Old Speckled Hen Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Does anybody feed this? My bloomin monsters leave the pellet fraction and I have to collect it every three days to make a porridge. Hopeless!!! What happened to chickens being fed boiled veg kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackian Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I don't have garvo pellets but what ever other pellets on sale at the time.I am sure they are not that keen and they will go .I used to fill the feeders up but have learnt to put less in so less to throw away ... Does anyone know how long you can keep them in the feeders before they are not eatable What is wrong with veg s"Ooops, word censored!"s etc. , mine have all our s"Ooops, word censored!"s but not till later in the day when I know that they have had as much of the pellets they can or want to eat .Sometimes their bowls of veg look so colourful I could eat them myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeky Chooky Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 My girls weren't very keen on pellets at all When I went to a nearby Poultry Centre to get my pekin girls, I had a long chat with a very experienced Poultryman (40+ years!) and he gave me a sack of mash and told me to try them on it...they love it! Maybe you could try your girls on mash if you haven't already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi-Hi Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I read a very interesting short article last night in my chicken magazine, where a lady wrote in to ask about kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s. The answer was that in Britain there is a law against it because a study was done on two backyard chicken flocks - one being fed on chicken food i.e pellets, and the other on kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s and leftovers. The presence of Salmonella was 37% in the s"Ooops, word censored!"s flock and something like .05% in the other group. So they said no to feeding s"Ooops, word censored!"s on the risk of Salmonella, especially because of small children and older people benefiting from backyard eggs etc. Sorry to bore you with that! Back to the Garvo, I found the Alpha Chicks worked out too expensive on the chicks with all the wastage, and rather made mash, with a handful of the Garvo mixed in. They seemed to love that, or is it is just me telling myself that, since I love Garvo and will never change to anything else again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 .... What is wrong with veg s"Ooops, word censored!"s etc. .... In a word: DEFRA Animals (ncluding chickens) are not to be fed s"Ooops, word censored!"s/leftovers from the kitchen (domestic and catering) particulalry if you sell/pass on your eggs. My view? How are they going to Police that in a back garden setting? Heidi-Hi - well if that article states the study was undertaken on TWO backyard chicken flocks, I would argue their sample size is far too small to be conclusive evidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi-Hi Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I feel a bit silly now! I thought I better go and read that article again, since I read it VERY late last night half asleep in bed It says :'The reason s"Ooops, word censored!"s are illegal for chickens is the potential for contamination in a domestic kitchen leading to desease transference and disease risk'. The author goes on to say that one of his vet students did a project with two backyard flocks... etc etc. So, I suppose before they did make it a British Law, they must have done more intensive studies than take the word of a vet student on his study of two backyard flocks! HUGE apologies for telling half a story, I will check next time before I repeat something Anyway, I read it in Feb 2012 Your Chicken magazine, which I've never bought before, but quite enjoyed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 I do give them cooked veg peelings and having a quick rifle through my old brain for any old pathology lectures I fail to see the danger of salmonella in veg waste. I did know about the regs though. I did try mash in the long distant past but it wasn't Garvo. Might give that a go with the next order. I suspect I would have to moisten it to make it lumpy for them though. They free range all day normally but we've had snow on the ground for nine days and they are not venturing far enough so they are eating me out of house and home. Cooked rice/spaghetti/tinned sweet corn anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I only feed alpha chick as a treat as the do tend to cherry pick the nice bits out and if they are broody raised it's even worst as the broody tends to pick all the dried worms out for them as for the no kitchen waste law that dates back to the foot and mouth out brake of the 80's after the containation was traced back to pig swill from illigaly imported meat, and we have a lazy goverment (whitehall more than west minster) it's easier to blanket ban than to read the reports from experts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
