FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[lazy gardener]

Bee: That dressed chicken was worth several thousand words from you about the harmful effects of overfeeding. and I'm probably as guilty as they come when it comes to overfeeding!

 

[Searsmom]

It was pretty nasty looking. Though you can use the fat in cooking and it's probably healthier than most cooking fats you find in the store. I'd have to wear gloves.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I dont have even a years worth of experience with chickens but I had thought they had good night vision but then one morning I checked their feed and opened the door before I left for school and it was still dark enough that I needed a flashlight and I remember that one chicken got scared and jumped off the roost then ran into a wall to get away from me, instead of out the door. Thats how I knew that chickens dont see well in the dark...
I also have another question, my girls desperately need some free ranging time because they keep rushing the gate but how can they possibly free range? We are still under 2 ft of snow and I dont want them just wondering on the driveway and road.... what does everyone else here do during the winter? (I have deep litter and sprouted grains and various boredom busters)

I spread straw over the snow to give them a path. A lot depends on how much snow and if it's hard pack or powder. If there isn't a lot of snow I may make a path to some brush so they can go under and play. I only have a couple birds that ignore the snow, most of the rest will try to fly over it or just won't come out.
I also save feed bags before winter and fill them with leaves in the fall. I use the bags for insulation along the walls of the brooder house and then this time of year I spread the leaves over the snow in each of the pens. That uses up the leaves giving them something to do till greenery starts sprouting and I don't have to buy any more straw.

The whole 'seeing in the dark' discussion began when someone said they provided food and water 24/7. I said that wasn't necessary since they wouldn't come off the roost at night anyway. Some implied that their birds wander around at night. I've never seen their birds so I don't know.
Consider what we do know though. Ovulation and resultant egg laying occurs every 25 or more hours. That means laying will happen at least an hour or more later every day for 24 hours. But we know that doesn't happen. When the eggs should come after dark, they take a day off and the next 6 to 10 days the eggs that would be laid during the night are held till dawn. That's why so many people think their chickens always lay in the morning.
Why don't they come off the roost to lay the egg that's due? Because they can't see at night.

If anyone that have no lights in or around their coop and their hens lay during the night, please let me know.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Look what appeared in the nest box today! Our first day with all 4 girls laying was Saturday. We had 2 normal small eggs on Sunday, then this! I wonder if it is a double yolker? Quite the shiver to get the rest of it out at the end!

It looks like it might have a double yolk as it looks like it has a little hint of a "waist" along the length. Double yolked eggs often have a waist.

 

[chickengirl1193]

I spread straw over the snow to give them a path. A lot depends on how much snow and if it's hard pack or powder. If there isn't a lot of snow I may make a path to some brush so they can go under and play. I only have a couple birds that ignore the snow, most of the rest will try to fly over it or just won't come out.
I also save feed bags before winter and fill them with leaves in the fall. I use the bags for insulation along the walls of the brooder house and then this time of year I spread the leaves over the snow in each of the pens. That uses up the leaves giving them something to do till greenery starts sprouting and I don't have to buy any more straw.

The whole 'seeing in the dark' discussion began when someone said they provided food and water 24/7. I said that wasn't necessary since they wouldn't come off the roost at night anyway. Some implied that their birds wander around at night. I've never seen their birds so I don't know. 
Consider what we do know though. Ovulation and resultant egg laying occurs every 25 or more hours. That means laying will happen at least an hour or more later every day for 24 hours. But we know that doesn't happen. When the eggs should come after dark, they take a day off and the next 6 to 10 days the eggs that would be laid during the night are held till dawn. That's why so many people think their chickens always lay in the morning.
Why don't they come off the roost to lay the egg that's due? Because they can't see at night.

If anyone that have no lights in or around their coop and their hens lay during the night, please let me know.

Ive been makings them straw covered paths. Next year ill save leaves! Thanks for the idea!
We should set up trail cams.in our coops at night to see what our chickens do and at what time they come off the roost. And I bet everyones chickens are different at night because of different climates and landscapes. Also do they actually sleep the hole time its dark or just hang on the roost and cat nap, because when ive peeked in after dark they are making noises and preening (I hear them before I even look in) I'll have to set up a camera

 

[Beekissed]

I spread straw over the snow to give them a path. A lot depends on how much snow and if it's hard pack or powder. If there isn't a lot of snow I may make a path to some brush so they can go under and play. I only have a couple birds that ignore the snow, most of the rest will try to fly over it or just won't come out.
I also save feed bags before winter and fill them with leaves in the fall. I use the bags for insulation along the walls of the brooder house and then this time of year I spread the leaves over the snow in each of the pens. That uses up the leaves giving them something to do till greenery starts sprouting and I don't have to buy any more straw.

The whole 'seeing in the dark' discussion began when someone said they provided food and water 24/7. I said that wasn't necessary since they wouldn't come off the roost at night anyway. Some implied that their birds wander around at night. I've never seen their birds so I don't know.
Consider what we do know though. Ovulation and resultant egg laying occurs every 25 or more hours. That means laying will happen at least an hour or more later every day for 24 hours. But we know that doesn't happen. When the eggs should come after dark, they take a day off and the next 6 to 10 days the eggs that would be laid during the night are held till dawn. That's why so many people think their chickens always lay in the morning.
Why don't they come off the roost to lay the egg that's due? Because they can't see at night.

If anyone that have no lights in or around their coop and their hens lay during the night, please let me know.

Wandering around at night and wondering around in the dim but still dark of the early morning are two different things. Also the dim light of star and moon. No one said their birds wandered around at night as if to say they were conducting business as usual....please don't "imply" words that were not said. When I have to use a flashlight to see well enough to not stumble on a path to the coop in the early morning, it doesn't imply it's pitch black...just too dark for me to see clearly. Apparently my chickens don't have this issue and don't need a flashlight to get around as they easily evade me when I turn of the light to see if I can get them to stand still and be blinded by the night and thus be easier to catch.

Now I go up the night before when it's much more dark than the early hours of the morning so I can get them before they dismount from the roost or head to the laying boxes.

This past year I've went up several times at night to evict some birds from sleeping in the nest boxes, with flashlight in hand, I push them roughly out of the nest to the coop floor for good measure and to discourage the behavior. Before I can even get around to the front of the coop and with my tiny flashlight and in only that dim light, not being shined into the coop itself, they have managed to get right back up into the nest boxes. I'd evict them again and turn off my light and see if they could get back up in there. Nothing. I came back up later to see if they went back to the nest and they were up on the roosts....if they are that blind, how did they mount to a 4 ft. roost in the dark?

I've found that even a dim light from a window in the house 100 yds away can wake up the rooster and cause them to dismount from the roosts...it doesn't take much light, even starlight for them to be able to see. The dim light of early morning seems to be just such a light.

I'd say it depends on the bird and on the nature of the light, but it's really nothing to argue about~every bird and every flock are different. I don't leave food out at night either but the water is always there.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I put out 3 of the new feeders today.

Now I can start fermenting more feed.

 

[Searsmom]

Wandering around at night and wondering around in the dim but still dark of the early morning are two different things. Also the dim light of star and moon. No one said their birds wandered around at night as if to say they were conducting business as usual....please don't "imply" words that were not said. When I have to use a flashlight to see well enough to not stumble on a path to the coop in the early morning, it doesn't imply it's pitch black...just too dark for me to see clearly. Apparently my chickens don't have this issue and don't need a flashlight to get around as they easily evade me when I turn of the light to see if I can get them to stand still and be blinded by the night and thus be easier to catch.

Now I go up the night before when it's much more dark than the early hours of the morning so I can get them before they dismount from the roost or head to the laying boxes.

This past year I've went up several times at night to evict some birds from sleeping in the nest boxes, with flashlight in hand, I push them roughly out of the nest to the coop floor for good measure and to discourage the behavior. Before I can even get around to the front of the coop and with my tiny flashlight and in only that dim light, not being shined into the coop itself, they have managed to get right back up into the nest boxes. I'd evict them again and turn off my light and see if they could get back up in there. Nothing. I came back up later to see if they went back to the nest and they were up on the roosts....if they are that blind, how did they mount to a 4 ft. roost in the dark?

I've found that even a dim light from a window in the house 100 yds away can wake up the rooster and cause them to dismount from the roosts...it doesn't take much light, even starlight for them to be able to see. The dim light of early morning seems to be just such a light.

I'd say it depends on the bird and on the nature of the light, but it's really nothing to argue about~every bird and every flock are different. I don't leave food out at night either but the water is always there.

Mine have good hearing. I can never catch them asleep because they hear the house door and my footsteps.

 

[Beekissed]

Mine have good hearing. I can never catch them asleep because they hear the house door and my footsteps.

Mine can hear the commode flush in the mornings on my end of the house...and they start down the hill. That's from 100 yds away and they completely ignore when my mother's commode flushes in the opposite end of the house. They have learned that when I'm up, feed is coming.

 

[scopechick]

Mine had the same problem. some I soaked off others I picked off. Once I made a chick foot bleed when I was picking them off. I sprayed it with and an antiseptic spray and it was fine. The only solution I came up with was using a feeder they could only stick their heads in. I used a shallow dish with a lid and cut holes all around it they they could only fit their heads in. It worked ok but they could not get all the food out. It did prevent the balls on the toes.

So it looks like they are sorting this out themselves. A couple days agomthere was fresh blood spots on the paper towel...a couple chicks had blood on the toes. I am betting they pecked them off themselves. Today only one is left woth the cement balls-- all the others are clean. Moved them to the bigger brooder with wood chips instead of papertowel and all seems well. Thank you all for the support. Oh and they are NUTS about the ff!