Free Cornish X - Worth it??

[shadowmane]

Do it myself. I drilled small holes in a 5 gal. bucket and placed it down into another. Place the grain in the top bucket, cover the grain/feed with water and soak. I speeded up the fermentation process by introducing a little unpasteurized ACV with a good mother culture in it.

You don't have to do it in the sieve system I setup but it comes in handy to just lift your grain bucket up and let the excess fermented fluid drain off before you feed. Depending on the warmth of the place in which you are doing your fermenting, soaking 8-15 hours is supposed to give your grain time to ferment enough to produce the valuable probiotics you are looking for. They are just pulled from the air...unless you want to speed it up like I did.

I just keep the same fluid in the bottom bucket and just add fresh water when necessary to get the right level to cover my feed. They call that backslopping....keeps those strong cultures in your grain fermenting system. Think sourdough bread...same thing.

Fermenting your grains is supposed to increase your protein by 12%, increase the absorption of your feed nutrients, increase total nutrient value, increase bowel health, increase laying performance, help prevent disease~particularly the intestinal ones like cocci, salmonella, e.coli, lower total feed consumption and thus total feed costs but will cause more weight gain on the lesser amounts of feed.

I've been doing this with my new CX chicks(54) and we are on their 4 th day. Their poop now looks like normal chicken feces, they have consumed less feed than they normally have by now, seem more content on the feed they are eating, prefer the fermented over the dry and are growing well. All bright, active and gaining ground. I am also offering buttermilk free choice in one waterer and unpasteurized ACV in the water of the other waterer...they can't get enough of it but don't seem to have the excessive thirst the CX normally have. Could be because they are not dehydrated from the constant diarrhea typical of this breed.

Okay, now you've got my wife's interest sparked. She wants to know where you get the whole grains. Local feed store, or somewhere else? She's also interested in which grains you're using.

 

[Beekissed]

I get mine at the local feed mill/store. I am currently fermenting the regular chick starter but when that is done, they will be eating cracked corn, barley, and wheat. Combined, I bought 250# of whole grains for $56. I'll be very surprised if these birds eat all that before they are finished out. Add to that the cost of 50# of starter at $17 and feed bought right now is $73...I'm going to see if I can finish out 54 free ranged CX on just that amount of grain...or less.

 

[PotterWatch]

I can't wait to try this! I may have to run out and get some butcher's twine right now and get it ready to cook for dinner tomorrow...

 

[hydroswiftrob]

I am thinking of trying it on an old store bought bird I have in the freezer and practicing on it. I would be devastated if I messed up a bird that I had raised.

 

[Beekissed]

Okay, well I can''t take Total credit; here's a link to Jacques Pepin, boning a chicken, and stuffing it. I just changed the stuffing in mine a bit

For mine, I lined the inside with spinach leaves before putting the stuffing in. Basically the stuffing was spinach, mushrooms, celery, a bit of sourdough breadcrumbs, salt and pepper (almost the same as Jacques').




The glass of wine is essential when making this kind of dish!

I want to thank you for posting that link!!!! I simply LOVE this video and we are definitely doing this on the first two birds!!! YUM!!

 

[lynn1961]

What kinds of grains are you fermenting ? You have some good information in your post, I would like to know more, if you would not mind sharing !

Do it myself. I drilled small holes in a 5 gal. bucket and placed it down into another. Place the grain in the top bucket, cover the grain/feed with water and soak. I speeded up the fermentation process by introducing a little unpasteurized ACV with a good mother culture in it.

You don't have to do it in the sieve system I setup but it comes in handy to just lift your grain bucket up and let the excess fermented fluid drain off before you feed. Depending on the warmth of the place in which you are doing your fermenting, soaking 8-15 hours is supposed to give your grain time to ferment enough to produce the valuable probiotics you are looking for. They are just pulled from the air...unless you want to speed it up like I did.

I just keep the same fluid in the bottom bucket and just add fresh water when necessary to get the right level to cover my feed. They call that backslopping....keeps those strong cultures in your grain fermenting system. Think sourdough bread...same thing.

Fermenting your grains is supposed to increase your protein by 12%, increase the absorption of your feed nutrients, increase total nutrient value, increase bowel health, increase laying performance, help prevent disease~particularly the intestinal ones like cocci, salmonella, e.coli, lower total feed consumption and thus total feed costs but will cause more weight gain on the lesser amounts of feed.

I've been doing this with my new CX chicks(54) and we are on their 4 th day. Their poop now looks like normal chicken feces, they have consumed less feed than they normally have by now, seem more content on the feed they are eating, prefer the fermented over the dry and are growing well. All bright, active and gaining ground. I am also offering buttermilk free choice in one waterer and unpasteurized ACV in the water of the other waterer...they can't get enough of it but don't seem to have the excessive thirst the CX normally have. Could be because they are not dehydrated from the constant diarrhea typical of this breed.

 

[Beekissed]

Right now I'm still fermenting plain chick starter but will graduate them into cracked corn, barley and wheat when this starter is gone. I have some links to articles about studies done about fermented feeds for chickens...you really have to read closely in all that scientific jargon to get to the meat of the paper but it's worth it. I'll also give you the link to the thread I started about ACV and the reasons to use it for disease prevention in chickens. All articles and info relate to the same thing~good bacteria that forms when foods are fermented and how beneficial they are for animals to consume.

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/viewFile/60378/48610

http://www.pjbs.org/ijps/fin640.pdf

For laying hens:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19373724

About the ACV:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...osis-and-other-poultry-diseases-in-chicks-acv

 

[Totalcolour]

I get mine at the local feed mill/store. 1.I am currently fermenting the regular chick starter but when that is done, they will be eating 2. cracked corn, barley, and wheat. Combined, I bought 250# of whole grains for $56. I'll be very surprised if these birds eat all that before they are finished out. Add to that the cost of 50# of starter at $17 and feed bought right now is $73...I'm going to see if I can finish out 54 free ranged CX on just that amount of grain...or less.

1. Our chick starter is crumbles, it would dissolve - is your chick starter some kind of mixed grains?

2. Cracked corn barley and wheat is in our scratch grains - is this what you are using?

 

[Totalcolour]

I am thinking of trying it on an old store bought bird I have in the freezer and practicing on it. I would be devastated if I messed up a bird that I had raised.

Well, if you use a lesser quality bird and your boning turns out well, you may wish you had used a nice quality bird to start with! Of course, presentation isn't everything - it's really just the icing on the cake.

Good luck - once you get it, it's a fabulous way to serve for company.

 

[Beekissed]

1. Our chick starter is crumbles, it would dissolve - is your chick starter some kind of mixed grains?

2. Cracked corn barley and wheat is in our scratch grains - is this what you are using?

My chick starter is crumbles too...it does dissolve and into a mash like consistency. It's all the same thing~grains~just in a different size and it ferments even easier when chopped small in that way. You have to use trough style feeders and, with the chicks, you have to place something over the mash so they don't take a bath each time they climb into the feeder...I use 1X1 woven wire and they still get their feet a little messy but they usually manage to walk the wire.

I've never bought what folks call "scratch"...didn't even know it existed until being here at BYC. I just buy whatever whole grains suit my budget and mix them together...those just happen to be the cheapest in my area.

Until this starter mash is all gone and I can get to feeding whole grains, I don't bother trying to drain the water off the fermented feed....I just scoop it out. After the grain soaks the liquid up, you have a mash that is the same consistency of...say...a good mortar mix. Not too wet, not too dry...just right to spread. And that's how it goes into the feeder~plop, plop...spread.