100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[kuntrygirl]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night.

I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed!!!!!! I started them off with 45 lbs of FF for the 1st meal of the day. They sniffed that up in 20 minutes. I waited a few hours before putting down another 45 lbs of feed . They ate on that the rest of the day, so I didn't have to refill up again. THANK GOODNESS!!!!! :/ I'm really not liking this feed bill I have over here.

The 2 broilers that were squished were smaller broilers. That runt was too small, so I didn't attempt to process it. However, the other broiler felt big enough to try to process so I did.

This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead.

After a quick process (cable man called and said he was on his way over to fix my cable, so I had to rush to pluck and take a pic) and gut out, I weighed it again and the dressed weight was 1 lb 10.1 ounces. I was shocked there was that much meat, It looks like there is enough for a meal for 2 people. After I thoroughly remove the remaining feathers, etc., I will freeze it whole and probably bake it. I have it resting now and will freeze it tomorrow. This will probably be supper on next Sunday.

This upcoming Friday, they will be 7 weeks old and you can't tell it because the weights are still not as I expected but that's ok because today's broiler made me feel better about the possible dressed weights to come. Looks like I won't be processing at 8 weeks. Perhaps 10 -12 weeks or when they have gained more weight.

The other broiler who mysteriously had a gash on his head and area plucked on it's chest was fine this morning . It was walking around in the brooder, so I decided to give it water and food. 5 minutes after it ate, it died. It was belly up. I have no idea what happened. I guess it was experiencing some internal problems and the food and water must have smothered it. I didn''t process it yet but I think I will. I have it in the fridge. I kept the feet from the first broiler that I process today and will keep the feet from this one. I will keep the feet of all of them.

So, they will be out all week this week . They weather will be beautiful. Saturday night/Sunday morning will be very cold, so I will run a heat lamp out to their pen and put the tarps back up to keep in the warmth. So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable. :/

 

[LindaB220]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night.

I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed!!!!!!

I started them off with 45 lbs of FF for the 1st meal of the day. They sniffed that up in 20 minutes. I waited a few hours before putting down another 45 lbs of feed . They ate on that the rest of the day, so I didn't have to refill up again. THANK GOODNESS!!!!!

I'm really not liking this feed bill I have over here.

The 2 broilers that were squished were smaller broilers. That runt was too small, so I didn't attempt to process it. However, the other broiler felt big enough to try to process so I did.

This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead.


After a quick process (cable man called and said he was on his way over to fix my cable, so I had to rush to pluck and take a pic) and gut out, I weighed it again and the dressed weight was 1 lb 10.1 ounces. I was shocked there was that much meat, It looks like there is enough for a meal for 2 people. After I thoroughly remove the remaining feathers, etc., I will freeze it whole and probably bake it. I have it resting now and will freeze it tomorrow. This will probably be supper on next Sunday.



This upcoming Friday, they will be 7 weeks old and you can't tell it because the weights are still not as I expected but that's ok because today's broiler made me feel better about the possible dressed weights to come. Looks like I won't be processing at 8 weeks. Perhaps 10 -12 weeks or when they have gained more weight.

The other broiler who mysteriously had a gash on his head and area plucked on it's chest was fine this morning . It was walking around in the brooder, so I decided to give it water and food. 5 minutes after it ate, it died. It was belly up. I have no idea what happened. I guess it was experiencing some internal problems and the food and water must have smothered it. I didn''t process it yet but I think I will. I have it in the fridge. I kept the feet from the first broiler that I process today and will keep the feet from this one. I will keep the feet of all of them.

So, they will be out all week this week . They weather will be beautiful. Saturday night/Sunday morning will be very cold, so I will run a heat lamp out to their pen and put the tarps back up to keep in the warmth. So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable.

Let me get this straight. 90 lbs of FF for 110 or so chickens. Is this correct or did I get I wrong reading?

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night. I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed!!!!!! I started them off with 45 lbs of FF for the 1st meal of the day. They sniffed that up in 20 minutes. I waited a few hours before putting down another 45 lbs of feed . They ate on that the rest of the day, so I didn't have to refill up again. THANK GOODNESS!!!!! :/ I'm really not liking this feed bill I have over here. The 2 broilers that were squished were smaller broilers. That runt was too small, so I didn't attempt to process it. However, the other broiler felt big enough to try to process so I did. This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead. After a quick process (cable man called and said he was on his way over to fix my cable, so I had to rush to pluck and take a pic) and gut out, I weighed it again and the dressed weight was 1 lb 10.1 ounces. I was shocked there was that much meat, It looks like there is enough for a meal for 2 people. After I thoroughly remove the remaining feathers, etc., I will freeze it whole and probably bake it. I have it resting now and will freeze it tomorrow. This will probably be supper on next Sunday. This upcoming Friday, they will be 7 weeks old and you can't tell it because the weights are still not as I expected but that's ok because today's broiler made me feel better about the possible dressed weights to come. Looks like I won't be processing at 8 weeks. Perhaps 10 -12 weeks or when they have gained more weight. The other broiler who mysteriously had a gash on his head and area plucked on it's chest was fine this morning . It was walking around in the brooder, so I decided to give it water and food. 5 minutes after it ate, it died. It was belly up. I have no idea what happened. I guess it was experiencing some internal problems and the food and water must have smothered it. I didn''t process it yet but I think I will. I have it in the fridge. I kept the feet from the first broiler that I process today and will keep the feet from this one. I will keep the feet of all of them. So, they will be out all week this week . They weather will be beautiful. Saturday night/Sunday morning will be very cold, so I will run a heat lamp out to their pen and put the tarps back up to keep in the warmth. So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable. :/

Let me get this straight. 90 lbs of FF for 110 or so chickens. Is this correct or did I get I wrong reading?

You got the 90 lbs of FF correct. I started with 100 broilers but I'm down to 96. Yep, 90 lbs of FF. A lot of that weight is the water that I put in for the FF but yep, 90 lbs of feed. 45 lbs two times today. I thought the scale was playing tricks on me . I had to weigh the feed again. I needed the dolly to push the bucket out there to the chicken pen. It was too heavy for me to carry with the FF in a 5 gallon bucket. :/

 

[Beekissed]

Could be maybe you are feeding too much? Could be why you are experiencing some health issues? I think the 90 lbs makes it sound like a lot of feed but that's largely water weight...you'd have to do dry wts on the feed to calculate how many actual pounds of feed they are eating per day because the 90 is how much water consumption also.

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night.

I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed
This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead.



.....So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable.

Still giggling over that postage meter.....

WRT feed quantity.... You are keeping track o fthe dry weight of the feed you use to ferment. Because Water is free.... the amount of feed weight wise they consume is created by you. The dry weight would give you the actual cost for feed.

deb

 

[kuntrygirl]

Could be maybe you are feeding too much?  Could be why you are experiencing some health issues?  I think the 90 lbs makes it sound like a lot of feed  but that's largely water weight...you'd have to do dry wts on the feed to calculate how many actual pounds of feed they are eating per day because the 90 is how much water consumption also. 

Not sure what too much feed is. I assume if they are eating it all up so quickly, then they are hungry. The batch of feed today was a 50 lb bag of crumble. I'm mixing 50 lbs per container. I put a lot of water in it but it wasn't too soggy. I'll have to count the number of gallons of water that I'm putting in to be accurate on the amount of water. They are eating 50 lbs of dry crumble in 1 - 1 1/2 days.

Not having any health issues. Just having accident issues. They are being squished because the other larger ones are stepping on some of the smaller ones.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm finally in for the night. I just checked on the broilers in the chicken yard in their kennel and they are doing good. Current temps are 62 degrees. Everyone survived the 50 degree temps last night. I monitored the FF intake today and I was shocked that they ate 90 lbs of FF feed This is the squished broiler's weight (2lbs 0.7 ounces) before processed. I can't say live weight because it was dead. .....So far, everything is ok but the amount of feed that they are eating is unbelievable. :/

Still giggling over that postage meter..... WRT feed quantity.... You are keeping track o fthe dry weight of the feed you use to ferment. Because Water is free.... the amount of feed weight wise they consume is created by you. The dry weight would give you the actual cost for feed. deb

LOL@ giggling over the postage meter. Yes, I am tracking the dry weight. 50 lbs of crumble and water water and more water per container bringing the weight of the feed and water to 45 lbs of FF per feeding. It's unbelievable to see this many birds eat that much feed. I would not believe it if I didn't see if for myself.

 

[Arielle]

Can you imagine a chicken house with 10, 000 broilers??????? OMG!! THAT's a feed bill.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: LOL@ giggling over the postage meter.

Yes, I am tracking the dry weight. 50 lbs of crumble and water water and more water per container bringing the weight of the feed and water to 45 lbs of FF per feeding. It's unbelievable to see this many birds eat that much feed. I would not believe it if I didn't see if for myself.
When I was raising up forty Guinea Keets I was going though 50 lbs of feed every week.... dry. As you know guineas grow very fast doubling their size practically every week at first.

For those who havent raised Gunieas, a Guinea Keet is about the size of a larger Bantam Chick. when they hatch out.... by the end of two weeks they can motor up a good three to four feet in the air and by week 2.5 they can get up and roost in the rafters. So they are eating pooping and messing up their brooder machines. I call them little jack booters. Because they stomp through and over anything in their way.... But DANG they will eat you out of house and home.... I am hoping FF will alleviate that. Because Game bird starter is expensive.

deb

 

[cockoftherock]

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