FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LeslieDJoyce]

Leslie, what a great idea!!!! I'll be using rain gutters but the blocks are genius. Is this your run or what? Love it too.

It's the "Play Room" of my coop ... it accounts for about 1/3 of the total length of the coop, and opens to the run on the right hand side of the photo. It is about 10' wide by about 25' long ... the roof meets the sides at 3.5 feet.

That idea to put the PVC trough feeders in cement blocks is something I found over on the "DIY Thread" ... the two tweaks I made were to not put end caps on the feeders ... I figure the FF won't spill out the ends anyway, and if the feed mix is a little too wet the extra moisture can drain away ... and to leave a section in the middle uncut for the handle.

I like to use PVC cuz you can work with the curve a bit so it's harder to nose feed out and harder to roost on and it is super sturdy, but the rain gutter would have been less expensive and EASIER!

 

[Beekissed]

The rain gutters don't last as long as PVC and are harder to clean out if you are inclined to do so, so it's a good choice if you are building for the long run. They suit my style because I'm too cheap and my chickens use the feeder lightly, but I think if someone has a large flock the PVC is the way to go.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Here is a photo of one of our new trough feeders we just set up today ... so we can feed more FF and I can get my glass cooking pans back!

Each feeder is 4' long, cut from PVC pipe, and we left a little strip intact in the middle so we have a handle. I sanded everything smooth so nobody snags a comb or wattle on it and it is comfy to handle for us. We set them up in concrete blocks ... its a pretty good height for the birds, I think. If we have chicks we'll set one up a bit lower so they have a chance.



It is a dreary wet day, so not the best day for photos. I'll do a better job getting pictures when we have a nicer day. You can see two tube feeders in this room of the coop. One has grit and the other has oyster shell. You can also see one of the automatic waterers we installed.

Now we just need to figure out how much FF the birds are going to want to eat in a day ...

Holy Moly!! I only have 4 chickens and those girls are hoodlums enough for me to handle. I tried to count your flock and got to about 26 before I gave up! Great concept for your feeder. It looks fantastic!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Holy Moly!! I only have 4 chickens and those girls are hoodlums enough for me to handle. I tried to count your flock and got to about 26 before I gave up! Great concept for your feeder. It looks fantastic!

That's about 1/4 of them, I think. I have maybe 110 in the General Population.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Do you have an egg business? What would compel one to have over 100 chickens if not? I am of the "BYC" yes, backyard chickens breed. I am not even allowed to keep chickens in my zoned area. Legislation is forthcoming that will allow a certain number. In the meantime, I am fortunate that all my neighbors are personal friends and I can keep breaking the law with their permission.

 

[kpgoldstar]

I want to report as well, that today I got 4 eggs! From my 4 girls! The second time only! The first time I got one egg in the morning and was completely surprised to find three that afternoon.

I fed around 7:30am, we normally get eggs only in the afternoon. About 9 hubby thinks he hears squawking from the coop. I sneak out there and Leticia is making noise in the run. I peak into the nest box and see Dottie sitting!!! Remember I work all day and have never seen my hens lay as they just started a couple weeks ago. Lemon is pacing up and down the ramp. I let hens be hens and go back in the house. I come back out about 10 and WHAT?? I have 4 eggs!!! All in the same nest box! Silly girls!

As I was admiring the small pile of eggs and praising my flock giving thanks for providing for me, Snoop came up the ramp to tell me all about it...followed by my little Lemon. Both wanted to make sure I knew they laid for me. It was so sweet, I gave them both Lovies.

Life is good...

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Do you have an egg business? What would compel one to have over 100 chickens if not? I am of the "BYC" yes, backyard chickens breed. I am not even allowed to keep chickens in my zoned area. Legislation is forthcoming that will allow a certain number. In the meantime, I am fortunate that all my neighbors are personal friends and I can keep breaking the law with their permission. 

I live on a farm ... in a farm zone. I can have as many chickens as I want. But to be honest we have more than I originally wanted. I had a partner who was very keen to have as many chickens as possible, so kept pressing for more. We are reorganizing that a bit, but do have plenty of customers for our eggs. People in our area like farm fresh eggs. As do we. I'm a little nutty about pretty eggs ... I like lots of colors of eggs, so that means having a variety of breeds.

We also have some ducks, and have done some turkeys the past two years.

 

[Beekissed]

I use to keep a working flock of 30 for my family and customers but if I lived where Leslie does, I'd have more birds than that to keep up with demand for eggs. Living near a town has its advantages when selling farm produce as the town folks make for a good customer base. I lived in a very rural, agricultural county with many commercial poultry businesses owned by the families of that county, so they had eggs aplenty and they weren't a bit interested in free range goodness.

Even with that, my flock of 30 made me profit and paid for all things chicken so my family could have free, healthy food.

LJ is on to a good thing once she settles exactly who is her largest customer base and if she wants to cater to their demands....

....only time will tell! Cutting overhead by feeding FF and then free ranging will help with profits, for sure.

Hey, LJ....got my clover seed in!!! Will be seeding this week, most likely. We are supposed to get a little snow and that might be to my advantage....

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Boy, Bk, you said a mouthful there!

Yay!!! Clover!!! That is truly the key to success with these small flocks.

It is important to me the eggs TASTE good. So a lot of my choices follow that goal. More FF in the mix should mean yummier eggs!

We need the ground to dry out a bit so we can prep the fields. Then we can seed them, too!!!

I'm so looking forward to clover!

 

[Beekissed]

Boy, Bk, you said a mouthful there!

Yay!!! Clover!!! That is truly the key to success with these small flocks.

It is important to me the eggs TASTE good. So a lot of my choices follow that goal. More FF in the mix should mean yummier eggs!

We need the ground to dry out a bit so we can prep the fields. Then we can seed them, too!!!

I'm so looking forward to clover!

I ordered some yellow clover too because it was cheaper than both the white and red and I've never planted it before. Wanted to see how that went, so I'll have both yellow and white in the small meadow....more white than yellow though as the yellow has much lower nutrition and digestibility, white dutch in the garden rows and the rest of the yellow will be broadcast up on the hill for our deer plot we want to renew up there.