| StoneCrop - 2/5/2013 16:59
It sounds like you have a lot of experience with poultry.
Lots, if by experience you mean reading! ;)
I raised only a few laying hens, nothing your size, but I intend to get back to it.
I haven't a clue if milo actually does wonders for laying eggs, it's just what some neighboring farmers in the SW of France were saying. They grow milo too there, although it's still more often than not the tall varieties. Milo is usually grown in a rotation with corn, helps with the corn borer apparently, and its early harvest means it can be followed by winter wheat. Probably a legume somewhere in that rotation...
Regardless of what farmers say and may or may not be true, milo is indeed used extensively in animal feed, it's a good alternative to the more expensive corn these days. Requires less water than corn too, so it's great if summers are becoming hotter and dryer.
+1 for the pea as part of the feed, by the way.
I know winters in Maine are cold, but I would still extend the hen house into some sort of open air covered yard if you have access to cow manure. On a sunny winter day, they love to forage and scratch manure, as it's always warmer than outside temps and full of wriggling delicacies...
What do you use for calcium? Any oyster company on the coast you can tap for shells? Pulverized calcium-rich rock is another source, and is also great to get rid of parasites, if you have it in a flat area where the hens can "dustbath" into. If you have a woodfire place, drop the ashes in that covered yard too, for the same purpose.
I am planning to sprout every week some wheat and cow peas or alfalfa in winter too, to provide the vitamins and fresh greens they can't get to in the snow. Basically, by and by make the hen house as comfortable and enjoyable for hens as possible.
The funny part to build will be the automatic collecting and packaging of the eggs. |
Need advice on Poultry Grains.
