23.394 --> 00:07:24.043
I did not.

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And

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how did they do?

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Better than anything I've raised before.

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And that's because I'm feeding a good high quality feed, I didn't even have so much as a sniffle out of these things.

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Yeah, good housekeeping, good sanitation, good bedding, that's really where it's at.

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There's no need to feed a medicated feed.

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The medications are only to control coccidiosis, and coccidiosis has to be ingested from the ground.

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If you're keeping your bedding and your litter managed correctly, you're keeping your feeders managed correctly, there's no need, for this.

00:08:02.288 --> 00:08:03.048
I can't help it.

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When you're on your 35th year of raising birds on the tiny property that you have and the way that you can manage.

00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:12.288
It's hard, it will, it'll

00:08:12.288 --> 00:08:13.238
happen, right?

00:08:13.738 --> 00:08:16.259
There's still ways around it, but they're not easy.

00:08:16.509 --> 00:08:18.358
I get it, you have such a build up.

00:08:18.858 --> 00:08:24.298
And with the commercial flocks that I work with, larger scale, but they're still pastured yeah.

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We're fighting it.

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I've got places that have been raising birds on the same ground.

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For, the last 20 years and that we're always being challenged with something, right?

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I just want to, just want to say it for the people that literally are doing everything they can to be best by their birds, but they don't have the land.

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You know what I mean?

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They don't have it.

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No, you're

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right.

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All

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right.

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And our next question, Miss Karen.

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Question, okay.

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Is it okay to raise cockerels and pullets together?

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I don't like to do that.

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Cockerels are going to wind up bullying the pullets early on.

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They're going to eat more.

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They're going to keep the pullets ran away from the feed.

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They're going to pick the females.

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I just, I try to separate the sexes as soon as I can tell them apart.

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I'm with

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you, Rip.

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Amen.

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100%.

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Now, I don't mind them feeding the same pullet developer feed, or, developer feed.

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But I can live with that, even though I didn't make a cockerel developer feed.

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But, yeah, as soon as you can tell the sexes apart, you need to separate them.

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And there's other reasons behind that, but not everybody has the facilities to do it.

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But if you separate them when it's time to bring them back together for mating, they're a whole lot more anxious and willing.

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Then if you raise them together.

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Tell me, because the first thing everybody thinks is, I don't know who's who.

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I can't figure out who's the girls and who's the boys.

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What's the harm if you try to separate them and you don't get it quite right?

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I don't know that there's a major harm there.

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It's not going to be that many more days until you can tell who's who.

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Usually by what, 10, 12 weeks old, you've got a really good idea.

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I'd say six or seven if you're weighing, but yeah.

00:10:09.798 --> 00:10:10.248
Yeah,

00:10:10.288 --> 00:10:22.577
but if you're weighing, but we just can't seem to get, everybody to weigh, but you'll know the difference after, yeah, you'll know the difference after about four weeks if you're weighing, just because the cockerels grow that much faster.

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That's all I want to say.

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People are always feeling like if I don't get it right, then I've messed something up, but you've gotten it 90 percent and it still helped them out,

00:10:31.727 --> 00:10:32.278
oh sure.

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All right.

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Rip, what do

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Questions?

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While I was going to plop this up here from Kerry Blackman, as along the lines of what we were just talking about, Carrie wants to know, is there a way you can till the ground with Lyme or something to help keep down diseases

00:10:49.768 --> 00:10:55.898
you can and now this is a great question and I am really glad Carrie brought it up.

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Now, not all Lyme is created equal.

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So I'm gonna tell you that I prefer that you use a high calcium lime, which is sometimes known as feed lime or calcium carbonate.

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It has a better sterilization effect and.

00:11:12.827 --> 00:11:41.227
Couple things you can do, yeah, you can work the ground, till the ground up, you can put the lime on, all that's great, think about what you're going to plant, as a cover crop, whether it's for the chickens or better yet, this is where bringing on another species, whether you rent a cow or you get a small herd of goats or whatever, To eat that off and move those nutrients to, somewhere else, right?

00:11:41.418 --> 00:11:46.197
Let them be absorbed by the animal, sometime later that year, eat the animal.

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That's great.

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Or whatever you want to do with it.

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Just try not to make it one more pet if you can help it.

00:11:51.837 --> 00:11:54.427
But that's great, Kerry.

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That's exactly what people should be doing.

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And even for people who can't necessarily do it that.

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Just that application of, high calcium lime after each rotation of birds, you can actually rake that in, drag it or anything just to slightly incorporate it and then get something planted.

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I don't care if you're planting wheat, I don't care if you're planting barley, oats, whatever, plant something besides just letting the weeds grow up.

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Something that your chickens are going to enjoy, something that's going to move nutrients around, from that location to another location.

00:12:32.607 --> 00:12:35.008
That's a great plan if people can incorporate it.

00:12:35.807 --> 00:12:42.388
And they can check with the county extension office to find out what plants grow best in your area.

00:12:42.758 --> 00:12:48.847
I know way down here in deep sunny South Florida, it's hard to find stuff that does well.

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Check with your county extension office, they can steer you right.

00:12:52.268 --> 00:12:52.447
Yeah.

00:12:52.447 --> 00:12:53.107
Down your way.

00:12:53.107 --> 00:12:53.408
Rip.

00:12:53.408 --> 00:13:00.778
I would honestly, if folks would do it, I think I would bring all the birds in because you get wet, in the fall and winter.

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And my friends over in O'Brien that I stay with, that's the time when they're work, they are dragging the ground and they're seeding.

00:13:09.937 --> 00:13:11.618
They're seeding something beneficial.

00:13:11.658 --> 00:13:19.977
So basically you can do your whole patch, bring your chickens in to a coop area or yard area, and just work everything at one time.

00:13:20.107 --> 00:13:24.087
And once it's up six or eight inches, turn in your chickens loose, right?

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Give them something to eat.

00:13:25.727 --> 00:13:26.457
It works great.

00:13:26.957 --> 00:13:28.707
Sun Hemp is a big one down there.

00:13:29.268 --> 00:13:33.028
Believe it or not, just Ironclay peas or another one.

00:13:33.298 --> 00:13:33.488
Yeah.

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So I'd be looking at Sun Hemp, Ironclay peas, Probably some oats some black oats do well in the south as a good mix.

00:13:42.227 --> 00:13:44.077
Yeah, and I can help folks as well.

00:13:44.128 --> 00:13:50.087
I, working with so many different regions and territories, I could probably, help them out.

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But if you've got a good extension office, like Rip said, give them a call and talk to them about cover crops or, things like that.

00:14:01.317 --> 00:14:02.607
A blend of cover crops.

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I wanted to reach for my phone.

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Iron clay peas.

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What a weird name.

00:14:07.758 --> 00:14:08.307
Cow peas.

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Down, so in Florida they like to call them iron clay peas.

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Once you get up into Georgia and the Carolinas, they're just cow peas.

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But they're special down in Florida.

00:14:18.562 --> 00:14:19.923
They're iron and clay peas.

00:14:20.722 --> 00:14:22.572
I don't know how we came up with that one.

00:14:22.582 --> 00:14:23.623
I'll be honest with you.

00:14:23.763 --> 00:14:24.023
Okay.

00:14:24.822 --> 00:14:33.712
My my family grew up in Indiana and they swear that back in the 60s that they called green peppers mangoes.

00:14:34.513 --> 00:14:34.852
Yes.

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They're like, I love mangoes, and I was like, that's a, fruit versus a vegetable.

00:14:41.702 --> 00:14:42.143
Really?

00:14:42.173 --> 00:14:45.052
How did a green pepper ever get dubbed a mango?

00:14:45.852 --> 00:14:46.092
I don't

00:14:46.092 --> 00:14:46.113
know.

00:14:46.302 --> 00:14:47.102
That's a new one on me.

00:14:47.552 --> 00:14:49.712
Probably the same way that avocados do.

00:14:50.013 --> 00:14:52.712
Down here were at first called alligator pears.

00:14:53.472 --> 00:14:53.863
Really?

00:14:54.663 --> 00:14:55.653
That's branding.

00:14:55.743 --> 00:14:57.682
I feel like some marketing company came up with that.

00:14:58.482 --> 00:15:00.562
I hadn't heard alligator pears either,

00:15:00.592 --> 00:15:03.842
talking about trivial information, you know I'm loaded with it too.

00:15:04.643 --> 00:15:08.832
Alright, so now we've got our bird on grower feed.

00:15:09.557 --> 00:15:10.067
What's next?

00:15:10.868 --> 00:15:17.477
I think Jeff answered this when he was talking about dividing your time period into three and starter, grower, and developer.

00:15:18.278 --> 00:15:22.018
However that works out for your particular breed, go for it.

00:15:22.817 --> 00:15:32.768
Yeah, some of the new hamps, some of the really big dual purpose birds that take six or eight months, you've got to give them that time in each period, right?

00:15:32.788 --> 00:15:35.577
You can't, it's not one size fits all again, right?

00:15:35.607 --> 00:15:43.748
I can't say every chick is only six weeks on starter feed, six weeks on grower feed, six weeks on, that's not how that works.

00:15:44.138 --> 00:15:54.918
All right, Rip, I'm gonna, and you may have covered it, but I'm gonna, now that I'm, how do people figure out when their bird reaches maturity to divide their breed, right?

00:15:54.927 --> 00:15:58.457
How are they going to decide how to divide it into three?

00:15:58.847 --> 00:15:58.957
Now

00:15:59.048 --> 00:16:02.133
remember, I said sexual maturity, which is first day.

00:16:02.572 --> 00:16:08.543
I said sexual maturity first egg, not full maturity, like one year old, two year old.

00:16:09.342 --> 00:16:14.403
And like Jeff said, you got to learn your breed for it to work really effectively for you.

00:16:14.893 --> 00:16:21.503
A question I used to get a lot when I was judging actively how can I tell if my bird's mature enough to show or not?

00:16:22.003 --> 00:16:23.893
Or to cull for culler falls?

00:16:24.322 --> 00:16:32.123
And what I'd always tell them is, As for color, usually by the time they've molted and grown in, they're all their adult primaries.

00:16:32.322 --> 00:16:35.322
It's okay to evaluate a bird for color.

00:16:35.822 --> 00:16:38.113
Here again, that's, that is so dependent.

00:16:38.513 --> 00:16:39.873
Karen, you raised Rhode Island Red County.

00:16:39.903 --> 00:16:40.513
I was going to say,

00:16:40.513 --> 00:16:41.893
so first egg, right?

00:16:41.972 --> 00:16:43.873
That's a point in time, right?

00:16:43.873 --> 00:16:48.097
Now, it can matter whether you're I'm going to Since Jeff is now checking his texts.

00:16:48.327 --> 00:16:54.307
I'm, first egg time frame is going to be different whether you're raising spring chickens or fall chickens.

00:16:54.368 --> 00:16:57.018
Would you, would that still, that would still apply though, right?

00:16:57.018 --> 00:17:02.217
Because there's, it's because of their difference in growth rate, why that moves around, right?

00:17:02.457 --> 00:17:09.157
So the still, so you're just going to know it on your second, third, fourth, fifty, seventh year raising chickens, right?

00:17:09.157 --> 00:17:12.637
It's just not something you're going to know unless your breeder helps you to pick

00:17:12.637 --> 00:17:13.837
up on overnight, no.

00:17:14.478 --> 00:17:15.917
Just takes a little experience.

00:17:16.228 --> 00:17:18.147
But ask where you got your birds from, right?

00:17:18.198 --> 00:17:18.458
Yeah,

00:17:18.498 --> 00:17:18.738
ask

00:17:18.738 --> 00:17:18.798
your

00:17:18.798 --> 00:17:19.147
breeder.

00:17:19.647 --> 00:17:21.327
When you expect to see that first egg.

00:17:21.478 --> 00:17:21.627
Yeah.

00:17:22.428 --> 00:17:25.587
Alright, sorry, just remembering all the things that messed me up at first.

00:17:25.617 --> 00:17:32.528
But Rip said, the difference between my Australorps, Leghorns laying their first egg at 19 weeks and my Rhode Island Reds, not, yeah.

00:17:33.327 --> 00:17:37.498
Yeah, your Rhode Island should have been what, 24, 26 weeks, somewhere around 24?

00:17:37.498 --> 00:17:37.857
To lay an

00:17:37.857 --> 00:17:38.208
egg?

00:17:38.518 --> 00:17:41.478
Yeah, a little bit longer than that, but yeah.

00:17:41.548 --> 00:17:41.928
Really?

00:17:42.357 --> 00:17:42.678
Yeah.

00:17:43.228 --> 00:17:44.637
Time of year, huge difference.

00:17:44.867 --> 00:17:45.167
Okay.

00:17:45.167 --> 00:17:45.519
Yeah.

00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:46.220
So we're

00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:48.323
not all talking about spring pullets.

00:17:48.772 --> 00:17:48.923
Yeah.

00:17:49.292 --> 00:17:49.442
Okay.

00:17:49.583 --> 00:17:51.113
Cause even if you're talking spring, right?

00:17:51.123 --> 00:17:56.442
In order for me to hatch enough, the first ones are hatched in February, the last ones are hatched in June.

00:17:56.712 --> 00:17:57.083
Do you know what I mean?

00:17:57.083 --> 00:17:59.563
So huge difference there between.

00:18:00.363 --> 00:18:01.432
What's our next question, Ms.

00:18:01.432 --> 00:18:01.823
Karen?

00:18:02.373 --> 00:18:04.962
When should I start offering oyster shell pullets?

00:18:05.762 --> 00:18:07.143
After they've gone to the beach.

00:18:07.942 --> 00:18:08.553
Oh, jeez.

00:18:09.353 --> 00:18:09.663
No.

00:18:10.022 --> 00:18:10.292
Okay.

00:18:10.303 --> 00:18:11.633
You're feeling good tonight, Karen.

00:18:11.633 --> 00:18:12.202
I can tell.

00:18:12.202 --> 00:18:13.573
I

00:18:13.573 --> 00:18:14.583
am ready for bed.

00:18:15.383 --> 00:18:16.502
Rip, what do you think?

00:18:16.803 --> 00:18:22.907
I honestly, I wait till I start getting an egg or two and then I'll start supplementing with grit.

00:18:23.708 --> 00:18:25.438
I've, excuse me, with oyster shell.

00:18:26.238 --> 00:18:27.768
Just want to see if you're on your toes, Karen.

00:18:28.567 --> 00:18:31.097
So here's the only caveat to that.

00:18:31.097 --> 00:18:47.127
And I agree with what you said, Rip, but for folks who can't find a pullet developer feed, I do want to start offering it at that last trimester of development, only because I want to build up bone density.

00:18:47.458 --> 00:18:48.438
in that pullet.

00:18:49.117 --> 00:19:02.837
A lot of people don't understand that about half, and that's not a perfect number, but about half of the calcium used to form an eggshell comes out of a hen's bone, right?

00:19:02.887 --> 00:19:05.397
The other half comes out of what she eats.

00:19:06.198 --> 00:19:13.907
So we want to have, really good, strong, healthy bones just before going in to lay.

00:19:14.627 --> 00:19:19.188
So I would start offering it to them at in the developer stage.

00:19:19.988 --> 00:19:21.968
Look, they're not, it's not tasty.

00:19:22.028 --> 00:19:23.698
They're not going to eat it just for fun.

00:19:23.897 --> 00:19:29.057
So you're not losing anything by offering it to them and you're not going to hurt anything.

00:19:29.587 --> 00:19:33.258
Also it trains them as to what it is, what it looks like.

00:19:33.357 --> 00:19:37.387
So when they're later in life, they'll be more apt to go looking for it.

00:19:37.688 --> 00:19:46.367
When I had birds, here at the back in the backyard is one group of hens knew exactly what an oyster shell was and they would eat them, very well.

00:19:46.867 --> 00:19:50.508
The next group, no, they had no clue what this was.

00:19:50.508 --> 00:19:51.387
They didn't eat any.

00:19:51.857 --> 00:19:52.897
I have no idea.

00:19:53.397 --> 00:19:59.001
That's, I would start, somewhere probably week 14, 15, 16.

00:19:59.801 --> 00:20:01.672
And let them start building up bone mass.

00:20:02.471 --> 00:20:03.571
And that's free choice, right?

00:20:03.571 --> 00:20:04.672
You're not thinking about putting it on there.

00:20:05.301 --> 00:20:06.231
Not force feeding it.

00:20:06.261 --> 00:20:07.402
Yeah, it's all free choice.

00:20:08.201 --> 00:20:09.761
Oyster shells are getting hard to find.

00:20:09.761 --> 00:20:14.142
So folks who are listening, I would tell you to stockpile.

00:20:14.442 --> 00:20:17.872
Prices are going up and availability is getting harder.

00:20:18.321 --> 00:20:24.751
So if you still can go down to your local store and get them for a reasonable price, get extra.

00:20:25.092 --> 00:20:26.211
They never go bad.

00:20:26.422 --> 00:20:27.291
They don't spoil.

00:20:27.382 --> 00:20:28.392
They don't have a shelf life.

00:20:29.192 --> 00:20:33.172
Poor Rip, got all of his questions answered in one easy no,

00:20:33.771 --> 00:20:36.622
that's okay, as long as we're getting them covered, that's the main thing.

00:20:37.422 --> 00:20:40.061
Sorry Rip, I'm not looking at the cheat sheet.

00:20:40.741 --> 00:20:42.281
That's all right, that's all right.

00:20:43.082 --> 00:20:45.251
Like they said, we already got to this one.

00:20:46.051 --> 00:20:48.201
You switch over at the first egg, right?

00:20:48.251 --> 00:20:53.882
That's, the rule of thumb is you don't go to layer feed until you see the first egg, right?

00:20:53.971 --> 00:20:56.771
And then you switch the entire flock or that group over.

00:20:57.571 --> 00:20:58.152
There's the one for

00:20:58.152 --> 00:20:58.481
Rip.

00:20:59.281 --> 00:21:02.741
Can oyster shells replace grit in my bird's diet?

00:21:03.541 --> 00:21:04.221
No.

00:21:04.592 --> 00:21:05.102
Only by

00:21:05.102 --> 00:21:05.951
slip of the tongue.

00:21:06.382 --> 00:21:07.422
They are.

00:21:08.221 --> 00:21:09.592
One's a calcium source.

00:21:09.721 --> 00:21:11.471
Yeah, and the other one's hard grain.

00:21:11.981 --> 00:21:16.682
The calcium is, it's, the oyster shells are too soft to do you much good.

00:21:16.896 --> 00:21:26.936
You want that hard granite grit to help grind the feed, work the gizzard, make the feed more digestible, so no don't try to interchange them.

00:21:27.737 --> 00:21:36.817
Alright, along those lines, just because we have it, Bill's been mixing 50 50 oyster shell, crust dried egg shells and offering it in a small separate feeder.

00:21:36.826 --> 00:21:42.386
Any benefits or problems with mixing 100 percent oyster shells?

00:21:43.186 --> 00:21:43.797
That's perfect.

00:21:43.836 --> 00:21:44.366
Not at all.

00:21:45.166 --> 00:21:47.076
The only thing I tell people if they want to refeed.

00:21:47.876 --> 00:21:52.696
Eggshells is to make sure and this is only a personal phobia.

00:21:52.696 --> 00:21:54.446
There is no science behind this.

00:21:54.737 --> 00:21:59.446
I just assume they not get offered still looking like an eggshell.

00:21:59.896 --> 00:22:03.186
I don't want to encourage egg eating by the birds.

00:22:03.317 --> 00:22:04.446
Crush them up good.

00:22:04.446 --> 00:22:11.027
So they don't have any similarity or to an eggshell, but I don't have any problem with that.

00:22:11.586 --> 00:22:13.696
So at my fancy boutique.

00:22:14.126 --> 00:22:15.346
Chicken store locally.

00:22:15.376 --> 00:22:18.717
I can buy oyster shell that looks like actual shells.

00:22:19.517 --> 00:22:19.946
Do you know what I mean?

00:22:19.957 --> 00:22:24.277
As opposed to the oyster shell at Tractor Supply that looks like rocks, right?

00:22:24.707 --> 00:22:30.987
So they eat that infinitely better than they do the rock stuff.

00:22:31.287 --> 00:22:34.821
Anything that they overeat it or.

00:22:35.622 --> 00:22:35.821
No,

00:22:35.821 --> 00:22:39.402
but they will they're going to take a real, a true oyster shell.

00:22:40.201 --> 00:22:53.041
They're going to take that a whole lot better than, so what tractor suppliants from other places are passing off as a mixture of calcium chips and a little bit of oyster shell blended together.

00:22:53.842 --> 00:23:00.001
Simply because, back to availability and price, oyster shell is getting hard to find, right?

00:23:00.051 --> 00:23:04.741
To keep prices down where everybody thinks they ought to be, right?

00:23:04.821 --> 00:23:06.849
They have now started lending.

00:23:06.849 --> 00:23:07.661
But, yeah.

00:23:07.661 --> 00:23:15.911
I just heard oyster shell in Virginia was up to around 16 for a 50 pound bag.

00:23:16.711 --> 00:23:17.631
True oyster shell.

00:23:18.221 --> 00:23:18.431
Yeah.

00:23:18.520 --> 00:23:21.230
So again, stockpile, but it's worth it.

00:23:22.030 --> 00:23:22.590
It is worth

00:23:22.590 --> 00:23:22.760
it.

00:23:22.830 --> 00:23:32.590
I agree, it's not quite, it's up like almost 60 percent from where it used to be 10 or 11 a bag, now they're looking at 16 to 18.

00:23:33.121 --> 00:23:36.221
And this is buying it by the pallet in quantity.

00:23:36.651 --> 00:23:39.510
This isn't buying onesies, twosies at the local

00:23:40.020 --> 00:23:42.391
So it's probably up to 30 at the

00:23:43.191 --> 00:23:43.540
Yeah.

00:23:44.340 --> 00:23:50.340
I just remember the first time I put out the true oyster shells and the next day it was half gone and I was like, oh my gosh.

00:23:51.141 --> 00:23:55.570
It actually still has some of that sea life smell to it and they can detect that.

00:23:56.371 --> 00:24:01.250
And it's going to have a small amount of salt to it, so it's got a better flavor and a better smell.

00:24:02.050 --> 00:24:03.631
They're just a little bit more exciting than

00:24:04.431 --> 00:24:07.230
Okay, Karen, do we have any more

00:24:07.461 --> 00:24:08.317
What questions do you want?

00:24:08.317 --> 00:24:08.461
Yeah.

00:24:08.461 --> 00:24:09.971
We have questions, so

00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:11.590
Okay, that's done, so we're

00:24:11.681 --> 00:24:12.060
Alright.

00:24:12.861 --> 00:24:15.371
What causes blood spots on yolk?

00:24:16.171 --> 00:24:16.740
On yolks?

00:24:17.290 --> 00:24:18.080
When you cut yourself.

00:24:18.770 --> 00:24:19.701
So Making

00:24:19.701 --> 00:24:19.931
eggs.

00:24:20.171 --> 00:24:27.211
Sue, take a close look and actually, next time one maybe get a tweezer or something and pull it.

00:24:27.820 --> 00:24:51.631
Look at it a little closer a lot of times those are actually meat spots and as a hen ages, if it, if there's a difference between a blood spot and a meat spot, but as a hen gets older, parts of her oviduct may slough off and come into the yolk, way up in the oviduct or the, and it'll end up in near the yolk as a meat spot.

00:24:51.711 --> 00:24:53.840
And typically it's older hens, right?

00:24:54.490 --> 00:25:09.560
Now, when some of you listening in, sooner or later, eventually we'll all see this, but you'll see it looks more, it's a blood spot, and it actually looks more like a drop of blood incorporated in the egg somewhere.

00:25:09.631 --> 00:25:12.060
And it can be by the yolk, it can be somewhere else.

00:25:12.611 --> 00:25:19.240
And when you see that, it's a sign that, somewhere along the Aviduct, a blood vessel has, ruptured.

00:25:19.661 --> 00:25:24.891
And look, there's a lot of trauma on that Aviduct as that egg passes down through there.

00:25:24.961 --> 00:25:26.661
It's going to happen again.

00:25:26.681 --> 00:25:27.840
It's an age thing.

00:25:28.391 --> 00:25:33.840
You'll see a little bit more as the hen gets old, but it's odd to see it in a pullet egg.

00:25:34.641 --> 00:25:41.941
Unless she's had something traumatic or something, yeah, that's, pullet, generally we don't see it,

00:25:42.361 --> 00:25:47.471
I want to say, only because I ignored it for a while, I feel like it's a little bit genetic.

00:25:48.270 --> 00:25:48.621
Could be.

00:25:48.631 --> 00:25:52.411