FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[niqueie]

I think that if you switched to the chicken layer feed and let them free range it will be the best of both worlds for the chickens. They definitely need more than just corn, even if you ferment it. The corn will make great scratch and also can be added into the chicken layer feed ferment. I don't think it was the differing of the feed that messed them up, but the food meant for dogs. I have changed feed brands 3 times on my young flock and they haven't had any problems. Dog food isn't bad for now and then, but as a mainstay it doesn't have what chickens need. Dog food has a lot more protein than chickens need and their bodies can't handle the excess well. It doesn't have the calcium needed for egg production either. Just my 2 cents.

 

[TeaChick]

I think that if you switched to the chicken layer feed and let them free range it will be the best of both worlds for the chickens. They definitely need more than just corn, even if you ferment it. The corn will make great scratch and also can be added into the chicken layer feed ferment. I don't think it was the differing of the feed that messed them up, but the food meant for dogs. I have changed feed brands 3 times on my young flock and they haven't had any problems. Dog food isn't bad for now and then, but as a mainstay it doesn't have what chickens need. Dog food has a lot more protein than chickens need and their bodies can't handle the excess well. It doesn't have the calcium needed for egg production either. Just my 2 cents.

I appreciate your 2 cents. =)

Thank you for the info about the dog food.
Yeah, it was never meant to be their mainstay.

Thanks. =)

 

[Beekissed]

@ Beekissed:

Okay, I'll be honest, I couldn't read the entire thing (we are talking about 114 pages here). At any rate, I did have some questions, which my computer already posted for me.

But here's the thing:
I was feeding... well, dog food... to my original flock. Really, I was free ranging, and then I would throw in a PB jar (2#) of dog food in when I wasn't going to be able to let them out first thing in the morning or when I had to coop them for one reason or another. It wasn't supposed to BE their only food source, just something to tide them over until they could get at the grass and the bugs.
Anyway, long story short, I was having to coop them more and more, so they were eating dog food as their feed.

An issue I ran into was that the ones who were laying everyday (in a pile of blankets on the back porch and other not-in-the-laying-area-I-made-for-them places) stopped laying and I have some that I think never started. A chicken breeder friend of mine said I should increase their protein so they have enough protein to lay; she said soak deer corn in water for 2-3 days, the microbs eat some of the carbs, thereby increasing the percentage of protein in a relatively inexpensive food source. Does that make sense? She also said that reusing the fermenting liquid was alright once, but after that it would be building up sugars that would be bad for the chickens.

I now know that they stopped laying b/c I changed their entire lifestyle just as they came of age to lay, so I'm just making dry corn and fermented corn available to them and letting them free range.

I was thinking about buying them a bag of chicken feed after they're done with the deer corn, but now that I know that changing their diet can throw off their egg production, I'm not so sure. My reason for wanting to do it was that I don't think it's healthy for any omnivore to eat basically the same thing all the time. They're free ranging now, so I'm not worried about that anymore/for now; however, my DH is going to build them a pen, so their ability to regulate their own feed is going to change in a few weeks.

IDK. Help!

You've been feeding dog food? Let me give you some very sound advice....your chicken breeder friend doesn't know ding, diddly dang about chickens, so I wouldn't go there for anymore advice. It also appears she knows nothing about fermenting feeds either. Sorry..but that's just the bottom of the bottom lines.

As for the reading...how do you think we found out all this information in the first place? We didn't pick it like a flower along the road!

We ALL had to read, gather information from several sources, study, learn and implement different methods for our flocks. 114 pages is a mere dew drop compared to the amount of information I've read over the past 37 years to get some of the methods I am currently using. If you want to get there, you have to take the first steps....can't jump to the end of the line and expect to understand anything at all about chickens, feeding, etc. That's why I advised reading from the beginning.

Deer corn is crap nutrition, dog food is incorrect nutrition...too much sodium by far, and the eggs didn't stop because of low protein....obviously, as dog food has pretty high protein. This is the time of year when egg production slows down naturally and you can't stuff enough protein down a chicken's neck to get her to pop out an egg when her hormones say "no eggs today". A chicken cannot handle a steady diet of high protein feeds before she starts to have some health issues from it, so I'd not listen to your breeder friend if you want your chickens to live a long and healthy life.

Start with the basics...just get the chicken food.

We'll go from there and get you going with the fermentation of it, no worries! Try getting layer mash...it's the easiest to ferment and won't be as goopy.

 

[Audio51]

I was thinking about buying them a bag of chicken feed after they're done with the deer corn, but now that I know that changing their diet can throw off their egg production, I'm not so sure. My reason for wanting to do it was that I don't think it's healthy for any omnivore to eat basically the same thing all the time. They're free ranging now, so I'm not worried about that anymore/for now; however, my DH is going to build them a pen, so their ability to regulate their own feed is going to change in a few weeks.

IDK. Help!

With most animals it is generally best to gradually transition to a new food. I would suggest you buy that bag of layer feed now and start giving them 3/4 of what you gave them before for 4-5 days, then 1/2 and 1/2 for 4-5 days. Keep increasing the new food and decreasing the old until you have them fully transitioned over. If you have some of the old stuff left over you can always throw them a handful ever few days until it's gone. There is no need to transition with the FF becasue they were already getting the same food before, just not fermented.

 

[tcmstalcup]

I just had a few roos "donated" They are going in the pot! Bee, how long did you feed your roos before processing? These 3 appear to be healthy.I'd like to get some fermented feed in them and fatten them some.

 

[Beekissed]

I fed mine a couple of weeks but I would have liked to do it longer...but I needed the fencing I had around their pen for another project.

Even yet, just the couple of weeks I fed them the FF really cleaned up their feces, their bad smell and did clarify the meat smell and flavor, so it was well worth it. When a farmer wants to sweeten up the meat on a steer after it's been on pasture and before he is butchered, they will often grain them for a couple of weeks to get that gamey flavor out of the meat and sweeten it up, so I'd say 2 wks isn't a bad time frame.

Oh, if I had the space right now...there are 15 large breed roosters in our local ads today that are being offered for free. All at 7 mo. or older and of various breeds. Think of all that FREE meat! But...I don't really want them if I can't feed them the FF for a bit to turn their flavor to the good and I simply don't have the room right now.

 

[kpgoldstar]

I am using the chick starter too. The first batch I threw in some scratch grains, but forgot with subsequent batches. I made way too much the first couple of time so I am going to use it up before I start more. I have enough for about 3 more days. Is that too long to keep the previous batches?

Not in my opinion. You can keep the older batches for several days, just keep stirring it at every feed time. When I make a large batch it can go for a week. I just keep scooping out the feed and leave the water there for the next time I need to replenish the ferment. You can start more about a day before if you are going to use the same water. If you are starting again from scratch give it another 3 days until you get bubbles like last time. I think the chickstarter by itself ferments really fast.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Finally! Some pics of my super fast-moving hoodlums! Impossible to catch on a phone camera, so I had to resort to the big camera. One problem with getting all the same breed from the feed store is they are getting more difficult to tell apart and the fact that I will have all the same colored eggs. It's not so hard to tell them apart when they are all together but by themselves, YIKES! I was such a newbie when I got these, next time will be different. They turned 8 weeks yesterday... P.S. This was after or during the evening snack time they get on the lawn for about 30 min now before it gets dark. Crops are fairly full. Please chime in if anyone thinks they are WAY too fat!

 

[kpgoldstar]

OK whatever was the problem they won't let me upload any more pics tonight. I have 3 more, gonna try in a new message.

 

[fosterson]

Finally! Some pics of my super fast-moving hoodlums! Impossible to catch on a phone camera, so I had to resort to the big camera. One problem with getting all the same breed from the feed store is they are getting more difficult to tell apart and the fact that I will have all the same colored eggs.

I had this same problem with my RIRs so I got some of those plastic split rings from the feed store and put different colored bands on the. Et voila! Now I can tell them apart. Okay, /I/ can tell them apart at a glance now, but the SO cannot.

And to keep this OT, I just started with fermented feed. Normally I'd take a stance more like Bee about keeping only the hardiest chooks in my pen, but I just had a round of coccidosis and given that I have so few birds and they're in molt so I'm not out a lot of eggs, I medicated THIS time. I've actually come to rely on the darned things for company AND for eggs -- money's tight, and I don't have the facilities to raise chicks in the winter, even though I could get them incubated if I wanted em.

But three days into FF (same with the medication), their poops look more normal, none of them are fluffed up and lethargic, and Queenie, the head hen, is meeting me at the gate to demand MOAR FF! I will take these all as good signs!