good move Steve , i used to buy the Barley at the same price and quantity ,but it wasnt rolled like the oats , so too coarse .if the Barley is rolled and cleaned i would go for that too.i used to buy it back in Wales ,i know one "sprint man" that done well hopper feeding it ,with additions when required.
in all fairness ALF i hope ive not spoken out of turn.normally buy the wheat and around 5 sacks of V-L kweeker mix for a £10 a sack (20kg) ,but V-L hadnt yet delivered and they buy in by the pallet load .seeing my dissapointment ,i think the price was a bit special.i also bought other feeding while there ,but the above feeds most of whats here.
feed bins needing topped up , so we called into our local(ish) feed supplier Coxy-dene today .bought 3 sacks of Gem resting mix (25kg)= £10. each,and 3 sacks of wheat (25kg) = £9.each .so thats 150kg of winter feeding for £57.oo .with price of feeding costing so much these days i was happy enough with that .
well i suppose today was "day 1" in that the 6 in that section were out from 11.45 this morning until i returned home after dark around 5.40 ish .5 were in the section ,1 latebred cock sat out on sputnik. 1 cock and hen inside flew to another section earlier this year and had not been out for a few months and the hen only been in there for 48 hours .so on that note a good result .will give them as much freedom as is possible from now on.
i intend to use the "bull" cock with 8 hens ,after sitting 10 days i want to float the eggs under racers . then place original hen with the "bull"cock",and allow all pairs to lay there own eggs freely.i am hoping with as many as 16 young from the "bull" this will show me if ive chosen correctly. and if i havent ,then still have sufficiently sound well bred young from the others to compete.if from those 16 young the majority do well for me ,then i will use the "bull" fully the following season for 2 rounds .its a sort of insurance policy ,but hopefully with enough off-spring to use as a unit of measure.do you seen any problems with this ,or any further guidance ,fully appreciated.