Re: Cold Weather

In Reply to: Re: Cold Weather posted by Helene on October 07, 2001 at 15:56:27:

Hi Helene,

Believe me, if it's an animal, I think it has been in our house. Like the time our Nubian was getting ready to kid. I come home and find a bale of hay and a big goat in my bathroom (why is it always my bathroom?). Or the time me and the sick ducky would do bathers (my word for shower) together? Lived in my bathtub for a week, got well and joined the rest of the flock. LOL

A bag or two of cracked corn won't hurt anything in my opinion. I think it is the outside hull of the corn that contains the calcium or the agent that causes calcium buildup and thus the reason for not giving billies a whole lot of it or making it a steady diet supplement.

There may be enough cracked corn in your pre-mixed goat feed to not get a few bags but I just don't think it will hurt anything for those extra cold nights. I also use cracked corn from time to time on our chickens, ducks, geese, peacock and rabbit when it gets cold.

I'm getting a bit off track here but what the heck. Free range chickens do seem to fare better than caged. We've got both and I rotate them from time to time. Only problem is a few foxes here. The "lay pellets" contain enough calcium for egg shell production - that's why in my opinion, feeding more than cracked corn is necessary for laying birds (even ducks). But the corn does produce heat. A few bugs and ticks free range add to the protein.

And now with the West Nile Virus spreading like wildfire, I'm thinking that I may let all our birds roam free to keep down the mosquito population. After we got a large number of ducks late last year, I noticed that our mosquito, moth, wasp, bee and hornet population had decreased significantly. Why? Well, I went to the duck pond and saw those wasps and hornets gathering mud from the bank for nest building. The majority of them never made it back to the nest (yea!). Those beady little duck eyes can see them real good and make a quick meal!

Best regards,

Gary

Follow Ups:

• Re: Cold Weather Karen 18:57:19 10/08/2001 (0)
• Re: Cold Weather Helene 19:44:40 10/07/2001 (0)

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