Raising chickens is a great experience for the whole family. One of the primary requirements is providing housing that is comfortable for your backyard flock. Young chicks can be raised in a variety of structures, but the area should be warm, dry and ventilated, but not drafty. Also make sure it is easy to clean.

• Bigger groups of birds in a large room, such as a shed or a garage, should have a supplemental heat source such as a brooder stove.

• When the premises are dry, place 4 to 6 inches of dry litter material (wood shavings or a commercial litter) on the floor.

Feeders and Waterers
It’s important to ensure your chicks have access to fresh feed and water. Positioning the feeders and waterers along the edges of the comfort zone will:

• Keep the water and feed from being overheated
• Help keep water and feed cleaner (chicks milling and sleeping under the warmth source often scatter bedding and feces)
• Encourage the chicks to move around and get exercise

Be sure to have plenty of fresh feed and water when the chicks arrive:

• At least two 1-quart or one 1-gallon waterer for every 25 to 50 chicks
• Dip the beaks of several chicks into the water to help them locate it. These chicks will teach the rest.

• Day 1: Use clean egg flats, shallow pans or simple squares of paper with small piles of feed on them.
• Day 2: Add proper feeders to the pens.
• A few days later: Remove the messy papers, pans or egg flats once chicks have learned to eat from the feeders.

• Should be emptied, scrubbed, rinsed and refilled daily
• Wet litter around waterers should be removed as often as possible. Dampness encourages disease and parasite transmission. The drier the premises, the healthier and happier the chicks.
• At about 4 weeks of age, ducks and geese will appreciate a swimming area, but you will need to keep the wet litter cleaned up.
• In winter months, you may need to purchase a water heater to prevent water from freezing.

• Feeders and waterers can be moved outward from the heat source, expanding their area of activity and helping keep the feeders and waterers clean.
• As the birds grow, the feeders and waterers should be adjusted to the height of the back of a standing bird. This will help decrease contamination and minimize wastage

Feeding your chicks
It is important to select a complete feed that gives your chicks all the nutrition they need to grow into healthy hens. Once they’ve reached maturity,a high-quality complete layer feed will help to maximize egg production and quality. If they are broiler chicks, choose a feed designed to support their more rapid growth. Layer chicks will reach egg-laying age at about 18 to 20 weeks; broiler chicks will reach market weight at 8 to 10 weeks.

You may also consider occasional supplements to their diet, such as table scraps, scratch grains, oyster shell and grit. However, supplemental feeds should make up no more than 10 percent of a hen’s diet.

Purina offers a complete line of poultry feeds appropriate for each bird in your flock. A list of Purina products can be found here.

Lighting and heating for your chicks
A thermometer should be placed at the chicks’ level to accurately gauge temperature.

• Adjust the brooder stove and/or heat lamps 24 hours in advance so that upon the chicks’ arrival, you’ve created a comfort zone that is 90º F at “chick level.”
• For turkey chicks, the comfort zone should be 100º F.
• Use a brooder guard (a plastic, cardboard or wire barrier) for a few days to encircle the brooding area so that the chicks don’t wander too far from the warmth.
• Once chicks have learned where the heat is, remove or expand the guard. This will allow the chicks to escape the heat if necessary. Getting overheated can be as dangerous as getting chilled.
• Chicks that huddle under the lamp are too cold. Chicks that sprawl along the brooder guard are too hot. Chicks happily milling around all portions of the brooder area are comfortable.
• The temperature can be gradually reduced by 5º F per week to a minimum of 55º F.

Even after your chicks have grown into hens, keep a standard old-fashioned 40-watt incandescent light bulb handy; or, if you’re using the new energy-efficient bulbs, a 28-watt halogen, 10-watt compact fluorescent, or 8-watt LED bulb, to maintain the artificial light necessary for egg laying to continue through the winter months.

Source: Purina Poultry

During the winter months, it’s easy to find reasons to skip your cattle feed supplements.

After all, trudging across fields when it’s windy and cold — and sometimes snowing — isn’t anyone’s favorite task. The cold, wind, dampness and mud all take a toll on your herd, 24 hours a day, increasing their energy requirements dramatically. And, for spring calving cows, that’s especially significant. Their bodies are already struggling to meet the energy demands of a maturing fetus. Consequently, it’s crucial they remain in sound body condition to successfully calve, produce milk and rebreed promptly.

Provide adequate nutrition for pregnant cows 
“The last third of gestation accounts for about 70 to 80 percent of calf growth,” said Les Anderson, Ph.D., extension professor at the University of Kentucky. “During the last two weeks, an average calf grows about two pounds each day.” Anderson explained that cows must at least maintain body condition — and preferably gain slightly — during that last period so they will have sufficient energy stores to calve rapidly and easily. He said one common myth is that increased feeding will increase calf birth weight, thus raising the chances for dystocia.

He said a number of studies have explored this and concluded the opposite is true. “Cows that lost weight during the last trimester had smaller calves, but also had more problems calving,” he remarked. “They simply didn’t have sufficient energy stores in their bodies to calve rapidly and easily on their own. On the other hand, cows that maintained or gained weight had a lower incidence of calving problems — even though their calves weighed slightly more.” But, the benefits of maintaining body condition during winter don’t stop there. Body condition also affects fertility, rebreeding and pregnancy, all of which can have a direct impact on herd profitability.

Consider long-term cattle health, profitability in decisions
Lee Dickerson, Ph.D., and senior cattle consultant at Purina Animal Nutrition, agrees that body condition throughout the entire reproductive cycle can make a significant difference on reproductive success and overall net return to the producer. Dr. Dickerson recommends “targeting a body condition score of 6 at calving, a 5.5 at bull turn-in, AI (artificial insemination), or ET (embryo transfer) and a 4.5 to 5 at weaning.” So what keeps producers — and Anderson says it’s a big percentage of them — from achieving the desired body condition, especially during winter?

He says the short-term cost of cattle feed supplements during the winter months often blinds producers to the long-term return they will receive on that investment. “With feed costs being what they have been over the past few years, producers ask, can I afford it right now?” Anderson explained. “Ultimately, if they don’t make the expenditure, they end up paying the price because their cows will have a reduced ability to conceive — and conceive early, plus a lower overall reproduction rate. But, they don’t see that loss right off.” He said the University of Kentucky Extension helps producers make better decisions through “enterprise analyses” that evaluate potential expenditures against projected calving rates, weaning weights, rebreeding rates and pregnancy rates. “This makes intelligent decisions a lot easier,” he explained.

The cost of skimping on nutrition
Anderson described a retrospective analysis his extension conducted for a producer who had experienced an excessively dry summer and fall. The producer opted not to spend the $6,000 to $7,000 needed for feed to maintain body condition from calving to breeding. On review, they found he only achieved a 42 percent pregnancy rate. That lower rate resulted in a $17,000 loss — more than twice the amount he would have spent on feed to achieve his usual 85 to 90 percent pregnancy rate.

Supplementation during winter months
Clearly, maintaining body condition in the winter is important. To achieve it, supplementation is required. “You need to boost the nutrient supply when the weather gets colder to maintain the cows’ nutrient needs,” Anderson explained. “Even with balanced forage, a rudimentary ration won’t take into account their additional needs during these months.”

Purina has a wide range of cattle feed supplements, such as Purina^® Accuration^® supplements, to provide that extra nutrition opportunity. Purina^® Accuration^® supplements not only provide balanced protein and energy, but also incorporate Intake Modifying Technology^® which enhances digestion and aims to prevent overeating by stimulating cattle to eat smaller, more frequent meals. This self-regulated eating means cattle eat just what they need, so less feed is wasted and less hand feeding is required.

Pre-winter preparation, spring moderation 
In addition to supplementing during winter, Anderson emphasized the importance of getting cattle in shape before the cold weather hits. Plus, he cautioned producers to avoid the “rush to grass” in the spring, which can also have a negative impact on rebreeding. “Early spring grass is so nutrient dense that it passes through animals rapidly and they are not able to absorb all the nutrients. They can actually get in a negative energy balance because they don’t have it in their bodies long enough to absorb it,” he said.

Anderson recommends adding supplements at this time as well, to slow the passage rate and keep energy up. But, most of all at this time of year, Anderson says it’s important to keep in mind that “when the weather gets bad and you don’t want to go outside, that’s when the cattle need you most. They’re trying to fight that weather, and they need more energy. It’s well-documented that if they lose weight during this time, it will affect their ability to rebreed.”

Article Attributed to Purina Animal Nutrition

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Visit with a seasoned athlete about their daily routine, and there’s a high likelihood they will credit the use of nutritional supplements to boost their performance before a big competition.

Similarly, on the show cattle circuit, individuals in the winner’s circle can often be found using show supplements for their steer or heifer.

“Show supplements are designed to help spike the nutrition being offered to an animal to enhance the expression of genetic traits in a 45- to 90-day time period,” explains Dr. Kevin Burgoon, technical nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition. That said, he emphasizes, “Show supplements are not a magic potion, they are part of a comprehensive nutrition program.”

Burgoon explains that nutritional supplements don’t replace a balanced feed ration. Supplements are simply added for a period of time to help boost specific nutrients to achieve a desired result. Burgoon says show supplements are most often fed to cattle for three reasons: 1) to help achieve appropriate fat and conditioning for finishing, 2) to help enhance the animal’s muscle expression, and 3) to help promote a fuller appearance.

“You must still meet the animal’s daily nutrient requirements says Burgoon. “Then, adding show supplements with higher amounts of a specific nutrient, like energy or protein, can help get an animal looking their best for show day.”

Energy is key 
When selecting a nutritional supplement for cattle it is important to look at the fat content, which provides the animal energy (calories). Burgoon says, “Energy is responsible for growth, muscle and skeletal development; every metabolic process has a caloric cost.”

Specifically, Burgoon suggests including a high fat energy supplement in a show animal’s diet when more energy is needed for growth and or fat deposition. “A high fat supplement can help the animal utilize the feed better and promotes fat deposition to help achieve the desired finishing condition,” he explains. “A high protein, low fat supplement can dilute the energy content of the diet to a point where growth and fat deposition suffers.”

Energy supplements can also be beneficial to speed up growth and finishing in scenarios where an animal would traditionally require longer days on feed, such as cattle that have been sick or off-feed or breeds that take longer to mature. For those animals who need an extra boost, Burgoon says energy supplements can start to be fed when cattle are 400 to 500 pounds.

In addition, feeding enough fiber in the diet is critical. Burgoon suggests free choice moderate quality grass hay, and emphasizes that “keeping the rumen right with sufficient roughage in the diet is critical.”

Allow enough time
Burgoon emphasizes that inclusion of nutritional supplements in a feed ration requires time.

“When someone says a supplement didn’t work for their show animal, it’s usually because they didn’t feed the supplement for a long enough period of time for it to work. Timing is the biggest mistake I see people make when feeding nutritional supplements,” says Burgoon.

According to Burgoon, ideally nutritional supplements should be fed 45 to 90 days prior to show day. Even products marketed as a “show day” supplement should be fed longer than a single day he adds. “Supplements continue to work the longer they are fed,” Burgoon adds.

Part of the bigger picture
As part of your comprehensive nutrition program, Burgoon suggests getting show calves – especially market steers – to their ideal finishing weight about 35 to 40 days prior to show day, and then transitioning to a lower energy, high fiber feed and, if needed, feeding a supplement that will help maintain condition and muscle shape until it’s show time.

He adds once animals have reached their ideal finish weight you must still continue to meet their daily nutrient requirements, but you want to do that with as little feed as possible. He advises transitioning to a “slowing diet” – feeding lower energy and increasing the fiber to at least 14%, with free choice grass hay to keep the calf full, while also keeping their condition and muscle expression “fresh.”

During the final 30 to 45 days before a market show, Burgoon also emphasizes the importance of feeding supplements and feeds that do not require a withdrawal period.

Monitor performance
A final tip is to monitor how animals are eating and responding to their feed and supplements. Burgoon notes that adjustments to their diet may need to be made throughout the show season.

Honor^® Show Chow^® Ambassador Bobby May has similar advice. May emphasizes that every animal and every feeding scenario is different, saying, “There’s never a one size fits all feeding recommendation.”

To monitor performance of the show animals he works with, May says he weighs his show cattle every week to evaluate gain.

May also advises feeding cattle separately. He explains, “If you feed 20 pounds of feed to two steers, there is no guarantee they will each eat 10 pounds, because some cattle are slow eaters and others are aggressive. I suggest feeding cattle separately, but putting the bunks side-by-side and separated by a fenceline so the cattle feel like they are eating with a buddy.”

For more information on show nutrition join the online community of show enthusiasts at www.facebook.com/HonorShowChow or www.twitter.com/HonorShowChow.

Article Attributed to Purina Animal Nutrition

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Coyote Light Predator Hunting Lights are now available at J&N Feed and Seed. The CoyoteLight is an innovative hunting light developed by predator hunting enthusiast for predator hunting enthusiast. This remarkable hunting light features the highest performing red LED lighting technology in a sleek, lightweight design. The CoyoteLight can be quickly mounted to any scope, Picatinny rail, or used as a handheld spotlight. CoyoteLight professional lighting will transform the way you hunt at night. CoyoteLight is 100% designed and manufactured in Pennsylvania.

Performance

The #1 safety rule for night predator hunting is identifying your target. CoyoteLight will give you confidence while pulling the trigger and the performance you have to see to believe. The CoyoteLight is guaranteed to beat the performance of any spotlight with a red filter or any kind of red LED flashlight.

Adjustable Brightness Light Intensity

The brightness is fully controlled from zero to 100% power with an adjustment knob on the back. Scan on a lower power for the reflection of eyes and then turn the light up on full power for shooting.

Adjustable Focus

With CoyoteLights variable focus, it can be adjusted to be a wide or tight light beam for the desired distance of each hunting landscape.

Extreme Battery Life

CoyoteLight has a unique patent pending integrated circuit which runs on built-in high-performance lithium-ion batteries. It will run over 5.5 hours on full power and over 48 hours at about 25% power. It also has a low battery indicator light to let you know when it’s time to charge. The CoyoteLight will run at your desired power and will not dim as the batteries are exhausted.

Coyotes are one of the most challenging predators to hunt in the United States. They’re little, mean, and clever. And they are one of the few animals that you can hunt at night with a spotlight or flashlight (see Texas hunting regulations).

Stop by J&N Feed in Graham, Texas, and shop our full line of Coyote Light Predator Hunting Lights and all your hunting, firearms and ammo needs.

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