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Anybody care to help me with fermented feed?

I have about a 3 gallon bucket and have it maybe a 1/4 of the way up the bucket. Then I splashed ACV and topped off with water to about 2" over the top of my feed. This has been going a week maybe. It has a film over it and spells pretty ripe. I have molded it before because I sealed the top. Now I just lay the lid on top.

Just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Also my wife and I are looking into changing our living style for a while and it's gonna be quite dramatic. I wanted to put the word out there so if anyone in this great group hears/knows of something. Thanks ahead if time.

We're looking to down size big time so that we can save for our cabin that I'm planning to build. That being said we're looking into RV parks, Mother in law quarters, boarding facility etc that we could barter or rent fairly cheap with a minimal footprint to save money. I'd like to keep the chickens but they may have to go. We'll see. We'll have one dog and we're gonna really try to get down to the minimum of STUFF right now. Like no more fish tank, no metal shop and no more wasted space and cooling costs in a house larger than what we need.

This is the very beginning but wanted to put it out there. Maybe someone will see something or have an idea?

Thanks a lot.
 
I might go back to fermented feed. I stopped doing it because of Eleanor having sour crop all the time due to her pendulous crop. Now that she has her bra which works really well she hasn't had any issues and I could probably put them back on fermented. I'm having issues the past few months with wild birds eating the chicken feed. They weren't an issue at all last year. They are going in through the holes in the galvanized wire mesh. Yesterday I spent over an hour lining the run with green plastic mesh because I thought it would keep them out by making the holes smaller. I underestimated their intelligence. They quickly learned to use the door on the end of the run. Now I either have to get a treadle feeder or move the feed into the coop but I don't want the wild birds to figure that out too and have a coop full of little birds. Maybe they wouldn't like the feed so much if I fermented it again.
 
Twinklin said:
I might go back to fermented feed. I stopped doing it because of Eleanor having sour crop all the time due to her pendulous crop. Now that she has her bra which works really well she hasn't had any issues and I could probably put them back on fermented. I'm having issues the past few months with wild birds eating the chicken feed. They weren't an issue at all last year. They are going in through the holes in the galvanized wire mesh. Yesterday I spent over an hour lining the run with green plastic mesh because I thought it would keep them out by making the holes smaller. I underestimated their intelligence. They quickly learned to use the door on the end of the run. Now I either have to get a treadle feeder or move the feed into the coop but I don't want the wild birds to figure that out too and have a coop full of little birds. Maybe they wouldn't like the feed so much if I fermented it again. 
Click to expand...


I had a similar problem with the local sparrows, they could even go thru 1" chicken wire. I ended up lining the whole run, gates included, with shade cloth. They will probably like the fermented feed even better than the dry.
 
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carnivore said:
I had a similar problem with the local sparrows, they could even go thru 1" chicken wire. I ended up lining the whole run, gates included, with shade cloth. They will probably like the fermented feed even better than the dry.
Click to expand...
mine is mostly mourning doves. I had a few finches actually squeeze under the bottom piece of wood of the run where there is a little gap but the doves are the pigs. the plastic hardware cloth I got was 1x1" squares. I didn't see any go through it but they'd line up along the edge of the run and slowly walk around until they found the door and then they'd stroll in. The door has to stay open because the girls free range and have to go through the run to get into the coop to the nest box and their water. My bf just informed me there was a dove in the coop the other day. Scared him to death when he opened the door. There wasn't even food in there. I'll try it out tomorrow but I may just end up feeding all the birds in the neighborhood for forever.
 
Twinklin said:
mine is mostly mourning doves. I had a few finches actually squeeze under the bottom piece of wood of the run where there is a little gap but the doves are the pigs. the plastic hardware cloth I got was 1x1" squares. I didn't see any go through it but they'd line up along the edge of the run and slowly walk around until they found the door and then they'd stroll in. The door has to stay open because the girls free range and have to go through the run to get into the coop to the nest box and their water. My bf just informed me there was a dove in the coop the other day. Scared him to death when he opened the door. There wasn't even food in there. I'll try it out tomorrow but I may just end up feeding all the birds in the neighborhood for forever. 
Click to expand...


I would do whatever you can to exclude the wild birds. They carry diseases and parasites that can be (will be) transmitted to your flock.
 
carnivore said:
I would do whatever you can to exclude the wild birds. They carry diseases and parasites that can be (will be) transmitted to your flock.
Click to expand...
I'm aware. That's why I want to get rid of them but I can only do so much. I got rid of my regular bird feeders as soon as I got chickens over a year ago. The wild birds used to be afraid of the chickens but now they just seem to hang out with them. Onyxia was the one who would run them off but she doesn't seem to care anymore. Last resort will be a treadle feeder but I don't want to spend $45+ on one and find out it doesn't help or that not all of the chickens can use it since the chickens will vary in size so much. Right now all 4 girls are about the same size even though they're all different breeds but the new batch of chicks has an Orpington at the heavy end a silkie at the small end of the weight scale. Not sure if that will cause issue. I don't think it will as long as the silkie weighs more than a pound and can open it.
 
Twinklin said:
mine is mostly mourning doves. I had a few finches actually squeeze under the bottom piece of wood of the run where there is a little gap but the doves are the pigs. the plastic hardware cloth I got was 1x1" squares. I didn't see any go through it but they'd line up along the edge of the run and slowly walk around until they found the door and then they'd stroll in. The door has to stay open because the girls free range and have to go through the run to get into the coop to the nest box and their water. My bf just informed me there was a dove in the coop the other day. Scared him to death when he opened the door. There wasn't even food in there. I'll try it out tomorrow but I may just end up feeding all the birds in the neighborhood for forever. 
Click to expand...
I changed my chicken food to pellets and so I put the remainder pellets near where the birds lay near their water is;) my hens will pick any wild birds and try to come near the food. The second thing I did, was I had originally set them under the porch and so when I moved the feed near the water dish in the shade, it worked better thus far to keep the wild birds out.:fl

Gallo in Tucson has a treadle feeder guide for making your own for less money! !:)
Its in BYC!
 
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