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9 Practical Tips for Feeding Your Pastured Poultry (PPT106)

Pastured Poultry Talk

Release Date: 06/10/2020

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Pastured Poultry Flocks show art Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Pastured Poultry Flocks

Pastured Poultry Talk

I have a conversation with Chrislyn Wood, DVM, about the threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and pasture raised flocks. Dr. Wood is a veterinarian with USDA APHIS and she is involved first hand with HPAI monitoring and response efforts.  We cover a lot of ground, including historical observations, risk assessment, disease identification, and prevention. 

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Pastured Poultry Talk

Greg Gunthorp joins the show to talk about his decision to step away from pasture raised chickens. Covid plays into the story, of course, but the challenges started long before this virus came to be front page news. 

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Turning a 20 year chicken hobby into a farm with Cynthia Capers show art Turning a 20 year chicken hobby into a farm with Cynthia Capers

Pastured Poultry Talk

Cynthia Capers, Heniscity Farm in Tennessee, shares her 20+ year journey from hobby chicken keeper to farm. Twenty years ago, the sight of six Black Australorps brought tears to her eyes. Today, she's serving  her community through egg sales, chick sales, and pullet sales.

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PPT114 - Small Layer Flock Profitability show art PPT114 - Small Layer Flock Profitability

Pastured Poultry Talk

I answer a listener question, "How can I make my small laying hen flock more profitable?" With feedback from the community, insights from The Fighting Farmer, and personal experience, we dive deep into ways to prosper from your small flock of laying hens.

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Perdue Acquires Pasturebird show art Perdue Acquires Pasturebird

Pastured Poultry Talk

Perdue acquires Pasturebird and becomes the biggest producer in the space. I unpack what it means on this episode and walk through some history. 

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Maintain Production with All In/All Out Rotation for 5,000 laying hens show art Maintain Production with All In/All Out Rotation for 5,000 laying hens

Pastured Poultry Talk

Listener Chris asks how to utilize an all-in/all-out pullet replacement strategy without duplicating infrastructure while maintaining egg production. To help answer the question, I share insights from Mark Harrison and Dave and Ginger Shields. 

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Community Q&A Plus a Monologue on Heritage Poultry's Role in Pastured (PPT109) show art Community Q&A Plus a Monologue on Heritage Poultry's Role in Pastured (PPT109)

Pastured Poultry Talk

I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation. If you want to watch a replay of the stream, find it on . Before we work into the questions, I offer some thoughts on heritage poultry's potential role in pastured community. APPPA has recently started to focus on breeding specific topics and offers monthly livestreams on breeding. Check out . We cover a...

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Feed Management Tips to Reduce Waste & Maintain Egg Production show art Feed Management Tips to Reduce Waste & Maintain Egg Production

Pastured Poultry Talk

In Pastured Poultry Talk episode 110, farmer Matt Steinman discussed how he used fermented feed as a solution to waste and fines. While fermentation can be a viable solution for some people, it's not the only way to deal with fines. This episode unpacks those options.

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Is Fermented Feed Worth the Time for 1,000 hens? show art Is Fermented Feed Worth the Time for 1,000 hens?

Pastured Poultry Talk

Farmer Matt Steinman (Foothills Farm in Sedro-Woolley, Washington) and Dr. Louisa Brouwer (technical advisor on the trial) share the results of a SARE-funded trial that sought to understand the economic impacts of feeding fermented feed to laying hens. The trial compared a dry feed, wet feed, and a fermented feed and then determined the net difference across to the bottom line.

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Community Q&A PIus a Heritage Poultry Monologue show art Community Q&A PIus a Heritage Poultry Monologue

Pastured Poultry Talk

I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation

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More Episodes

Feeding your pastured poultry is a huge topic, and it can quickly overwhelm you. As a beginner to pastured poultry, I provide nine tips for feeding your flock that can help you get off to the right start. I'll cover universal feeding advice as well as specific information for meat birds, layers, and turkeys. All this advice can summed up into a larger objective statement.

Buy the highest quality (not the cheapest) feed you can and make it a mission to understand the nutrition requirements of each type of poultry you raise based on it's age. The episode covers the beginner level approach to selecting feed and doesn't dive into the actual nutrient levels.

Request your Feed Guidelines Cheat Sheet at this link, and it will be emailed to you. The cheat sheet referenced in the podcast episode outlines how you can feed your flock. It primarily matches the feed type and protein level by the poultry species and age.

  1. Don't buy cheap feed
  2. Pasture's role in feeding your birds
  3.  Tips for Sourcing Feed
    • buy from local independent mill first
    • know feed types: organic, conventional, non-gmo
  4. Feed chickens based on age and type
    • How to feed a broiler
    • How to feed a layer
    •  Make a turkey starter ration from a broiler feed
    • hard boiled eggs for turkeys
  5. Provide enough feeder space so that everybody eats
  6. Water consumption drives for feed consumption
    • Will you drink your chickens' water?
  7. Feed supplements - grit and oyster shell
  8. What influence does feed have on production: lay rate and feed conversion?
  9. Tips for feeding Cornish cross
  10. Bonus Tip: Watch out for this sure fire sign of Mycotoxins

Windy Meadows Hatchery LogoThis episode of Pastured Poultry Talk sponsored by Windy Meadows Hatchery. Windy Meadows Hatchery supplies day old broiler chicks from their family run hatchery.

If you're looking for a supplier for your chicks, talk to the people who are directly responsible for hatching and shipping your birds. Tell them you heard about them from Pastured Poultry Talk. Contact Windy Meadows Hatchery.

Premier 1 logoIf you’re looking for fences that work from the people who use them everyday, contact Premier at 800-282-6631 or visit their website to request an informational catalog.

logo of Badger's Millside Farm, a ready-to-lay pullet supplierBadger's Millside Farm is a distributor  of Ready-to-Lay Pullets. Ask about full beak, non-gmo, certified organic, soy free, and more. Learn more.