FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LauriTX]

My three girls stand in it and fight over it, I just haven't gotten anything else right now and I never remember to look when I am out. I am planning to get some more birds, just waiting for spring now.

 

[Beekissed]

Get that hubby of yours to stop by Lowe's and get some rain guttering and slap you together a simple trough standing on 2x4s. It's quick, simple and cheap and you can make any size trough you want out of it.

BIG....



Or little....




You can even have him scrap one together with just wood scraps. This is a trough made from my Dad's old miter box and some 2x6s we had lying around. I scrapped it together for some cheap roosters I picked up from the personals to turn into meat.

 

[jockeyeba]

Get that hubby of yours to stop by Lowe's and get some rain guttering and slap you together a simple trough standing on 2x4s. It's quick, simple and cheap and you can make any size trough you want out of it. BIG.... Or little.... You can even have him scrap one together with just wood scraps. This is a trough made from my Dad's old miter box and some 2x6s we had lying around. I scrapped it together for some cheap roosters I picked up from the personals to turn into meat.

We use this pig trough that I put a 2x4 thru the middle Now we need to make some more of them

 

[Beekissed]

NIce! Troughs are easy to build, aren't they? Pretty simple construction and it don't have to look good, just be functional. Mine look like pure junk but I kind of like the looks of them...they look rustic and quaint to me.

 

[jockeyeba]

NIce!  Troughs are easy to build, aren't they?  Pretty simple construction and it don't have to look good, just be functional.  Mine look like pure junk but I kind of like the looks of them...they look rustic and quaint to me. 

That would be all of our stuff every coop we have is built from salvaged, free, dumpster diving............ materials

 

[Beekissed]

That's my favorite kind of stuff....free, repurposed, functional...and FREE.

 

[rawheid]

Thank you. We're currently sitting at a daytime high of 5C (41F). So inside is all I can do. I think I'll talk to DH about making me a trough and see if he's ok with it. During the winter the longest we'll be gone is overnight. I can feed them enough for 2 days at a time right? I could also have the dry feed too for overnight trips. Now to convince DH that this is worth it. I had a lot of dry feed in the feeder and with only 11 birds its taking awhile to empty out. Then I'll be able to see how much they eat in a day.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you. We're currently sitting at a daytime high of 5C (41F). So inside is all I can do. I think I'll talk to DH about making me a trough and see if he's ok with it. During the winter the longest we'll be gone is overnight. I can feed them enough for 2 days at a time right? I could also have the dry feed too for overnight trips. Now to convince DH that this is worth it. I had a lot of dry feed in the feeder and with only 11 birds its taking awhile to empty out. Then I'll be able to see how much they eat in a day.

Tell him that there are people on here who recorded feed consumption and costs comparisons of when they feed dry to when they feed FF and found that they feed almost half what they feed dry when using the FF. Almost half the cost of their normal feeding....half. That's a lot of money when you think about it adding up. So you pay half the cost you usually do for your eggs, your chickens live longer, healthier and more productive(yes, even more eggs than normally produced) lives, the eggs taste better~by far!, the coop stinks less and needs less cleaning.

If that ain't worth pouring some water on the feed and waiting a bit, I don't know what is!

If he doesn't want to make you a trough, just get his tools and head outside..and do it in front of him. Nothing will make a man move faster than a woman headed to the outdoors with his tools.

If it doesn't, build your own trough. There is no man around here building mine...I do all the building of things that need doing here and you can too. It takes absolutely no skill to work a drill and a sawsall. I can attest to that!

And, yes, you can dish out several day's worth of feed and leave it for them...it will actually be safer than when you used dry, as the mice don't seem as attracted to the coop now that dry feeds aren't being scattered all over the floor and crevices and I've not seen them be able to get a speck of this FF as the chickens eat it so quickly and thoroughly.

 

[mischke]

Is there any way to speed the fermenting of pumpkin? My girls love fermented pumpkin but not regular ripe pumpkin. Could I throw the innards of pumpkin into my ferment bucket? I really don't want to just throw it in the compost. Also how long would it take in a bucket and how should I start it? ACV? Thanks

 

[Beekissed]

Is there any way to speed the fermenting of pumpkin? My girls love fermented pumpkin but not regular ripe pumpkin. Could I throw the innards of pumpkin into my ferment bucket? I really don't want to just throw it in the compost. Also how long would it take in a bucket and how should I start it? ACV? Thanks

Freeze it, then let it thaw outside or somewhere warm enough that it can thaw and start to change. Mine normally don't start to ferment until they've been frozen and the sugars start to convert. Be aware, after they have been frozen they will "bleed" quite a bit...syrupy liquid and lot's of it. They will also kind of deflate and the skin will be thinner.