FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[pdirt]

I also save feed bags before winter and fill them with leaves in the fall. I use the bags for insulation along the walls of the brooder house and then this time of year I spread the leaves over the snow in each of the pens. That uses up the leaves giving them something to do till greenery starts sprouting and I don't have to buy any more straw.

Have you had any issues with scaly leg mites from the leaves? Several of our birds got SLM this winter, not long after we started using the dried leaves for their litter. My father in law said we probably got the mites from the leaves. Perhaps from wild birds that would roost in the large maple tree the leaves came from. I'd really like to use up the 5 bags of leaves we still have but don't want to introduce any more mites!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ive been makings them straw covered paths. Next year ill save leaves! Thanks for the idea!
We should set up trail cams.in our coops at night to see what our chickens do and at what time they come off the roost. And I bet everyones chickens are different at night because of different climates and landscapes. Also do they actually sleep the hole time its dark or just hang on the roost and cat nap, because when ive peeked in after dark they are making noises and preening (I hear them before I even look in) I'll have to set up a camera

Trail cam is a great idea. I think they sleep until they're disturbed which is probably many times during the night with critters trying to get in, people walking around, road noise, etc.
As the expression goes - "your results may vary".

Mine have good hearing. I can never catch them asleep because they hear the house door and my footsteps.

They have very sensitive feet and can sense the slightest vibration, like someone walking up to the coop.
They often sleep with their head under their wings but we usually don't see it because they can sense us coming and wake up.

Have you had any issues with scaly leg mites from the leaves? Several of our birds got SLM this winter, not long after we started using the dried leaves for their litter. My father in law said we probably got the mites from the leaves. Perhaps from wild birds that would roost in the large maple tree the leaves came from. I'd really like to use up the 5 bags of leaves we still have but don't want to introduce any more mites!

I haven't had scaly leg mites yet but thanks for the heads up. I can see how that's possible. I don't use them in the coop but in the runs.
When I mow in the fall and use the bagger I dump the leaves and grass in some of the runs for those that aren't free ranging. The rest goes into the compost. What I put in the feed bags I save for when I run out of straw.

 

[Beekissed]

Have you had any issues with scaly leg mites from the leaves? Several of our birds got SLM this winter, not long after we started using the dried leaves for their litter. My father in law said we probably got the mites from the leaves. Perhaps from wild birds that would roost in the large maple tree the leaves came from. I'd really like to use up the 5 bags of leaves we still have but don't want to introduce any more mites!

I've not had any issues with SLMs and using the leaves. If you are worried, just pretreat with castor oil before using the leaves and it should prevent any issues.

 

[Sparkway]

Hi all
I switched over to Layena from a mix from a less commercial feed as my store was out. Does anyone else use Layena for FF? And are you happy with it. Texture is very sticky to me. But since I'm here I will show off my beautiful batch of eggs five out of six started laying this January

and they owe it all to FF !!! and Bee!!! and all the other knowledgeable people on here

 

[kpgoldstar]

Hi all
I switched over to Layena from a mix from a less commercial feed as my store was out. Does anyone else use Layena for FF? And are you happy with it. Texture is very sticky to me. But since I'm here I will show off my beautiful batch of eggs

five out of six started laying this January

and they owe it all to FF !!! and Bee!!! and all the other knowledgeable people on here

Lovely!!

 

[pdirt]

I've not had any issues with SLMs and using the leaves.  If you are worried, just pretreat with castor oil before using the leaves and it should prevent any issues. 

By pretreating with castor oil, do you mean doing so on the legs of the chickens?

 

[beverly evans]

Hi all
I switched over to Layena from a mix from a less commercial feed as my store was out. Does anyone else use Layena for FF? And are you happy with it. Texture is very sticky to me. But since I'm here I will show off my beautiful batch of eggs

five out of six started laying this January

and they owe it all to FF !!! and Bee!!! and all the other knowledgeable people on here

Those are really beautiful eggs. What kind of chickens produced the blue and gray? Is it really gray or is it olive drab? I'm still trying to find a chicken that lays a real blue egg. My EE lay such pale ones, you can barely tell they are blue at all. Thanks for the foto. : )

 

[beverly evans]

Hello,

I have been researching FF and I have a question. I mix my own chicken feed with the following ORGANIC grains and seeds. Do you think this mix would ferment well with ACV? Thank you.

3 Cups soft white wheat
3 Cups hard red wheat
1 Cup kumut
1 Cup quinoa
1 Cup barley
1 Cup millet
1 Cup oat groats
2 Cups sunflower seeds
1 Cup split green peas
1 Cup lentils
1 Cup sesame seeds
1/2 Cup flax seed
1 Cup ground seaweed

Wow! I'd eat that! How wonderfully spoiled your girls are! Kudos to you. If they aren't the healthiest chickens alive on that feed I don't know what are? jAny time you can't figure out what to eat for dinner just go to your grain bin and scoop up a cup or two, add some ham hocks and some green veggies and you'll have the best soup in the world. Or for breakfast, just soak overnite, cook in enough water, add honey and milk , and enjoy! : )

 

[beverly evans]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

I've had a devil of a time catching a chicken on the ground at night too, but it wasn't because they could see better than I, it was because they were faster than I.
My opinion, borne out by research, is that humans, and most mammals, can see much better at night than chickens which have extremely poor night vision. If that weren't the case, then I wouldn't have to lock them up at night. I don't lose chickens to foxes, coyotes or hawks during the day but a whole flock will get wiped out at night if a door is left open.

This is not due to poor vision but due to the fact that when a chicken is in sleep mode it is kinda commatose til fully awakened. That is why my meanest chicken or wildest one can be loved on, handled, and generally manhandled in any way I please without any problem whatsoever. They just have to be on the roost ready to sleep to be docile this way. It is known that a tree roosting chicken can be sat next to on the roosting spot by an owl and little by little nudged off the branch, which is when the owl grabs it. : )

 

[Sparkway]

Beverly- my EE laid the blue and my crested cream legbar x New Hampshire laid the greenish gray one