Moustach Season NOW OPEN!

Every wanted a good reason or excuse to grow a Mustache? Well here is a great one, and a great way to raise money and awareness for cancer that affect men.

Movember is an action oriented group and event that seeks to overcome prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. Each November, the organization asks men to stop shaving, grow a great moustache, and raise money.
Funds raised in the United States are divided among the Prostate Cancer Foundation, LIVESTRONG, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. These organizations use the funds to support awareness, education, survivorship, and research.


“Movember's primary campaign objective is to raise awareness around men's health issues, specifically cancers affecting men,” the organization said on its website. “We want everyone to know that most cancers are highly curable if caught in the early stages- including prostate and testicular cancer.  Movember aims to increase early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment, as this will ultimately reduce the number of deaths from cancer.”



There are a significant number of deaths from prostate cancer annually, in fact, just this year more than 33,000 men will die from the disease. Some 240,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, and 1 and 6 men will get prostate cancer eventually.

So this Movember, Lets all have a little fun and raise some funds to support men's cancer research.
You can make a Donation by going to the Movember home page.

Tips & Tricks to Wintering your backyard Flock.

 

·         Make sure your birds are on a good quality commercial laying ration such as Naturewise® Layer Crumbles or Pellets as the majority of the diet.

·         Increase scratch grains for a little extra energy and warmth, but don’t feed more than 10-15% scratch in the total ration per day (about as much as they’ll clean up in 15 minutes). Feeding too much scratch will dilute your total protein content as well as vitamins and minerals.

·         If you are looking for a way to feed scratch that will last for at least a few days, try a scratch block. Birds can peck at the block to get their grains and 1 block will last for an extended length of time depending on your flock size.

·         Provide a draft free shelter for birds to roost and get in out of the cold (especially important to be able to get out of the wind and precipitation).

·         Check and treat for parasites (lice, mites, etc) in the fall so birds aren’t facing those challenges as they go through the winter.

·         Keep waterers full and fresh – utilizing a heated pet water dish is ideal to keep water from freezing. Birds that are drinking and eating as they should will be healthier and do better through the winter months.

·         If your birds are going through molt:

o    Make sure to provide plenty of nutritious feed, such as Naturwise® Layer Crumble or Pellets.

o    Feathers are mainly protein, so you can supplement extra protein in their diet during molt with sunflower seeds, peas, or cooked eggs.

o    Be extra careful not to over feed scratch to molting birds. It can prolong the molting period.

Do you want to keep your birds laying through the winter months?
Keep body condition up by providing a free choice laying ration, such as Naturewise® Layer Pellets or Crumbles, and give oyster shell free choice to supplement calcium. Always provide plenty of clean, fresh water.
The main tip for keeping birds laying during the winter months is light - Days become shorter beginning June 22 and begin to lengthen again on December 22. In our area the amount of daylight goes from almost 16 hours of light at the beginning of summer to just over 8 hours at the beginning of winter. This can cause hens to molt and to cease egg production. To avoid this lapse you may want to consider using artificial lighting through the winter months.

·         To keep hens laying, light must be present 12 hours per day or more, and a 14- to 16-hour day is the norm.
·         Light needs to be just bright enough to read by, and the type of bulb does not matter.
·         If a lighting program is started don’t let it get interrupted, because even a 1-day lapse can affect laying.
·         Using an inexpensive timer switch can be very helpful to keep lighting consistent and will help keep you in eggs year round!
Find all products mentioned above - from feed and oyster shell to coops, waterers and medications - at your local friendly Coastal Farm & Ranch!