Last year has been a difficult year for many, but those who have grown their own vegetables and produced their own eggs will have had a better time of it.
Unfortunately there seems to be a greater proportion of people who think that someone owes them a living or who have spent far too much money on unnecessary goods not to have a little saved, or who cannot stomach the way we used to live by making good what we have and working hard to maintain a reasonable living.
Feed Prices
Although there is and has been a world-wide surplus of wheat, the commodity markets are honing in on profits awaiting their attention, and as such you can expect prices to rise this year. I have said on many occasions that all foodstuffs whatever they are should not be allowed onto the world commodity markets as this only falsifies price rises but in turn affects third-world prices and therefore their inability to buy what their countries most need. Prices should only be controlled, if that is the correct word, by the amounts harvested and not by the get rich quick minority.
World-wide supplies of soya may become very short at the latter part of this year due to late or missed sowings; this may also affect price rises.
Green Feed and Frozen Water
The large free range mobile units have suffered; or rather the birds have suffered due to frozen pipes where water has been unavailable for long periods owing to the difficulty of getting sufficient water to such units spread out over the fields. In these cases production has suffered by as much as 20%.
Another problem occurring has been the increase in diarrhoea due to feeding on frozen grass where available but more importantly on frozen vegetables, cabbages and other brassicas which have either been frozen and thawed out before feeding or, frozen when eaten. This is not a new phenomenon, as it has been recorded at least over the last 50 or more years. The symptoms apart from loss in production are yellowish diarrhoea, and hen's loss of appetite, also looking crouched and obviously unwell.
The problem does not occur where apples, small swedes or carrots are given, but my advice is stick to a good layers ration (17%) protein plus a little mixed corn laced with a little cod liver oil to offset the loss of heat and energy. We ourselves have a small feeder in the house kept topped up with fish meal. Many more birds have suffered because they are being fed on a summer diet of 16% protein, many going out of lay or reducing production whereas some of the larger more recent flocks due to lay about November are still laying less than 50% of what they should. Owners with birds on a higher protein ration have to a greater extent enjoyed pretty good production.
Read the rest of this article in the February 2010 issue of Feathered World
