FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

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Should I take out the 24/7 dry food now that I give ff in the morning ? They are a bit half hearted at it but generally finish by end of day. They free range a couple hours each evening. I keep in a very large covered run when I'm not home. I have 8 12week old dual purpose layers. Too many preditors to leave out unattended.
 
Yep...take out the continuous feeds and only feed the FF to get the full benefit of the method. They will soon be ambushing you for the FF and will act like their throats have been cut and they aren't getting nearly enough....but they will eat a few mouthfuls and walk away and then come back and graze on it, etc.
 
Ok kinda scary but I well give it a go thanks Beekissed
Ak rain

Scary? I never really thought about it that way...but I guess there are a lot of folks out there not like me and this IS a scary thing to deviate from the accepted wisdom and norm that you have learned and try something new.

I'm one of these people that will study on something, learn the wisdom behind it and jump on it....try it and see if it has merit! I'm not reckless..it's a calculated risk and I wouldn't just go into it without much thought, but I am quick to act after the "much thought".

But...I tend to forget that not everyone is like that and their faith is a little more shaky. Thank you for reminding me of that because I tend to poo poo other people's fears because I lack them and it is not good thing to discount other people's fears. They are real and valid to them and must be worked through at their own pace.

In light of that, I feel very honored that so many people trust me enough on this to even try it! Thank you all for having faith in me and trusting what I say, because you all don't know me from Adam!

Thank you, AK, for that one simple little line of text that kind of awakened me from my own pride....
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I hope, from now on, I can remember that and temper my posts with more humility and understanding.
 
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I'm timid person. why fix something that "ain't broke" I have researched there and back.
i am going through too much feed and i want easy so my research and your encouragement helps me to step forward.

now i need a different feeder hmmmm. i'll go raid the dump and see what i can find.

ak rain
 
Hi everyone, I'm new to the chicken world so I apologize for lots of questions....3 days ago I got 6 chickens that are 5/6 months old, I am dealing with several of them having some kind of illness so giving them electrolites/vitamins and keeping them as comfortable as possible. My question regarding ff is whether it is stressing them physically more to drastically change diets to ff in morning and evening and let free range to rest of day which they really don't seem to be doing much of right now. I am giving them about 1 cup ff in morning and evening which is 50/50 starter/grower and scratch with added treats like yogurt, scrambled eggs, watermelon to keep cool. their appetite is not the greatest right now and I can tell they are underweight so not sure what to do about ff and trying to get them to eat.
my other question regarding ff is ....I made the mistake of making up too much for what they are eating....I am using a 5gallon bucket and it is about 3/4 full so I'm worried about it going bad if i dont keep adding new to it. should I dump it and start over using much less to begin with?
 
Hi everyone, I'm new to the chicken world so I apologize for lots of questions....3 days ago I got 6 chickens that are 5/6 months old, I am dealing with several of them having some kind of illness so giving them electrolites/vitamins and keeping them as comfortable as possible. My question regarding ff is whether it is stressing them physically more to drastically change diets to ff in morning and evening and let free range to rest of day which they really don't seem to be doing much of right now. I am giving them about 1 cup ff in morning and evening which is 50/50 starter/grower and scratch with added treats like yogurt, scrambled eggs, watermelon to keep cool. their appetite is not the greatest right now and I can tell they are underweight so not sure what to do about ff and trying to get them to eat.
my other question regarding ff is ....I made the mistake of making up too much for what they are eating....I am using a 5gallon bucket and it is about 3/4 full so I'm worried about it going bad if i dont keep adding new to it. should I dump it and start over using much less to begin with?

Don't dump it...it can only get better with time, not worse. You don't have to add to it until it gets low, just stir it well each time you feed and it will deepen in fermentation..and even smell a little like vomit, but that's good and not bad for fermented feed.

If you feed the FF, you can stop feeding the treats altogether. It won't shock their system and they really need the added minerals and vitamins, as well as the prebiotics and probiotics in the FF if they are ill. You also can stop with the electrolytes and vitamins, as the FF has all they could possibly need.

Just give them the FF and the free range and let time take care of things.

If you can start some deep litter in the coop, it would help as well...there is a great thread on here about deep litter and I recommend it to everyone and anyone having poultry. It means more than just having deep bedding...it is a type of lasagna composting in the coop and run that can improve the microbial life your chickens are exposed to when walking over these areas and depositing their feces. It also provides additional foraging opportunities when they can't free range effectively.

Please take pics of them now, if you can, so you can show us the results of the FF later...we love befores and afters! Here's a thread that may help you a lot in what you are dealing with....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/709707/the-road-less-traveled-back-to-good-health-they-have-lice-mites-scale-mites-worms-anemia-gleet-feather-loss-and-other-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-
their-progress


And about deep litter....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/70/deep-litter-method

And another thread on FF....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds
 
Scary? I never really thought about it that way...but I guess there are a lot of folks out there not like me and this IS a scary thing to deviate from the accepted wisdom and norm that you have learned and try something new.

I'm one of these people that will study on something, learn the wisdom behind it and jump on it....try it and see if it has merit! I'm not reckless..it's a calculated risk and I wouldn't just go into it without much thought, but I am quick to act after the "much thought".

But...I tend to forget that not everyone is like that and their faith is a little more shaky. Thank you for reminding me of that because I tend to poo poo other people's fears because I lack them and it is not good thing to discount other people's fears. They are real and valid to them and must be worked through at their own pace.

In light of that, I feel very honored that so many people trust me enough on this to even try it! Thank you all for having faith in me and trusting what I say, because you all don't know me from Adam!

Thank you, AK, for that one simple little line of text that kind of awakened me from my own pride....
bow.gif
I hope, from now on, I can remember that and temper my posts with more humility and understanding.
WOW Bee that was GOOD! Yep me to on the much thought and then jumping. Same thing here and man I loved the fact that you realized that about yourself. I to like learning things about myself to help me be a better me. You go girl!
hugs.gif

Yep trusting in you here to and what you say really makes sense to me even when it does go against the NORM grain of thought.
Mine are out free ranging today and have gotten the water hose after them spraying because they're not wanting to stay off the patios. Already washed poop off twice now.
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They are making the ants come to the patio with the poop and awhile ago I was out there and had ants come up my legs past my knees and I was like ok that's it! and I sprayed em with the hose. That got em outta there, BUT they've been back since I did that!
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They seem to be eating something on it and I don't see anything for them to be eating. Maybe the ants?
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Yeah I was also scared when I first started listening to Bee to. I read something the other day that I really really like...... Courage is fear that's said it's prayers! LOVE LOVE LOVE that!!!!
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I went out to their pen a little earlier and cleaned and changed out their water and they stayed right by the pen the whole time I was out there. Again a bunch of them stayed at their ranging but some of them want FREE food. lol
Got those cockerels on the run from me though. Looked down at one point and there was one of the little boogers right under me. Got my stick which was right there beside me and tapped it on the side and it got away from me. Trying to train THIS MANY cockerels is kinda hard! lol BUT working on it until I can get rid of em.
bun.gif
 
This is SUCH a helpful thread! I've read through the whole thing once before, but it has been awhile so I apologize if this has been covered!

I finally have some good buckets, and I am ready to start fermenting my birds' feed. I have mostly ducks, but do have 3 Buckeyes that have been added recently.

Normally I get a non-GMO grain feed but missed the last order and had to get something in the meantime. Semi-close to me I can get a different non-GMO feed, but it is very powdery because it is corn and soy free and has to have liquid added so they can eat it effectively. For the past week I've been taking a few scoops of the grain feed and progressively more scoops of the new feed, putting them in a bucket at the beginning of the day with non-chlorinated water, stirring really well, making sure there is 1 inch of water above the solid part, putting on an air-tight lid and letting it sit until night when we feed them. They have definitely been enjoying it, and we are getting more eggs. I am trying to decide if I want to stop getting their old feed completely and just feed them the new feed, but I definitely want to ferment it and am not sure if there would be a point to fermenting the new feed or if it would be a good idea. These are the first ingredients, before you get to the vitamins and such- Oats, wheat middlings, cheese meal, alfalfa meal, calcium carbonate, flax seed, canola seed, canola meal, lentils, fish meal, pork meat and bone meal, animal fat, blood meal. Because it is so powdery, when water is added the water turns a brown/green color which I'm assuming contains a lot of the vitamins and minerals so I don't think draining it off would be a good idea. My current idea is that I could mix up a bucket with the necessary amount of water head-room, close it with the airtight lid, and leave it for a day or two. Right now I have two buckets like that so I could let it sit for two days. Would that even be helpful with those ingredients?

I am not ready to start making/mixing my own feed. And I may just go ahead and keep getting their old feed which is mostly grain and would be simple enough to ferment. I can't get starter or grower from this place, so for now I still have to get some from the old place.

Thank you!
 
Thank you so much Bee! I have been searching for a thread on "Road to recovery...." I have just started reading it and will continue reading the whole thread and most certainly learn lots!
I know I need to dust them I checked one of the sicker birds about an hour ago and not surprising she is covered with little reddish bugs. I am using the deep litter in the coop...pine shavings and DE but I'm not real keep on the dust from the DE so I probably didnt use enough....I like the idea of using ashes instead would that be better? I put a big tote in their run with ashed from our fireplace but they havent used it yet. they are pretty much hanging around under coop right now with some venturing out into run and to free range. I am going to dust all of them tonight and tomorrow to at least get rid of bugs. Not sure from what little inspection on the one if they have gleet...thank for the pics on that thread. their feet dont look like scaly mites but I definitely see paler combs on most of them especially the sicker ones.
It is upsetting that the guy I got them from sold them to me like this knowing I am inexperienced....he said I could bring them back for a refund but I really don't want to bring them back to that type of environment and neglect.
I'll stop the treats and continue with the acv in water and ff and dust them. Is their something additional to put some weight on them? What about mealworms?
I've read some of the other threads on deep litter and ff but not all of the threads....I am going to go read now...thanks bunches!
 

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