What you feeding now?

whats all the members feeding now..........and why?

we always finish September by feeding whatever we have left from the racing season, ie widowhood mix, young bird mix, breeding, diet etc all mixed together with plenty of seeds

Then as soon as October comes i stop the seeds and flick onto a conventional "moulting" mix which contains all the corns/grains/seeds that the birds require for a good moult.

Wasfeeding garvo moulting, as its part of the garvo range, dont like to swop and change, but have had to put them on V/L as corn store had run out, the Garvo mix has all the right grains to get them through a good moult, soon as moult is over they will then go on garvo resting
Ken

got mine on some v/laga moulting mix, loads of small seeds and also some vegitable man made things, dont know what they are but its supposed to have vitamins etc in them.......birds wouldnt eat them at first but soon got used to them. fairly cheap as well, think it was about £11.75ish.

DAVID wrote:

got mine on some v/laga moulting mix, loads of small seeds and also some vegitable man made things, dont know what they are but its supposed to have vitamins etc in them.......birds wouldnt eat them at first but soon got used to them. fairly cheap as well, think it was about £11.75ish.

thats not a bad price for V/L mixes

There are some fanciers who attend the local farms at this time of year and get bags of varying mixtures and feed the birds on this (NOT FOR ME) but some top fanciers do this

So as they say "many roads lead to rome"

was thinking of just feeding on barley over winter.....? any thoughts on this.........?

good for knocking the weight of the birds for a couple of weeks prior to pairing!!

but not enough nutrients in it for me to be using over these cold and damp winter days when the birds need a good mixture, plenty of oil seeds to keep them warm/healthy

again jmo?

opinions are what im wanting, so any others on the subject are welcome..........

I feed a basic mixture now which contains almost everything but is a bit high protein, until the end of the moult...then its 50% barley all winter up until pairing up. birds dont need to be in great condition to breed just look at nature. then after first eggs I switch back to basic mix high protien, and always a little horoform every day all year.

hi martyn, couldnt get hold of homoform last year so got some golden boost which they wouldnt eat, but will try to get hold of it for this next breeding season as ive heard good things about it.....also thought about vit b and/or calcium ??? ive heard that in some cases hens cant lay due to been over wieght after winter of no exercise and too much feeding....

Hi david, yes well 50% 0r even 80% barley over the winter is good and it keeps them trim. I never give mutivit EVER..but hormoform does have some vits and yeasts also, I like it a lot for youngsters. I like calcium (GOLDEN BOOST) its excellent .

ive used matrix for quite a while now which is grit, minerals, brewers yeast, aniseed etc....plus alsorts of other stuff, the birds love it.

i give them matrix dont know if its good for them or not but they gorge there self with it love the matrix must be good for them twice a week

yes have used matrix before can be quite exspensive thro closed season only use it when racing use normal grit and minerals thro winter

mine wont touch normal grit, but i have to be careful not to give them too much matrix as i think it can make the droppings watery

yes david it can

ive noticed it more when they are feeding ybs too....

I still have some barley , that must be finished, after that i will gave them young bird off season mix.

just started giving them 40 percent barley the rest is a resting food all good

i use best all round over the winter mixed with wheat and barley

I always feed pickstones, ans another natural grit prouct as alternative for them, plus pink and black minerals, but only when feeding...Now then a friend of mine said he fed MATRIX, and for me to try it. So I bought a tub and used it, but its a con it smells nice and looks good, but its just mixed grit and minerals, and the clever thing they have done with it is add lots of small treat seeds for the birds to find in it, thats why they love it not because its good for them...If you add these seeds to any grit they will pick at it all day, so for me its expenisive and a con.

I THINK YOU WILL FIND THAT IF YOU ADD SEEDS TO YOUR GRIT THEY WILL EAT THE SEEDS AND THROU THE GRIT OUT TO GET TO THE SEEDS I WILL BE STICKING TO MATRIX

rudderfett wrote:

I always feed pickstones, ans another natural grit prouct as alternative for them, plus pink and black minerals, but only when feeding...Now then a friend of mine said he fed MATRIX, and for me to try it. So I bought a tub and used it, but its a con it smells nice and looks good, but its just mixed grit and minerals, and the clever thing they have done with it is add lots of small treat seeds for the birds to find in it, thats why they love it not because its good for them...If you add these seeds to any grit they will pick at it all day, so for me its expenisive and a con.

yes totally agree what they go mad for is the small seed mixed with it like you say, why not mix your grit and minerals with red band i bet they go mad for this , and i bet its cheaper by half

hi, ive used matrix for a while now and the birds go mad for it......i think its the anaseed that they are attracted to mainly but they still eat the rest of it too. i once went to the corn shop and they had run out of it but had some of their own make which they had copied to try make it like matrix and it was rubbish compared to it, and even normal grit my birds wont hardly touch it. when i have my bird exercising i always put a small amount of matrix in the nest box and they cant wait to get into the loft......itthink too much matrix or grit is not good for them as it makes the droppings loose/watery.