FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[pdirt]

Bee, you suggested I report back with developments with my EE with sour crop. She has survived it and is slowly getting better, but she still won't eat the FF. How she's survived is a mystery, though she must be getting something when she free-ranges, along with squash and carrots and raisins that I occasionally provide the flock. This morning, for the first time, I saw her at the FF trough. On closer observation, though, I saw she was just picking out the seeds, and she really didn't stay too long at it. The past couple days I've had a broody in a wire cage, and I provided some dry chick starter since she wouldn't touch the FF. My EE has been eating that when I let the broody out to stretch. I wonder if this is a natural, self healing strategy. Maybe there's something about the FF that this recovering EE can't handle. Any ideas? And why wouldn't a broody want the FF, either?

I'm not Bee but thought I'd chime in. Sour crop is an overly acidic crop. Fermented feed is mildly to moderately acidic. It could be your EE is avoiding sour foods. Or in the case of your recent observation of her picking out seeds from the FF, she needed a tiny bit of sour or even just really desired those seeds.

I started my chicks on fermented feed about two weeks ago ( when they were only about a week old). The first time I made it I used medicated chick starter, water and whey from making yogurt. I ended up throwing it away after a week because I thought it got moldy. It had spider web like white strands all over the top of it. I looked on line and read NOT to use whey from yogurt and figured that was the problem and threw it out. The new batch has no whey, just water, and "molded" in only two days. I'm not sure if it is actually mold. I've been skimming it off the top and still feeding it to them, it doesn't smell bad and they still seem to like it. I tried looking up pictures but it didn't really help. I'll try and post pictures of it. I keep it covered with a glass lid, seen next to Rosie, who decided she would help herself to some breakfast!

That's Kahm yeast. Do a google image search. Kahm yeast is harmless. It's not essential to the SCOBY but it won't hurt. I don't get it on fermented feed, but sometimes I do on fermented pickles in which case I do remove as much as I can. It can add a mild fruity flavor, again, it's harmless. But I don't care for fruity pickles!

 

[BlackberryAcres]

I just started making my own feed mixture w/ whole grains. I ferment BOSS, corn, and millet, and sprout barley, wheat, oats, and flax. I never had problems fermenting layer mash, but I'm not sure I'm fermenting the whole grains right. At day 3 I get white fuzziness on top of the water that smells like HONEY. Not yeasty, not moldy, not rotten. Honey. I've been scraping it off because it looks so fuzzy and it's often growing on floating BOSS. The reason why I'm fermenting the BOSS instead of sprouting it is because this particular bag of BOSS kept molding. So I've been on the lookout for mold. I've added ACV to the fermenting mix because when I was trying to sprout the BOSS, the addition of ACV to the soak helped somewhat. In the past I have fermented the layer mash without adding anything.

Anyone know what this is? Is it possible that it's okay? Also, it never bubbles like it did in the past, which seems weird.

Thanks!

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Hi logic was this: roo gets on female; female lays egg which passes through and is coated by the rooster juice. No, really- he 'splained it to me.

 

[topdycke]

I have had my chicks on the Purina medicated since they hatched five weeks ago and have now given them a fermented regular Purina chick feed today. Just the crumble a dribble of ACV and enough water to make a thick oatmeal mix and let sit for 48 hours. At first they ignored it but I sprinkled a little dry and they went after it and polished off the serving in an hour. The second meal in they dove right in. I will say that today is the first time I have seen formed poop at all...

 

[kpgoldstar]

I have had my chicks on the Purina medicated since they hatched five weeks ago and have now given them a fermented regular Purina chick feed today. Just the crumble a dribble of ACV and enough water to make a thick oatmeal mix and let sit for 48 hours. At first they ignored it but I sprinkled a little dry and they went after it and polished off the serving in an hour. The second meal in they dove right in. I will say that today is the first time I have seen formed poop at all...

Yup! That's what we're talkin' about!!

 

[Tikkijane]

As silly as his fear is and the fact that the egg is coated with cuticle from the hen, there is a sliver of truth to what he says. After mating, semen is stored in sperm storage glands in the vagina. When each subsequent egg passes, some is squeezed out and then makes it's way up the magnum toward the infundibulum where they will fertilize the next follicle. It's thereby possible some may be on the egg but - big deal. These storage glands are common with animals that don't do the penetration thing: chickens, turkeys, frogs, toads.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1628&context=usdaarsfacpub
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091084

He still sounds like a hypochondriac.

Sure- although that's not anything when there is no roo......

He wasn't worried about it at all, but it sure grossed a lot of people out, thinking they had wads of semen all over their hands when they got a wet egg.

He didn't answer when someone mentioned that their roo-less hens laid wet eggs, too, and wanted to know what caused it. I'm pretty sure that still tops my list of all-time funnies.

 

[Tikkijane]

I have had my chicks on the Purina medicated since they hatched five weeks ago and have now given them a fermented regular Purina chick feed today. Just the crumble a dribble of ACV and enough water to make a thick oatmeal mix and let sit for 48 hours. At first they ignored it but I sprinkled a little dry and they went after it and polished off the serving in an hour. The second meal in they dove right in. I will say that today is the first time I have seen formed poop at all...

Woot! I noticed I had to do this with my store-bought chicks. Hatched chicks had no issue at all whatsoever. I think I may have just graduated to another bowl a day with my 14 newer additions.....

 

[Tikkijane]

Wow! Look at the huge combs on the crossed birds!

Did they say if he was gene splicing, or just cross breeding? Either way, I have mixed feelings about it. They did talk about the benefits of raising featherless birds in factories in hot climates, but I wonder what problems get introduced when you take the scales & feathers away from the birds ... they didn't mention that. 

I'm all for helping people produce their own food, but this seems to be a way to reduce costs for factory farms. 

I was thinking the same thing. Why not go for heat tolerant birds? Those combs definitely look like they are some kind of Mediterranean breed to start. I don't think I'd be a fan....

 

[Beekissed]

Hi logic was this: roo gets on female; female lays egg which passes through and is coated by the rooster juice. No, really- he 'splained it to me.

If he will watch his birds more closely, he won't often find an experienced roo mounting a fertile, laying hen until she has laid her egg for the day...then she comes out cackling and he will run clear across the yard to mate with her. Oviduct clear of an obstruction~the egg~and now more fertilization sent down the pike to the developing eggs. He will breed with her more that day also but not as eagerly as he does when she comes off that nest. As the day progresses the egg will form for the next day's laying...when I palpate for eggs when I am checking for who is laying, I'll usually find the egg is fully formed and firm in that oviduct when I check soon after dark.

I'm doubting much rooster smut is hitting the outside of an egg shell in normal breeding situations. Not saying it never happens but the birds are more efficient than we know and some observation can help one learn a lot.

 

[Tikkijane]

If he will watch his birds more closely, he won't often find an experienced roo mounting a fertile, laying hen until she has laid her egg for the day...then she comes out cackling and he will run clear across the yard to mate with her.  Oviduct clear of an obstruction~the egg~and now more fertilization sent down the pike to the developing eggs.  He will breed with her more that day also but not as eagerly as he does when she comes off that nest.  As the day progresses the egg will form for the next day's laying...when I palpate for eggs when I am checking for who is laying, I'll usually find the egg is fully formed and firm in that oviduct when I check soon after dark. 

I'm doubting much rooster smut is hitting the outside of an egg shell in normal breeding situations.  Not saying it never happens but the birds are more efficient than we know and some observation can help one learn a lot. 

Oh heck. Your boys are considerably more well-mannered than many of mine. I've seen them go IN the nesting boxes before realizing there is not enough room. My EE roo is the worst- he gets them when they are eating. He had one of my EE girls completely flattened in the feed bowl tonight. And my silkie boys yank and drag by the head. *sigh.* My head roo- absolutely. Although my girls said they saw him getting on one of the Brahma babies yesterday (He's a SLW and they are 7 weeks old- just as big as my SSH, for example, but still babies! )

I'm hoping the boys mature. This spring has been tough for the girls.