FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Mine is for slime. Is garlic needed still or does the ff cancel that out, too?

Nope. The garlic is still great for discouraging worms and makes for a great spring or fall tonic for purging some worms, though I wouldn't feed it on a regular basis...it tends to thin down the blood and can cause some anemia issues if it goes on. It also could help develop worms that grow to not mind the taste of garlic/sulfur in their diet and then it's pretty useless to you.

 

[LindaB220]

It certainly seems excessive to me! However, multiple attempts at feeding less and the adult birds losing obvious amounts of weight in less than a week finally convinced me they actually need that much. Now, that refers to the adults (6.5 lb hen, cock ~8 lbs) I bought from Mr. Urch. The pullets raised from chicks purchased last summer from McMurray's eat ~1-1.5 cups each per day, and weigh about 4 lbs now. I think/hope they will make adult size by their first birthday in July.

There are very few people raising Dorkings in the USA, even fewer raising their Dorkings to be true to type (historically correct shape.) I feel it incumbent upon me to caution all new Dorking enthusiasts to be certain your purchases come from a flock that is consistently the proper SIZE and TYPE.

I am a big softie for anything in need of rescuing, so the Dorkings are a good project for me. My first goal is to develop a healthy, vigorous flock that reaches the proper size in a reasonably few months. Then I will improve their feed efficiency and fancy points.

I believe the ff is one of the ways I can provide optimum nutrition to my flock for minimum out-of-pocket costs, and the culled chickens provide optimum nutrition for us, as a delicious by-product. When the Livestock Guardian puppies are mature enough to be trusted around free-ranging poultry, we will also enjoy heart-healthy fresh eggs. (I am feeding the hens an omega-3 supplement now, but the eggs are a deeper orange and in my opinion, taste/smell better when the hens free-range.)

Best wishes for you and your flock,
Angela

Eta:I got some mixed clover, annual ryegrass and black-eyed peas to plant in the chicken runs last week 'cause those puppies won't mature overnight, lol.

Thanks for your insight Angela. I'm getting White Dorkings from Sandhill. A little more fragile but I couldn't afford more at the time. I'm only starting with 5 SR so I'll be able to get better later if these don't work well.
Good idea about the clover and peas for the runs. I've got both and will apply now to get growing.

 

[LindaB220]

That sounds intriguing. Before they burn their unsold trees.... Can you PM me how you do that and what price you pay? I don't want to disrupt this thread.... ....or point me to a thread that tells more?

Me too if you don't mind. Nothing disrupts this thread. We do it all.

 

[Beekissed]

Amen! It might have started out about FF but it's turned into a thread on life and the living of it and that's the best kind.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

(I am feeding the hens an omega-3 supplement now, but the eggs are a deeper orange and in my opinion, taste/smell better when the hens free-range.)

Best wishes for you and your flock,
Angela

Eta:I got some mixed clover, annual ryegrass and black-eyed peas to plant in the chicken runs last week 'cause those puppies won't mature overnight, lol.

I've been avoiding the Omega 3 feeds because they've been known to give an off flavor to the eggs ... Good forage makes eggs look and taste better, and as a bonus it gives a better fat balance to the eggs.

I'm experimenting with some alfalfa pellets mixed into the FF right now and am eager to compare taste/looks of the eggs with that. The alfalfa should also help with the mineral balance of the eggs while I await pasture growth.

 

[LindaB220]

Mine are metal and they went through 54 meat birds trying to perch on the edge, climbing inside, pushing out the sides, etc. and then they graduated to my LF layers who aren't as bad to use the feeder for a walk zone while they inhale feed but they are still a little hard on the flimsy nature of the metal.

I don't know how good the vinyl is at snapping back after 10 lb birds have been walking, standing, fighting and lunging against them but the metal ones are woefully inadequate for rough treatment.

To me, a large flock for a backyard is 40-50 and all the numbers above those. Medium flock is around 18-30 and small flocks are anything under 15 birds. But then, that's just my own little perception...others may feel differently. It's all relative. As is the type of breed being raised....CX and heavy breed DPs are harder on equipment than are lightweight layers and bantams/toy breeds.

This is good to know. For later I think.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I sent of a rambling PM about how to connect with Nurseries. It's kinda the season ...

I will take a moment and repost that message here ... Unless Searsmom beats me to it ... I'm away from my laptop and doing that from the phone is awkward.

 

[Searsmom]

LeslieDJoyce
Today at 11:05 am​

Searsmom,



Keeping in mind that Oregon is a huge producer of Nursery Stock, second only to California for this type of farming ... we have more "homeless" trees here than other places.

In order for any of this info to be applicable to you, you'd have to "find" a local wholesale nursery, or nursery association ... I think you're in Tennessee, though I know nothing about where Dandridge is, so ...

http://www.mtna.com/

That's the link to the Middle Tennessee Nursery Association. They will have PR people there that might be able to help you locate friendly nursery people near you.

That said ...

It is sort of against industry policy to do too much discounting of unsold nursery stock post-season. There are "fair pricing" policies and such.

BUT ... IF you know a wholesale nursery person, you can probably get some "discount" trees from them. There is a freakish mark-up between our wholesale prices and what you'll pay at Lowes/Home Depot for the same tree. The only thing is many nurseries require you to buy trees in "bundles" of 5 or 10. All the exact same variety and size of tree. But post-season you might be able to snag some strays ... presuming the farmer has time to mess with you, a mere mortal.

We donate trees every year to a few charities ... one, in particular, that goes around planting food-bearing trees in towns and cities. For free. It's an Arbor Day or May Day or Earth Day thing, and there might be something like it in your area ... so hit the google to find out if you can get on their planting list.

Every year there is a spring tree sale in the grocery store parking lot of our town. One of the local groups ... boy scouts or something ... does this tree sale as a fundraiser. Trees there tend to be a bit less expensive than trees at places like Lowes or Home Depot.

We do tree packaging for other people as well as ourselves, and then after shipping season we "trade" some of the unsold stock from that to a Barter Company. A Barter Company is a great way to get rid of stuff you don't want and find stuff you do want ... without money. Maybe there is a Barter Company in your area with nursery stock ... but this is not likely unless there are plenty of nurseries in your area.

Basically, on our farm, we keep some trees we think we might need or that people we know might want ... it isn't that easy to "store" them so they don't die, but we manage-ish.

Otherwise we have a huge bon fire.

Sad, but true. And not the most helpful info, I'm sorry.

-Lj

 

[neopolitancrazy]

That struck me as a lot of feed ...  so out of curiosity, I just "measured" out a 1/2 lb of the dry feed I'm using, to see what the volume is. I'm using a pelleted feed, with a small pellet size, so it will "pack" very well and theoretically should be less volume than some of the fluffier feed choices. By my measure, 1/2 lb of this feed is 1.25 cups. And iIt expands quite a bit when moisture is added for fermentation. 

Therefore ... 2 cups of FF might not be as much as it sounds ... certainly no more than 1/2 lb of dry feed. 

Yes, and my feed is fluffy when dry.

 

[chickengirl1193]

I've been avoiding the Omega 3 feeds because they've been known to give an off flavor to the eggs ... Good forage makes eggs look and taste better, and as a bonus it gives a better fat balance to the eggs.

I'm experimenting with some alfalfa pellets mixed into the FF right now and am eager to compare taste/looks of the eggs with that. The alfalfa should also help with the mineral balance of the eggs while I await pasture growth.

I feed alfalfa/Timothy pellets to my goats, do you.think I could add that to my FF while we have no pasture? If so at what percentage? My chickens already eat the goats hay right from the manger..