100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[kuntrygirl]

Try peatmoss as well. I'm getting some tomorrow. Apparently it is almost on par with cost of shavings, and it lasts twice as long. I'll let you know how it does  

Supposed to get rid of the smell.

I'll have to look around for peatmoss. Keep me posted on how it works for you. Thanks for the tip.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I use ground powdered limestone-- like that used in horse stalls. neutralizes many odors especially urine/ ammonia based odors.

You used that with your broilers or chickens?

 

[kuntrygirl]

I put them outside. Lol

I'm a worry wart, so I can't put them outside just yet.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: IMO the fermenting just makes tha feed more available. You can reduce the amt the are given, or make it into a mash and they will automatically eat less because the crop fills up with the water ladened if you are using a ground grain. THis is what happened when I fed FF ground pellets to my cornish X. It also slowed down the growth as they ate less feed overall on the FF than the dry.

About this age I strtedintroducing cut grasses and tthey gobled that up. Clean grass unlikely to ba contaminated by cocci, and give gravel of course. THey loved it. ( I heated the driveway gravel in the oven to kill cocci)

 

[kuntrygirl]

I started out with 25 chicken (broilers), they were in a 8 ft by 7 ft pen (made of plywood). I feed them the highest percent feed possible (26- 30%) along with a wet feed mash (1-2 weeks of age) buttermilk feed mash (3-4 weeks of age) and then fermented feed till show (7 weeks of age). that go them big breasts meat but i havent figured out how to get round out the keel bone. We went through 75lb of feed a week

You had a big group as well. I never thought about buttermilk. I keep buttermilk on had to make biscuits.

Was the 8x7 foot pen a good size pen for the broilers?

 

[kuntrygirl]

I just went back to check on the little buggars and I saw one that looked to be even heavier than the other one, so I decided to weigh him.

6.3 ounce broiler (9 days old). I'm thinking some may be 8 ounces by Wednesday. With that said, this brings on another question that I have for you all. If and when (and I know they will) start flipping and die, at what age is a good age to process them before the 8 weeks, if at all? Have any of you processed any before the 8 weeks if for some unknown reason they died before the 8 weeks? Is there anyone that wouldn't process the ones that die before time and if so, what's your reason for not processing them and eating them?

Since I'm trying to point out, inform and try to address every problem, there is another BIG problem that I have fun it to and I just noticed a few minutes ago. While looking at the FF, I noticed that in an area towards to top of the bucket had a spot of FF with mold on in. I am now scared that something is wrong. There was NO mold on the FF itself in the bottom of the bucket. The mold was far away from it. Can someone tell me why is there mold? What caused it? What can I do to make sure that this doesn't happen again? Since seeing the mold, I immediately and carefully removed the FF and put it in another bucket. I followed the FF process from everyone, so I'm confused as to why there is mold.

Pic of FF with mold growing on it.

 

[Angelicisi]

The fermented feed will raise the protein by about 3% of common feed mixes being fermented. The LABS in the ff make all the nutrients easier available for the chicks guts to absorb. All the nutes rise a bit in percentages. I have a chart that breaks down the slight increases based on time fermented but its limited on specific brands of feed used. Most is individual grain based info. FF is nice for being able to dilute the feed with a good grain too and not suffer any major protein/other nute drops when mixed dry.


The FF with what looks like mold should be fine. A film often gathers on tip of a good ferment that hasn't been stirred also as well as sides of container with food that may have been stuck on the side.

It almost looks like a lil spider web or cocoon of a larva in that one spot.
I would wipe that part out and give it a good stir. Add a scoop of dry feed to feed the ferment. I would still feed as ling as it didn't smell rotton (rancid meat smell is bad). It should smell like dough, sour dough-ish a lil sweet.

As far as the flip death. I haven't seen it. I have read about it. But haven't had any friends deal with it either. Seems fully caged, 24/hr feed causes issues like this. You have a different husbandry that allows them to grow nicely on good nutritious food and move around, I think you'll be ok there. What I have read is overfeeding and no room to move causes these issues...none here yet and I don't think you will either

I think you are great on the losses too! Seemed like the 1st week was always the hardest for them and that when I list mine most often. They make it past that and are thriving you're golden! I have already stepped on 2 and tripped and landed on one as well as shut one in the door on accident...all are ok! But if they start dying its probably my fault for squishing a determined dinosaur lol

 

[Evangelina]

You had a big group as well. I never thought about buttermilk. I keep buttermilk on had to make biscuits.

Was the 8x7 foot pen a good size pen for the broilers?

Yes it was until they were about 3 week old, it got too crowded so i had to cull 12 chickens and put them in a different pen (the same size) and that worked perfectly.

 

[kuntrygirl]

The fermented feed will raise the protein by about 3% of common feed mixes being fermented. The LABS in the ff make all the nutrients easier available for the chicks guts to absorb. All the nutes rise a bit in percentages. I have a chart that breaks down the slight increases based on time fermented but its limited on specific brands of feed used. Most is individual grain based info. FF is nice for being able to dilute the feed with a good grain too and not suffer any major protein/other nute drops when mixed dry.


The FF with what looks like mold should be fine. A film often gathers on tip of a good ferment that hasn't been stirred also as well as sides of container with food that may have been stuck on the side.

It almost looks like a lil spider web or cocoon of a larva in that one spot.
I would wipe that part out and give it a good stir. Add a scoop of dry feed to feed the ferment. I would still feed as ling as it didn't smell rotton (rancid meat smell is bad). It should smell like dough, sour dough-ish a lil sweet.

As far as the flip death. I haven't seen it. I have read about it. But haven't had any friends deal with it either. Seems fully caged, 24/hr feed causes issues like this. You have a different husbandry that allows them to grow nicely on good nutritious food and move around, I think you'll be ok there. What I have read is overfeeding and no room to move causes these issues...none here yet and I don't think you will either

I think you are great on the losses too! Seemed like the 1st week was always the hardest for them and that when I list mine most often. They make it past that and are thriving you're golden! I have already stepped on 2 and tripped and landed on one as well as shut one in the door on accident...all are ok! But if they start dying its probably my fault for squishing a determined dinosaur lol

ok. Sounds good. I thought that I had ruined the batch. No smells at all, so its good to go. I have washed out the container and will put it back in.

 

[kuntrygirl]

You had a big group as well. I never thought about buttermilk. I keep buttermilk on had to make biscuits.


Was the 8x7 foot pen a good size pen for the broilers?

Yes it was until they were about 3 week old, it got too crowded so i had to cull 12 chickens and put them in a different pen (the same size) and that worked perfectly. 

Great! Do you know the weights at 3 weeks old? I'm hoping to have the tractor built in a couple of weeks but I need a big ole tractor for all of them. I may take your idea and cull some early.