Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[carsonwild]

Cool thread I started feeding my chickens sprouted seeds.
I have do lentils and they love them.
Carson

 

[beverly evans]

Quote:
Linda's right, it is the crowing the Californians objected to. Roosters are legal here so there is nothing they could do. But luckily for them, I sold two big roos this week and one two weeks ago so I will soon be down to one medium sized frizzle and 2 bantam roosters. Hopefully I can sell at least one of those. That's th trouble with hatching your own eggs or buying straight run chicks; you get a lot of roosters. Then because you raised them, it is hard to eat them and you have to try to sell them. No one wants roos. Dilemma!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Ok, I know from reading the thread that they are supposed to eat less FF than they did dry feed, but how much less seems reasonable? I'm probably just being paranoid, but I swear it seems like they're barely eating anything at all. They were eating (or tossing around and losing into the bedding) roughly 6 cups of dry feed a day and now they're not finishing even 2 cups of FF. I mean, I guess this WOULD fit in with the "2/3 reduction in feed" mentioned on the blog post linked above, but it just seems unbelievable. Somebody tell me this is normal and I'm not starving my chickens!

 

[Latestarter]

It's completely normal

Have no fear. Don't know how many times per day you feed them or if they get any free range time (not that there are many bugs available this time of year, at least not here in Colorado)... When you feed them, you want to see a "little" left after they're done eating. That could be 20 minutes, or in my case, several hours. If they clean the serving plate, then feel free to increase the amount you give them at that feeding. If there's more than a "little" left, then decrease the amount a bit next time. And just so you know, even THAT amount will not remain static.... It will change a bit every day with weather, temps, and activity... some days they just won't be that hungry, and others, you'll swear they haven't been fed for days. Good luck and keep up the FF!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Ok, thanks! They're 11 weeks old and still in the brooder (looong story about a custom coop builder who flaked on me; coop to arrive soon from someone else!), and I was feeding them 3 times a day with the dry feed and there was always a mad scramble when I topped it off. Now I give them FF in the morning, and there's still a good amount of it when I get home from work. I offer them some mealworms and veg at night and they go crazy for that, but the FF doesn't get polished off. I tried to weigh it this morning and of course my kitchen scale's battery was dead, LOL!

 

[beverly evans]

Ok, thanks! They're 11 weeks old and still in the brooder (looong story about a custom coop builder who flaked on me; coop to arrive soon from someone else!), and I was feeding them 3 times a day with the dry feed and there was always a mad scramble when I topped it off. Now I give them FF in the morning, and there's still a good amount of it when I get home from work. I offer them some mealworms and veg at night and they go crazy for that, but the FF doesn't get polished off. I tried to weigh it this morning and of course my kitchen scale's battery was dead, LOL!

Weighing the leftover food? You're being way too anal about it! Never fear, they will always eat as much as they need and if they think treat type food is coming they will wait for it instead of eating their ff. Try laying off the treats for a couple of days and you will see how they finish off the ff. Hang in there! You know what's best for them. : )

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Weighing the leftover food? You're being way too anal about it! Never fear, they will always eat as much as they need and if they think treat type food is coming they will wait for it instead of eating their ff. Try laying off the treats for a couple of days and you will see how they finish off the ff. Hang in there! You know what's best for them. : )

LOL! Yes, weighing before and after feeding. And yes, I *am* being too anal. Sometimes I can't help it.

I don't think of veg/bugs as treats (at least not when they can't free range). I think of it as a natural part of their diet. I don't give them a ton, maybe 1 c of loose greens and such between 7 birds.

(I'd tell you about what the dog gets fed, but then you'd KNOW I'm out of my mind).

 

[DesertChic]

Ok, thanks! They're 11 weeks old and still in the brooder (looong story about a custom coop builder who flaked on me; coop to arrive soon from someone else!), and I was feeding them 3 times a day with the dry feed and there was always a mad scramble when I topped it off. Now I give them FF in the morning, and there's still a good amount of it when I get home from work. I offer them some mealworms and veg at night and they go crazy for that, but the FF doesn't get polished off. I tried to weigh it this morning and of course my kitchen scale's battery was dead, LOL!

They definitely eat less FF than dry food. I spent about 2 weeks feeding my birds nothing but FF to get them used to it. Since then, and largely because of convenience issues, I've reintroduced some dry food as well as daily FF feedings, and decided to conduct an experiment. I offered both types of food to my flock each morning and noticed some interesting behaviors: Different birds show different preferences on different days and at different times.
1) - My Silkies consistently choose FF first over anything dry, with fresh greens (especially wheat grass sprouts) as a close second. When they do finally check out the dry food, they are very picky and only seem to indulge in certain seeds and oyster shell.

2) My Barred Rocks first eat the FF, then dive into the dry, and then return to the FF.

3) My Australorps eat anything and everything they can get their beaks on, but usually show preference for the dry food first thing in the morning and at twilight, but seem to prefer the FF in the afternoon.

4) All of the birds will ignore all other feed types if they think they'll get meal worms.

My suggestion: Stop giving meal worms for a few days up to a week. Then only give meal worms once or twice per week, favoring fresh greens or maybe a weekly mashed hard-boiled egg instead. You've established a routine in which they expect that treat of meal worms and will hold out for it. Chickens are extremely Pavlovian in their trainable tendencies. Breaking the habit of giving them their favorite treat will also break the expectation and result in their focus once again turning back to their food. It's like spoiling a child with the promise of cookies instead of veggies. As long as they know those cookies are on the near horizon, they'll insist they're just not hungry in order to avoid eating their veggies.

If after all of this you still find that they're leaving more FF behind towards the end of the evening, use a spoon to scrape up the drier FF from the feed trough and add the meal worms to it, forming it into "treat balls". I've done this a couple times and it's been downright entertaining to watch my birds peck apart those balls....and there's nothing left at the end.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

4) All of the birds will ignore all other feed types if they think they'll get meal worms.

My suggestion: Stop giving meal worms for a few days up to a week. Then only give meal worms once or twice per week, favoring fresh greens or maybe a weekly mashed hard-boiled egg instead. You've established a routine in which they expect that treat of meal worms and will hold out for it. Chickens are extremely Pavlovian in their trainable tendencies. Breaking the habit of giving them their favorite treat will also break the expectation and result in their focus once again turning back to their food. It's like spoiling a child with the promise of cookies instead of veggies. As long as they know those cookies are on the near horizon, they'll insist they're just not hungry in order to avoid eating their veggies.

If after all of this you still find that they're leaving more FF behind towards the end of the evening, use a spoon to scrape up the drier FF from the feed trough and add the meal worms to it, forming it into "treat balls". I've done this a couple times and it's been downright entertaining to watch my birds peck apart those balls....and there's nothing left at the end.

It honestly didn't occur me they'd skip eating all day long in order to wait for a handful of worms in the evening (that certainly wasn't the case when I was feeding dry). They love their fresh greens/veg. That NEVER gets ignored (esp if there is a tomato in the mix!).

 

[vpatt]

It honestly didn't occur me they'd skip eating all day long in order to wait for a handful of worms in the evening (that certainly wasn't the case when I was feeding dry). They love their fresh greens/veg. That NEVER gets ignored (esp if there is a tomato in the mix!).

When you weighed the feed how much were they getting?

My chicks don't seem to care for many of the treats I give them. They love watermelon and hamburger. Ignore cabbage and greens.