FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[kpgoldstar]

Hi all. I started feeding my 5 LF and one Silkie FF about 2 weeks ago. I still give them kitchen scraps too. My concern is that they are such slow eaters and in the morning it freezes before they really get it all, about 1 1/2 cup. I feed them the same amt when I get home from work. They barely finish that. Not sure if they are getting enough nutrients. Any thoughts.

I have 4 LF at 14 weeks and I feed about 1 1/2 c in the morning as well. However, I only give them about 1/4 of that amount as a snack when I get home from work. They gobble it up in about 30 minutes and I see that their crops are nice and full. They also get to free range during this evening time but my environment provides mostly grass, weeds and leaves. Mine are not partial to kitchen scraps at all. I think you can cut down on the scraps and drastically reduce your evening feedings and you will see them eat more of their morning rations.

 

[Tikkijane]

That's great!  The lack of poop smell was the first pleasant surprise I had when I first started this with a batch of meaty chicks...it was such a blessing!  I hadn't read anything about that in all the studies but they did mention less DM(dry matter) in the poops.  Whatever that means.  Could mean less undigested grains.  But, it was a real bonus!  Never dreamed I'd ever walk into a coop in the dead of a humid summer day...a coop that hadn't been cleaned out for almost a year..and not smell a thing but fresh air.  It's like a miracle! 

We only got 3 in. of snow and some really cold temps...right now it's 11* out.  Supposed to get subzero by Mon...so buckle down for more cold temps your way.     If it just gets cold, it won't be so bad...but if the wind blows and it's that cold, that seems to suck the warmth out of coops, houses and creatures much quicker.  I've added more wind blocks to my coop and dry bedding on top of the deep litter in preparation for the colder temps. 

I don't know that we'll get that cold (I'm NE NC) but I'm putting the extra bedding down, too. I might not even pitch a fit if someone goes into the nesting boxes those nights..... quite a lot love the rafters, but the silkies can't get anywhere close. I added more to the nesting box the mean broody is in, and she didn't even growl at me.

 

[azygous]

My flock has reverted to poop the consistency of cooked cereal to pancake batter while still being on FF. What could be the cause?

 

[Beekissed]

My flock has reverted to poop the consistency of cooked cereal to pancake batter while still being on FF. What could be the cause?

Often times folks will see that if their mix is too soupy, causing the chickens to ingest more fluids than they normally would for this time of year. I keep my mix pretty dry by most standards and so I've never experienced the gloopy poopies that some people report about.

 

[azygous]

Thanks Bee. I kind of had a hunch that could be it. I'm still having trouble with the mash getting, even though I've been adding dry crumbles to it when I see water puddling and the mix becoming too soupy. I seem to be needing to add to it every day to try to keep it from going soupy. Is there a "recipe" with amounts I can follow?

 

[pegm]

What I do because I want to be able to stir it every day without a power tool, is mound the feed to one side, and the moisture pools in the lower portion. I take the feed from the mounded part as it is dryer, then I stir the rest and mound for the next day's feeding.

 

[JLaw]

Well I changed my set up some. I'm no longer keeping water on top seeing you don't have to. I don't have lids though so top tends to dry out some but just mixing it 2-3 times a day. I'm no longer doing the 50/50 scratch/feed I'm now doing 33/66 scratch/feed. I haven't been getting as many eggs and since changing that and some stuff around in coop my leghorn started laying again. I've also started using a heated dog bowl for the feed since I'm already using one for water and it hasn't froze even with temps in single digits. I did move both inside the coop today because the winds was knocking the water bowl 3/4 filled off the pallet I had it sitting on so it wouldn't freeze to the ground.

I'm still using my pain mixer for my FF though because its easy and fun. lol.

Thanks for the tips on stuff guys/gals.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I started the FF because my flock was looking so terrible with the molt and stuff. But at that time I also changed a whole lot of other things. I changed from two kinds of Purina feeds to one kind of Payback feed that is 19% protein. We also changed the scratch from Purina to Payback as the Payback has more variety. I started giving them a protein treat every day along with some of the FF. I mix two other supplements into the FF, just before serving so it isn't fermented, one is Nutri-balancer and one is a yeast supplement. It sounds like a lot, but it is just one small bucket of FF & supplement treats divided between more than 100 birds. They clean it up instantly. The bucket is the one the dried meal worm chicken treats come in ... The economy size. About a gallon?

My birds are looking SO much better now, and they are laying a bit better, too. But it is hard to say what of the changes is helping. Or was it just time they needed to get them over the molt?

Whatever ... we will be working on new feeders probably this weekend so we can use more FF each day. Then will be the trick of trying to balance the portions of FF just right so they clean it up every day and only eat the dry stuff in emergencies. I'll probably still use the yeast and nutritional supplements, but I'll stop the protein supplements. Unless I can get a good justification about how they need more than 19% protein ...

Then I need to figure out how to manage the fermenting in large enough quantities ... big batch or several smaller daily doses in individual buckets?

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks Bee. I kind of had a hunch that could be it. I'm still having trouble with the mash getting, even though I've been adding dry crumbles to it when I see water puddling and the mix becoming too soupy. I seem to be needing to add to it every day to try to keep it from going soupy. Is there a "recipe" with amounts I can follow?

I've found that my layer mash tends to be one bucket of feed to almost the same amount of water...almost but not quite. There really is no set recipe as everyone's feed has different absorption capabilities, so everyone sort of just plays with it until they get it right. This is one reason I don't advocate adding dry feed to a soupy mix...then you never really know how much you added to how much water in that way. I'd rather someone just drain off the excess water.... and then the next time they refresh their feed, add less total water than they did last time. Pretty soon, in that manner, you'll find out how much your chosen container will hold of feed and water and the correct ratio of each to get the desired mix.

If the mix is too dry, then you can add a little water to moisten it up..but just a little. And then next time, remember how much you had to add to make the mix better and then increase your total water by that much. Either way you do it, I think it's easier to keep track of how much water you use each time than it is the feed. Feed shifts and settles and it's hard sometimes to get an exact amount, but you can pretty much tell how much water you are adding each time and fill it to that point on the water bucket/container accurately each time you fill.

I use the same bucket for both ingredients and fill them up each time with the dry and the wet ingredient~separately, of course~ to the same place on the bucket...it gives me a pretty consistent mix each time.

 

[azygous]

Thanks, Bee. I will give that a try. I'll let you know how it works for me.