Starting Birds
By Scott Shilala
article © Scott Shilala
December 02, 2001
The Easy Chicken
I've been reading through a few message boards and noticed a lot of
talk about problems with new pullets. There's a simple way to get
around problems with your new birds.
Take it slow.
Everyone is excited about their new birds coming into lay, and understandably
so. Most people are very careful to adopt a feed schedule that will
achieve maximum growth and maximum production. What happens with the
"maximum" approach is that some late bloomers can't keep
up the pace. They may start laying before their time, and that's when
problems crop up. Prolapse, binding, stress induced diseases, etc.
Just as in people, burning the candle too brightly will wear you out.
When you're young, you can handle a lot more than when you're older
and you settle down naturally. When you're young though, you generally
don't stop until something stops you. Most of us have the scars to
prove it.
Birds live by what you provide. If you slow down their maturing process,
you'll have a much happier, healthier, prettier finished product.
Most of our birds don't come into lay until long after the "rule
of thumb" stage of 6 to 7 months. It's by design. We slow their
protein intake, fat intake, and see that they mature slowly.
They always have access to "low-speed" feed such as greens,
veggies, leaf mold and so on. They also have all the vitamins and
nutrients they need through kelp, vitamins, electrolytes and other
supplements. Just remember that the feed-bag feeding program is geared
to maximum results in a minimum time frame. It's like a "Russian
Olympic Athlete Feeding Program". If you take two steps back
and develop a more natural program that's as simple as adding more
veggies to your birds' diet, you'll finish a bird of Maximum Quality
rather than Maximum performance.
Over time, every poultry fancier or breeder discovers that birds are
about time and patience. They are much like fine wine in that respect.
Be as patient with birds as you are with your children. You'll finish
a product that you can be proud of, and have a LOT fewer problems
along the way.
