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Click here to view as a pdf: Cold Weather Poultry Considerations
With winter just around the corner, Crystal Creek® wants to make sure that you and your chickens are prepared. Here are some tips and tricks to ensure that your birds make it through the upcoming cold season with “flying colors”.
Click here to view as a pdf: A Poultry Success Story
By Stephanie Hutsko, PhD
Crystal Creek® has many customer success stories, one of which belongs to an organic family farm in upstate New York. This producer started on the Crystal Creek® Poultry Program approximately three years ago and currently has 9,913 brown layers. The birds were brought in as pullets at 18 weeks of age and are housed in an unheated, open barn with 15ft peaked roofs and curtain side walls. They are allowed access to the outdoor pasture at least one day every two weeks in the winter months, as is required for his free-range market. Feeding occurs once per day, by hand, and barn walkthroughs are performed about 10 times throughout the day to monitor floor eggs and bird health. Birds are weighed weekly and feed intakes are closely monitored. There are electric lights that are used to supplement the natural daylight to give the birds at least 16 hours of light.
Click here to view as a pdf: Reducing Feed Waste Can Return Big Dollars
By Teresa Marker, B.S.
Farmers are always looking for ways to improve their bottom line. One aspect that can easily be overlooked is feed loss due to issues in fermentation, storage, feedout or bunk management. This article provides ideas to help reduce feed waste that can improve a farm’s profitability.
“My Layers Were Producing Well, But Are Not Producing Now –
What Is The Problem?” – Eggless in Ohio
As you might expect there is a long list of reasons why this might happen. However, the most common theme that results in a decrease in egg production is stress. Stress is defined in medical terms as, “Any physical, physiological or psychological force that disturbs equilibrium…..includes agents that upset homeostasis, such as infection, injury, disease, internal organ pressures or … strain.”1
Click here to view as a pdf: Jack Frost Nipping At Your Beak
By Julie Wadzinski, B.S.
When cold weather sets in, poultry need diet modifications, appropriate water access, and properly maintained litter to stay healthy, warm and productive. “Cold Stress” is a phrase not spoken enough in the poultry industry. For the backyard flocks, adding heat lamps as supplemental heat is often considered the end of the story. When it comes to managing cold stress in birds, there is more to consider. Cold impacts animals differently. For example, a cow’s rumen is a heating vat that assists in keeping her warm. Poultry do not have the same type of digestion as a cow and rely on increased calories from feed to keep warm.
Click here to read as a pdf: Ask The Vet / Ask The Nutritionist
By Julie Wadzinski, B.S.
“Avian Influenza has been in the news lately. I only have a few laying hens. How can I protect my hens from getting sick? What are the symptoms of Avian Influenza?”
~Homesteading Hobby Hens ~
Click here to view as a pdf: Get Your Spring Chicks Off To A Good Start
By Julie Wadzinski, B.S.
Across the country, more and more people are discovering the joys of maintaining their own backyard chicken flock. For many backyard flock owners, knowing where their meat and eggs come from, coupled with the security and self reliance of having control of their food source is important. Even in many urban settings, city residents find that local ordinances allow for a small flock of chickens. It is not uncommon, for new people being introduced to chickens, to begin their flock by purchasing peeping chicks. When it comes to chick rearing, there are four key management areas to focus on: Temperature, Water, Feed and Lighting.
Click here to view as a pdf: Introducing The Family Flock Line Of Poultry Feed
By Dan Leiterman
In an effort to be more self-sufficient and provide quality nutrition, many families today are raising their own poultry flocks. The Family Flock® line of poultry feeds have been specifically formulated to an elevated standard that supports the production of high quality, safe and nutrient dense meat and eggs. The Family Flock® line of poultry feeds provide a significant upgrade in poultry nutrition when compared to what is typically available on the market today.
It is important to be a well-educated consumer, especially when dealing with matters that can directly affect your family. Many other brands of poultry feeds offer just enough nutrition to get by and use ingredients that are not the best quality. It seems their marketing effort relies on a low information consumer with lower expectations of performance. This type of consumer will typically make purchases based in large part on price per bag, rather than on value for the dollar spent, or on the quality of the end product for the family.
Click here to read or download this article from our December Newsletter.
Click here to read or download this article from our December Newsletter.
