FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[mandaleigh1981]

Bee, I posted this on the Texas site, but I thought you might appreciate it as well. This is a picture of my great grandmother Sarah Arminta Crawford Shearer with her flock of chickens, taken around 1910 in Uvalde County, Texas. See, I come from a long line of chicken farmers!

 

[LOVEIGEE]

Bee (love calling you this by the way), when the chickens are in the run all day until we get home, how do you judge the amount of FF to put in feeders? I have always tried to give them food all day long, cause they don't get out much, esp when the days shorten.......but I find I have a lot of waste.....they don't touch the old stuff......just leave it in there and make them eat it....I find the flies, which are terrible this year hatch in it..........

 

[LOVEIGEE]

Bee, I posted this on the Texas site, but I thought you might appreciate it as well. This is a picture of my great grandmother Sarah Arminta Crawford Shearer with her flock of chickens, taken around 1910 in Uvalde County, Texas. See, I come from a long line of chicken farmers!

Such a good picture.....I absolutely love it!

 

[Beekissed]

Wow, yours are so well mannered. Mine fight like a bunch of dogs over a bone

Same here...

They act like meaty chicks and I have to lay down the law. As soon as I do that they straighten right up but so embarrassing to see those ol' hens acting like their throat's been cut when I know they've been filling up on forage all day.

We are going to mapquest it out tonight to see which way to go.....I get so darned lost so easy....I have to make it simple.....I'm trying really hard! You are too funny with all the little animated thingies up top.....

Love you BF

Getting lost is the funnest part of a road trip! I do it all the time and I always know I was meant to be there at that particular time for a reason...could be if I had been on the right route, I would have been in an accident. Those little detours in life and on the road are often the most scenic.

Bee, I posted this on the Texas site, but I thought you might appreciate it as well. This is a picture of my great grandmother Sarah Arminta Crawford Shearer with her flock of chickens, taken around 1910 in Uvalde County, Texas. See, I come from a long line of chicken farmers!

I LOVE this pic! Look at the size of those hens, will ya?? Bet they are White Rocks! Smart woman....

Bee (love calling you this by the way), when the chickens are in the run all day until we get home, how do you judge the amount of FF to put in feeders? I have always tried to give them food all day long, cause they don't get out much, esp when the days shorten.......but I find I have a lot of waste.....they don't touch the old stuff......just leave it in there and make them eat it....I find the flies, which are terrible this year hatch in it..........

If you see food left over and turning grey, you've fed too much. Leave it until they clean it up completely. Chickens don't have to be eating constantly...somewhere along the way people got it into their minds that chickens needed continual feeds but they do not. If they have 2 full crops a day they are fine and good to go. They aren't doing much, so they don't need much.

Hey, if the flies hatch, they are adding some good protein in the feed! Folks everywhere trying to grow maggots and you won't even have to try.

 

[LOVEIGEE]

Quote: Thought that's what you would say.....thank you.....maybe my stupid questions will help someone else too.....

 

[Beekissed]

Thought that's what you would say.....thank you.....maybe my stupid questions will help someone else too.....

Not stupid!! Reasonable question to ask seeing as one never really knows just how much a chicken will eat at any given time, so I adjust quite a bit...sometimes by the day, sometimes it won't need adjusting for weeks at a time. Just watch your birds and see if they are getting too fat, then cut it back. The danger of feeding penned layers is putting on so much fat that it hinders efficient laying and shortens laying longevity by creating irregular ovulation and egg bound issues. Always keep them a little trim but not thin...I guess it's sort of like humans. Anything above fit and trim on the weight usually spells long term healthy issues.

 

[wlhtx]

Thought that's what you would say.....thank you.....maybe my stupid questions will help someone else too.....

I had this problem with my baby chicks when I first got them. While they were super little, I deliberately gave them enough to last for awhile during the day. I started noticing that one it got "old" looking, they didn't eat it as well. So I got a small stick and just stirred the "old" food and they went right back at it. I think they were just walking all through it and it got super packed down, which made it a little less appetizing I guess. If you stir it up a bit, or just dump the older leftover in the ground, I bet they eat it up like mine did!

 

[mandaleigh1981]

I had this problem with my baby chicks when I first got them. While they were super little, I deliberately gave them enough to last for awhile during the day. I started noticing that one it got "old" looking, they didn't eat it as well. So I got a small stick and just stirred the "old" food and they went right back at it. I think they were just walking all through it and it got super packed down, which made it a little less appetizing I guess. If you stir it up a bit, or just dump the older leftover in the ground, I bet they eat it up like mine did!

This is EXACTLY how my babies are acting. DH was worried that they didn't like it. I told him they are only 4 days old and haven't caught on totally to the eating thing. And they like to stand on the food, and pack it down. I also noticed that moistening it for the babies where it was a little runnier that they didn't pack it down as much. The heat lamp doesn't help on the drying out either! Glad mine aren't the only ones.

 

[Beekissed]

Same here..they pack it down or the heat lamp bakes the top...I just stir it a little and it seems to release the smell and improve the color and they start gobbling it like it was new feed.

Hungry hippos!

 

[mandaleigh1981]

Same here..they pack it down or the heat lamp bakes the top...I just stir it a little and it seems to release the smell and improve the color and they start gobbling it like it was new feed.

Hungry hippos!

No kidding! They sure eat a bunch for such little suckers.