FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[22qZoo]

It will be interesting to see how the "smell" shakes out this spring when it all thaws and we start to get rain. Last year the chickens and one goose were all together in the same run and coop and it stunk so bad when it started to warm up. That's when I switched to FF, haven't had any stink since. And, if the deep litter starts to get a little stale I just sprinkle a couple handfuls of BOSS and in a few hours it's a tilled up and ready for a new layer of shavings. ( I think I got that idea from this thread too, so thanks !)

 

[Beekissed]

It's lovely, isn't it? I've been keeping chickens for most of my life but never dreamed of keeping chickens without any chicken poop smell. My old Ma is the same way..constantly amazed at the lack of smell or flies in the humid summer months. My granny would have loved this method of feeding!

If for just that reason alone I'd ferment feed! Bonus that it has all the other benefits too.

 

[Tikkijane]

Ah, OK well that probably explains it. I live in an EXTREMELY dry environment. I mean truly, most folks do not understand how dry it is here. If you understand dew point, today it is quite chilly for us (65, I KNOW, don't even start!) but the wind is blowing fierce at 24 mph with gusts up to 35 and our dew point is 16. It is not unusual to have dew points in the winter at 0 degrees or below. So, the wet splashes on the side of my bucket instantly dry and have no chance to mold.

Mine is in a cooler with the lid cracked.

And oh, I definitely get the desert. We lived there ( in Hell) for 17 years. I was never so glad to leave someplace as I was to get out of there. I don't have nearly the same amount if skin issues asI did there.

Pretty sure I could get fermentation going in the summer there in oh, 30 minutes or so. Lol. Do. Not. Miss. The. Desert. AT. ALL.

 

[22qZoo]

You know, it really is funny. I was really convinced that in order to do a good job of having chickens it would have to be complicated. But FF is so easy I almost feel lazy. It does make one wonder why more of our food isn't produced this way. So much of our resources are used to grow grain for livestock, what if only half the grain was needed to produce the same amount of food ? What if those nasty poop lagoons from the big hog factories didn't have to be so nasty ? I don't know that much about cholesterol and triglycerides (sp?) but I would think that the meat from animals fed FF would be healthier for people to eat too.

 

[Beekissed]

You know, it really is funny. I was really convinced that in order to do a good job of having chickens it would have to be complicated. But FF is so easy I almost feel lazy. It does make one wonder why more of our food isn't produced this way. So much of our resources are used to grow grain for livestock, what if only half the grain was needed to produce the same amount of food ? What if those nasty poop lagoons from the big hog factories didn't have to be so nasty ? I don't know that much about cholesterol and triglycerides (sp?) but I would think that the meat from animals fed FF would be healthier for people to eat too.

Oh, my goodness!!! You just hit the nail on the head of the prevailing attitudes on this forum and elsewhere about keeping chickens! I've been preaching this for the past 5 yrs on here...if it's complicated, you're not doing it right. If it's complicated you are making it that way for some reason, because raising chickens and keeping them healthy is as easy as ABC. Very little of my time is ever spent on chickens...truly!

Same with this FF. As soon as I posted about this method a couple of years ago and folks saw how easy it was, they immediately started complicating it with starters, keeping the feed under water, lids closed, mixing complicated feed mixes, and elaborate routines for replenishing it, stirring it, feeding it, etc. What is it about folks when they think if something is easy it must not be worth much, so complicating it will make it more worthy?

I'm so glad you said that! Finally! Someone GETS it!

Easy is good. Cheap and easy is better. Cheap, easy and effective is the best! Fermenting feed is simply the best if folks don't complicate it. Thank you!!!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Mine is in a cooler with the lid cracked.

And oh, I definitely get the desert. We lived there ( in Hell) for 17 years. I was never so glad to leave someplace as I was to get out of there. I don't have nearly the same amount if skin issues asI did there.

Pretty sure I could get fermentation going in the summer there in oh, 30 minutes or so. Lol. Do. Not. Miss. The. Desert. AT. ALL.

I'm very happy for you to have escaped our little corner of hell. Why did you live here so long if you hated it? Did you hate it from the beginning or did it just become worse each year? Probably job or financial is my guess. I happen to absolutely love it here (24 years) and cannot see myself living anywhere else!
No bugs EVER! No weeds, no predators, no hurricanes or tornados, no wildfires or rising river flooding. No snow, ice storms or freezing rain. Rare hail and only in the summer. No fog. Dust storms in the big city, but we don't get them here. I complain about the cold when it drops below 70 and we have about 6 solid weeks in July/August when you really don't want to live here. Other than that it is paradise for us!
The challenge will be keeping my chickens protected from the heat as this will be my first summer having them. I've gotten great advice on that being a member of this wonderful community!

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I'm very happy for you to have escaped our little corner of hell. Why did you live here so long if you hated it? Did you hate it from the beginning or did it just become worse each year? Probably job or financial is my guess. I happen to absolutely love it here (24 years) and cannot see myself living anywhere else!
No bugs EVER! No weeds, no predators, no hurricanes or tornados, no wildfires or rising river flooding. No snow, ice storms or freezing rain. Rare hail and only in the summer. No fog. Dust storms in the big city, but we don't get them here. I complain about the cold when it drops below 70 and we have about 6 solid weeks in July/August when you really don't want to live here. Other than that it is paradise for us!
The challenge will be keeping my chickens protected from the heat as this will be my first summer having them. I've gotten great advice on that being a member of this wonderful community!

That's it !! I'm moving to Arizona !

 

[Beekissed]

No buggums or worms??? What will the chooks eat?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I am in a teeny portion of the Sonoran Desert East of San Diego. We do get snow but only because the elevation here is 3000 feet. Like you I get about six weeks of very hot temps. 100 to 110 at the most. Lots of shady areas wind breaks and places to get their feet wet is how I kept mine cool. No closed in coop here not even for winter.... Wind breaks only and water proof tarps.

We get bugs Flies live year round but they are not biting flies. Fleas year round too. Roaches and Grasshoppers. You may not see them but Scorpions are all over. Go out at night with a black light and they glow. Chickens eat em all. out from under rocks you will find Terantulas, geckos, frogs, toads, In the desert they all come out at night.

deb "whos lived in the desert all her live in one form or another"

 

[perchie.girl]

No buggums or worms??? What will the chooks eat?

Lots of seeds and bugs.... they are just better at hiding. My last free range crew kept growing as long as I could get them back in the protected yard and their coop at night. What I call a coop is just a big cage that can hold thirty birds for night time roosting.

deb