FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Searsmom]

My chickens won't eat pumpkin! Cooked or otherwise. I even baked one of the leftover halloween pumpkins, ground the seeds and added yogurt to the ground seeds, put it in the pumpkin as a dish and they wouldn't touch it. They love yogurt! If they had the right shaped tongues they would lick the bowl when it's just yogurt.

Could it be because I'm using a hybrid halloween pumpkin instead of "real" pumpkins? I bought a "real" cooking pumpkin at the Amish store - it smelled like heaven - if I didn't know how it would taste raw, I'd have eaten it right there. Smelled like the most ripe cantaloupe you've ever eaten. Back in the day when you could get ripe cantaloupe at the store.

Can you put beer in the feed? Does that qualify as a fermenter? Sometimes my husband makes beer and the process is similar to fermented feed

.

Wondered if you could do a quick fix substitute. As I type this I realize "quick fix" doesn't fit with what I want the end result to be, but if it's already fermented??

 

[perchie.girl]

My chickens won't eat pumpkin! Cooked or otherwise. I even baked one of the leftover halloween pumpkins, ground the seeds and added yogurt to the ground seeds, put it in the pumpkin as a dish and they wouldn't touch it. They love yogurt! If they had the right shaped tongues they would lick the bowl when it's just yogurt.

Could it be because I'm using a hybrid halloween pumpkin instead of "real" pumpkins? I bought a "real" cooking pumpkin at the Amish store - it smelled like heaven - if I didn't know how it would taste raw, I'd have eaten it right there. Smelled like the most ripe cantaloupe you've ever eaten. Back in the day when you could get ripe cantaloupe at the store.

Can you put beer in the feed? Does that qualify as a fermenter? Sometimes my husband makes beer and the process is similar to fermented feed

.

Wondered if you could do a quick fix substitute. As I type this I realize "quick fix" doesn't fit with what I want the end result to be, but if it's already fermented??

I heard that if you let it rot a little they go nutso for it.... Hmmm.... sort of like letting it....... Drum roll...... Ferment.

You can use the spent beer grains straight up because they are fermented.....

What are you trying to quick fix?

Back to lurk dome

deb

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...my chickens don't like raw, fresh pumpkins either. They love them rotten to the core and growing green fuzzy mold on the outside shell. Go figure. My sheep were the same way.

 

[Searsmom]

I heard that if you let it rot a little they go nutso for it.... Hmmm.... sort of like letting it....... Drum roll...... Ferment.

You can use the spent beer grains straight up because they are fermented.....

What are you trying to quick fix?

Back to lurk dome

deb

Quick fix to finding a place to put a bucket of feed in water to ferment for a few days. DH doesn't really make beer often enough for me to use spent grains. The principle seemed the same. I don't really have a place to ferment my own. The laundry room is upstairs. The beer making table has his tools on it.

Not a necessity to ferment feed, just thought I'd try it. Right now they get homemade yogurt whenever there's extra and raw milk that has started to sour.

Yep...my chickens don't like raw, fresh pumpkins either. They love them rotten to the core and growing green fuzzy mold on the outside shell. Go figure. My sheep were the same way.

Whole? I left the pumpkin out there when I baked it- they didn't touch it. I'd say the skunks got it. I don't keep yummy food for them inside the hen house. So mold on food doesn't matter so much or is it just certain foods? I've heard moldy bread/moldy feed is bad so they don't get it. Is it only items that have their own moisture already?

I'll try just leaving some whole pumpkin out in their pen next time.

 

[Tikkijane]

Because you are not sure you are killing all the worms.  Some survive.  They now know this in the agriculture sciences and it's why the vet declined to treat.  The worms that survive will breed other worms that can survive your worm treatment....so then you have to switch wormers.  Then there will be lone survivors of that treatment.  Now you have a worm gene pool that can survive two distinct wormers and is getting stronger genetics with each treatment.  Soon you have a worm that no chemical will kill and then what will you do for worms? 

If you think this is farfetched theory, you need to do some reading up on worm management for livestock.  Now, in light of that, do you want a stronger worm or do you want a stronger chicken?  Keep worming each time you see a worm and you will find you will just keep getting more and stronger worm loads that your flock can't possibly survive.

I know it seems like just treating for worms each time you see worms is the solution but many agricultural scientists are now advising against this method and it's because they had to keep developing stronger and more harsh chemicals to kill the super worms.  Just like they do now with the super germs we have in the medical field...all because there are doctors and patients who want an antibiotic to take at the first sign of a sniffle.  And farmers who would rather give broad spectrum antibiotics to their animals instead of using more natural and effective management practices.  

If I saw worms in my poop I'd not treat with chemical wormers by any means...but do you imagine you don't have worms in your body simply because you do not see them in your poop?  You do.  Every creature plays host to intestinal parasites, be they few or many.    

This applies to equines, too. Used to be they wanted rotational; some do every month; now they say only Ivermectin works; some only worm in the fall. I have no idea if it's regional or not.

 

[Beekissed]

Whole? I left the pumpkin out there when I baked it- they didn't touch it. I'd say the skunks got it. I don't keep yummy food for them inside the hen house. So mold on food doesn't matter so much or is it just certain foods? I've heard moldy bread/moldy feed is bad so they don't get it. Is it only items that have their own moisture already?

I'll try just leaving some whole pumpkin out in their pen next time.

Yep...whole! I let mine freeze and thaw over and over each winter and then bring them out long about now, when they are most wanted and needed and let them eat the fermented pumpkins. They lose a lot of water in that process and are more like a deflated balloon filled with sponge material. The skins are paper thin and you can hear them ripping the pieces of skin off like paper.

Don't worry so much about mold...the only thing you need to worry about is a bag of feed that has drawn dampness and grown mold spores throughout the feed. That's a bad one. Moldy table foods and such that get thrown out with the garbage? Just try keeping my chickens off that stuff! If the dog doesn't get it first.

I've learned on this forum that the new generation of chicken keepers live very much in a constant state of fear about things that aren't to be feared (mold, illnesses, everything to do with poop, etc.) and not fearful enough about things that are (medicines, overfeeding, overstocking, etc.).

Just let go and do what comes natural and you'll be fine....chickens eat rotten garden leftovers and have since time began and have thrived on it.

 

[Searsmom]

I have to say, they pick through the compost whenever they get out and they usually show good sense about what they eat and what they leave.

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: parasites. I don't want to beat a dead horse, and please, everybody, let's just agree to disagree on this one. I once read a study where they took 2 groups of people who were having issues with painful arthritis. The control group got nothing. The test group got a parasitic worm. Evidently, the worm gave the immune system something else to fight, and the arthritis symptoms decreased in the test group. At the end of the study, the worms were eliminated. A number of folks in that test group asked if they could please have their worms back. So, the bottom line is... is any condition symptomatic? If so, is the treatment better or worse than the condition. And what treatment options are available? Most conditions have a number of treatment approaches that will provide varying results, including "tincture of placebo", merely treating the symptoms, or effecting a partial or complete cure. Medicine is not a one size fits all. IMO, "tincture of placebo", or "tincture of time" works amazingly well for a lot of conditions.

 

[Searsmom]

It does, and in the meantime eat healthy!

 

[luvblues7]

We love hijacks here.

When have you ever had a conversation that stayed on topic...forever? How very boring! There is only so much you can say about putting feed and water in a bucket and letting it ferment, so we talk about a little of everything on these threads. That's what makes life so very pleasant~variety!

And we love pics! If you have before and after pics it almost sends us into a frenzy...we love those! Or chick pics. Or pretty chicken pics. Or even pics of your coop. We aren't picky about the pics...it makes for a better thread.

And you are among friends!

A big ol' fat family of chicken nuts and friends gathering to exchange ideas and learn, that's what we are!

Sorry I got behind on the post here, had some health issues. Thanks for the encouragement but oh Bee, you have opened a BIG can of worms now. I love my chickens and I love to take pictures so just remember you asked for this.

My baby Speckled Sussexs and Partridge Rocks came today. The colder weather wasn't so kind....one dead upon arrival.....one died a few hours later..... and two more iffy ones. I quickly took a group picture before leaving for work I'll post it. I am so anxious to start them out on FF and note the difference in their growth and compare it to the other chicks I have raise in the past.



These are two new breeds for me. I have Wyandottes and Mille Fleur Bantam Cochins, so this is a whole new adventure for me.

One more thought and then I will hush....... My husband and I had sat down to breakfast a couple mornings ago and he looked at his eggs and said "something is different about these eggs" the yolks were firmer and larger and he said they had a better taste. It has to be the FF because that is the only thing I'm doing different. So one more time, Thank you for sharing.....