FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[subhanalah]

The molasses might be a little too rich in that mix, with the addition of the sweet feed.  That could be making it produce a little more alcohol smell. 

I also use deep litter in the coop and that might be a factor, as well as my birds free range for most of their food and I've never seen a fly on bird poop, so my chicken's poop might be a lot like a wild bird's.  You can actually pick up one of their dried turds and it will crumble in the hand, revealing bug shells and such.  It smells like soil and is richly black in color, other than the urates.

Could be all these factors that keep my chicken's poop from attracting flies, but I know that their poop did attract flies when I used to just feed dry layer mash, so I think the fermentation is the kicker.   

I think the flies are attracted to the protein in the poop, and since the feed is fermented, the birds are using more and expelling less of the protein in the feed.

 

[LindaB220]

Ok so this is possibly a dumb question, but I'm new to this and a little confused with all the information out there. I have 4 silkies that are about 7-8 weeks old. I just started fermenting, and for this process to work for my family it must be easy.... Here's what I did (please let me know if I'm wrong);

I placed what I think should be a days worth of feed in a mason jar. Topped with a tablespoon of organic acv. And then covered in water. I'm confused at this point if I should cover it with a mason jar lid or let it breath. For now I've placed screen over the jar and used the metal ring to secure. It should be ready in two days? I'm keeping a rotation... Tomorrow I'll make another batch. I will reuse the juice and start a fresh batch each day. Does this sound right? Also, I'm leaving the dry food for now just to make sure they are getting enough.

Glad to have you here. Fermented feed is so good. You'll love it. Let it breath and stir daily for at least 3 days. No need to keep adding ACV. Leave a little in the jar at night. Add water and stir and THEN add feed. Ready overnight Easy Peasy.

Just noticed that everybody else has answered, so at least you know that you are not ignored.

 

[azygous]

I confess right off this is off topic, and I apologize. But since Bee knows everything about the inside of a chicken, I thought maybe she could help me.

I posted some weeks back that my hen Rachel had come down with sour crop, and she recovered after the Monistat treatment, only to get sick again. She never got better, and today I put her down. I don't even know enough to butcher a chicken, but I cut her open to see if I could see anything.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No bad smell in any of the organs. There seemed to be no evidence of internal laying, the string of nascent eggs being almost invisible. The liver was normal and non-fatty, and I didn't see any tumors.

Her crop and stomach were equally packed with sand and undigested material, bits of vegetable matter and a couple whole squash seeds. Like I said, no putrid odors. But my Rachel was losing weight, and was so skinny, her breast bone was sharp as a meat cleaver. She was so weak, she could barely lift one foot off the ground to place it in front of her.

So, even though her crop and stomach were full, she appeared to be starving. Yes, she was eating very tiny bits of FF, but she acted like she wasn't hungry most of the time.

Bee, please tell me what you make of this if you can.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I saw someone post photos of a necroscopy of a bird with similar symptoms. She stretched out the digestive tract and it was possible to see where it went from full to empty ... so that's where the blockage had been. It seemed "obvious" once it was pointed out ...

 

[Beekissed]

I confess right off this is off topic, and I apologize. But since Bee knows everything about the inside of a chicken, I thought maybe she could help me.

I posted some weeks back that my hen Rachel had come down with sour crop, and she recovered after the Monistat treatment, only to get sick again. She never got better, and today I put her down. I don't even know enough to butcher a chicken, but I cut her open to see if I could see anything.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No bad smell in any of the organs. There seemed to be no evidence of internal laying, the string of nascent eggs being almost invisible. The liver was normal and non-fatty, and I didn't see any tumors.

Her crop and stomach were equally packed with sand and undigested material, bits of vegetable matter and a couple whole squash seeds. Like I said, no putrid odors. But my Rachel was losing weight, and was so skinny, her breast bone was sharp as a meat cleaver. She was so weak, she could barely lift one foot off the ground to place it in front of her.

So, even though her crop and stomach were full, she appeared to be starving. Yes, she was eating very tiny bits of FF, but she acted like she wasn't hungry most of the time.

Bee, please tell me what you make of this if you can.

Apparently she wasn't laying anymore or you would have seen eggs in various states of production, so whatever it was had affected her reproduction. Did you open the small intestine? There is where you will see worm loads if she had any...it's pretty ucky to open that canal as it does smell bad and it has a thick mucus layer that is repulsive, but I'd have looked there. If she was full of worms they will not only consume her nutrition but they could also have caused a bowel impaction at that level if there were enough of them....it sounds like her food was not advancing well if she had recurring crop distention.

Did you check her kidneys? Renal failure will waste a person or a chicken away to nothing....were her urates dark orange or still white?

She could have had an unknown infection that was keeping her run down, though usually when they are that sick they no longer eat and your gal seemed to be eating, just not digesting.

How old was she?

 

[RoseMarie1]

Someone asked me was a alcohol smell to the ff mean it's gone bad? Mine doesn't smell like alcohol so I have no clue so was going to ask what does that mean? Mine gets a stronger smell but wouldn't say it smelled like alcohol. Anyway wondering if hers has gone bad?

 

[azygous]

Thank you for responding to my questions regarding my four-year old EE Rachel. Bee, no I didn't inspect the inside of the kidneys, because, tell you the truth, I was barely able to recognize the liver and stomach and crop. As for the intestines, no, I didn't open them, either. I have the remains packaged up for disposal, and I can't bear to drag them back out.

I doubt she had parasites because just a year ago I had some general flock stools lab tested for the common strains of bacteria, like salmonella, and they also tested for parasites. The flock was free of such things at that time.

She always laid huge eggs, and was egg-bound once, at which time I gave her a warm soak and she passed the egg, directly followed by a shelless egg. Since then, her eggs have been few and far between until after molt this season when she laid a few fart eggs, and quit laying all together. So, I have suspected she had reproductive problems. She did have the sour crop though, and it was obvious when I vomited her and a huge amount of sour liquid was evacuated.

Her stools since then have been watery and bright green. They were never yellow, and only briefly had white in them. Yesterday, she quit pooping all together. Today, she wasn't having any kind of quality, and I knew she was ready to have it end.

I sure wish I had you down the road, Bee, so you could have stood at my elbow, coaching me as to what was what inside my chicken and what to look for. And maybe teach me the difference between a liver and a kidney. I'm about as dumb and ignorant as they come when it comes to the inside of a chicken.

At least the other nineteen are healthy as they come, and are all thriving on their FF. Whatever ailed Rachel, it has not affected the rest.

 

[chickengirl1193]

I have 4, week and a half old chicks on ff. At what age should I start restricting them to what they can clean up in half an hour? They also have the.little balls of FF stuck around their toes. They are on shavings and have a dust bath but I dont know if its necessary to soak their feet to get the balls off

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you for responding to my questions regarding my four-year old EE Rachel. Bee, no I didn't inspect the inside of the kidneys, because, tell you the truth, I was barely able to recognize the liver and stomach and crop. As for the intestines, no, I didn't open them, either. I have the remains packaged up for disposal, and I can't bear to drag them back out.

...
She always laid huge eggs, and was egg-bound once, at which time I gave her a warm soak and she passed the egg, directly followed by a shelless egg. Since then, her eggs have been few and far between until after molt this season when she laid a few fart eggs, and quit laying all together. So, I have suspected she had reproductive problems. She did have the sour crop though, and it was obvious when I vomited her and a huge amount of sour liquid was evacuated.

Her stools since then have been watery and bright green. They were never yellow, and only briefly had white in them. Yesterday, she quit pooping all together. Today, she wasn't having any kind of quality, and I knew she was ready to have it end.

I sure wish I had you down the road, Bee, so you could have stood at my elbow, coaching me as to what was what inside my chicken and what to look for. And maybe teach me the difference between a liver and a kidney. I'm about as dumb and ignorant as they come when it comes to the inside of a chicken.
...

A couple of diagrams and pictures will help the next time you need to open a bird.

https://www.msu.edu/course/zol/483/jackson.html
The following slide show starts with identifying parts with great pictures at slide 7.
http://www.uga.edu/poultry/courses/ps202lr4/sld001.htm

http://explainagainplease.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-digestive-tract-of-chicken.html

A lot of things (diseases) can cause bright green diarrhea but most are rare.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you for responding to my questions regarding my four-year old EE Rachel. Bee, no I didn't inspect the inside of the kidneys, because, tell you the truth, I was barely able to recognize the liver and stomach and crop. As for the intestines, no, I didn't open them, either. I have the remains packaged up for disposal, and I can't bear to drag them back out.

I doubt she had parasites because just a year ago I had some general flock stools lab tested for the common strains of bacteria, like salmonella, and they also tested for parasites. The flock was free of such things at that time.

She always laid huge eggs, and was egg-bound once, at which time I gave her a warm soak and she passed the egg, directly followed by a shelless egg. Since then, her eggs have been few and far between until after molt this season when she laid a few fart eggs, and quit laying all together. So, I have suspected she had reproductive problems. She did have the sour crop though, and it was obvious when I vomited her and a huge amount of sour liquid was evacuated.

Her stools since then have been watery and bright green. They were never yellow, and only briefly had white in them. Yesterday, she quit pooping all together. Today, she wasn't having any kind of quality, and I knew she was ready to have it end.

I sure wish I had you down the road, Bee, so you could have stood at my elbow, coaching me as to what was what inside my chicken and what to look for. And maybe teach me the difference between a liver and a kidney. I'm about as dumb and ignorant as they come when it comes to the inside of a chicken.

At least the other nineteen are healthy as they come, and are all thriving on their FF. Whatever ailed Rachel, it has not affected the rest.

Wish I had been there too....I love a good looky loo into the internals, just to see if I can identify any abnormalities and put a finger on reasons for death. That's one of the most frustrating things about dealing with chickens, when they up and die and you don't know why.

I'll have to look up about the watery green feces......