FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Should I use my airlock lids like I'm making a batch if sauerkraut. Its a big thread and I'm still sifting and learning.

Nope....just a regular lid with a hole drilled in it, or like I do, just leave the lid clicked down on one side and leave the other side gaped open a little to let out the gases.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Yes, it alters the flavor of the meat.....it seems to remove any of the taste of the barnyard from the smell and the taste of the meat. It clarifies the taste so that all you smell is meaty goodness and the flavor is the nutty, sweet flavor of meat and no after notes of corn/feed/manure. It makes for the most flavorful broth and also the silkiest and most flavorful rendered fat I've ever had in all my years of eating farm grown birds. I'd never go back to feeding the old way for various reasons, but the flavor of the eggs, meat, fat and broth is a huge incentive!

Yes, I'd eat a bird that's been put down due to injury....ALL animals are stressed before they die, as the body will go into a fight or flight reaction to blood loss and this sends adrenaline racing throughout the body, signaling it to MOVE(you'll see this in the flapping, kicking, convulsing of the body), sends the heart racing to fill blood volume to the blood vessels, increasing respiration to get more O2 to the tissues, etc.

The best way to avoid getting emotional about it is to view it much like putting up vegetables out of the garden. They all must be sliced up and processed in order to turn them into food for the body and so do the animals. If you can use a clinical eye while doing so, you will learn more about chickens than you ever will from books....examine all the body parts, compare them to other bird's parts, look at their position in the body, note color, texture, etc . If you can look on it as work and learning instead of the more emotional aspect of it, soon you can train yourself to approach it in that manner...it's just a dirty job that someone has to do in order for you to eat. Might as well be you.

I wish you well for your food production!!!

Bless you this day and all the days to come!

Thank you for your well thought out response and support.

A clinical eye will surely become part of the practice. When I volunteered at the rehab center for the California Living Museum (zoo for only Ca native animals that can't be released for various reasons), we had to feed out dead chicks and cut them up sometimes. Though it was initially gross, it became part of the job and before long wasn't even using gloves to prepare diets. I was worried about how I would react when the animals in our care didn't "make it". But it was a lot less emotional than loosing one of my own pets. Actually I felt like it stunk but it was part of the circle of life and I didn't have a problem with it haunting me. So this may end up the same way. I am not truly worried, just being prepared so I know I can continue life as it was meant to be for me and the animals. I believe all thing are connected. And I feel good about who I am and my place in this world along with my role in my family. I am not a save the Earth type person but definitely understand the concept of action and consequence.

I am trying my feed a bit dryer. My week old chicks seem completely uninterested in the FF. I have read dozens of times the chicks won't starve themselves. They spend a lot of time trying to find dry crumbles left over from day 1. They must be eating something because they are pooing plenty. If I pour water on top & keep it real wet, they drink that up....

The intended cycle for us is... I raise them, hubby butchers them, and teen daughter cooks them, we all eat. But we will see how reality goes. Expecting our home grown, pasture raised chicken supper close to Thanksgiving.

Make it a great day!

 

[Kiki]

What do you think is the most nutritious seeds/grains to ferment for laying hens?

My chicks are just 4 weeks old today and I am currently just using the grower crumbles.

I want to prepare for the future.

I was thinking that if I just use the layer pellets it should be ok, since I give good health treats.

 

[Molpet]

What do you think is the most nutritious seeds/grains to ferment for laying hens?

My chicks are just 4 weeks old today and I am currently just using the grower crumbles.

I want to prepare for the future.

I was thinking that if I just use the layer pellets it should be ok, since I give good health treats.

I just use the layer feed

 

[Intheswamp]

I just use the layer feed

I think Kikisgirls chickens are only 4 weeks old...they need to be on starter, fermented or not. 8 weeks old, kick them up to grower.

ETA: But you are correct about feeding a balanced feed. Especially during this important growth stage of their lives.

 

[Molpet]

I think Kikisgirls chickens are only 4 weeks old...they need to be on starter, fermented or not. 8 weeks old, kick them up to grower.

ETA: But you are correct about feeding a balanced feed. Especially during this important growth stage of their lives.

yes you are 100% correct...layer feed for the future when they are laying and starter now.. although some places it is sold as starter/grower

 

[Intheswamp]

Most layer feed has calcium in it which can be bad for young chicks so those places that are selling is as starter/grower feed are definitely not doing anybody any favors.

 

[Kiki]

Yes mine are babies...I have them on the starter/grower.
I'm just planning on the future when they turn into big girls and start laying!

 

[Kiki]

Im still on my first 50 lb bag......I need to find the label..I tore it off and took pics of it.
Once I find it I'll post here and you tell me if it's the right thing for them for now.

 

[Intheswamp]

If it's starter feed @ 20% to 24% protein and contains no calcium it should be fine. Do you remember which brand it was?

Ed