FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Probiotics are expensive. And I agree with BK ... they are redundant with FF. As is Apple Cider Vinegar in the water, IMO.

I agree! Unless one is putting in the water to cut the slime factor when it's hot out, it's not necessary when feeding the FF.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Wonderful Sunday morning. I was up at 8 to feed the girls, no eggs. Then we heard squawking from the coop around 9:30 again. I think my Leticia is the biggest noise maker. I peeked into the nesting boxes and there were 3. My little Lemon was headed up the ramp and a few seconds later I saw her sitting on the nest. I let her be for about 1/2 hour and went back out to gather my 4 eggs from my 4 hens. What a satisfying feeling that they are all laying daily and within the same time frame.

Breakfast was homebaked sourdough bread right out of the oven, homemade cottage fries, and my own organic, antibiotic and hormone free backyard eggs!

 

[Beekissed]

Wonderful Sunday morning. I was up at 8 to feed the girls, no eggs. Then we heard squawking from the coop around 9:30 again. I think my Leticia is the biggest noise maker. I peeked into the nesting boxes and there were 3. My little Lemon was headed up the ramp and a few seconds later I saw her sitting on the nest. I let her be for about 1/2 hour and went back out to gather my 4 eggs from my 4 hens. What a satisfying feeling that they are all laying daily and within the same time frame.

Breakfast was homebaked sourdough bread right out of the oven, homemade cottage fries, and my own organic, antibiotic and hormone free backyard eggs!

Sounds positively delish!!! Doesn't it feel good to have everything you are eating come from your land or your own hands? That always makes me feel good.

 

[Tikkijane]

Here is a photo of one of our new trough feeders we just set up today ... so we can feed more FF and I can get my glass cooking pans back! Each feeder is 4' long, cut from PVC pipe, and we left a little strip intact in the middle so we have a handle. I sanded everything smooth so nobody snags a comb or wattle on it and it is comfy to handle for us. We set them up in concrete blocks ... its a pretty good height for the birds, I think. If we have chicks we'll set one up a bit lower so they have a chance. It is a dreary wet day, so not the best day for photos. I'll do a better job getting pictures when we have a nicer day. You can see two tube feeders in this room of the coop. One has grit and the other has oyster shell. You can also see one of the automatic waterers we installed. Now we just need to figure out how much FF the birds are going to want to eat in a day ...

Looks great! A double holed block could have it on the bottom hole for chicks or bantams.

 

[Tikkijane]

The rain gutters don't last as long as PVC and are harder to clean out if you are inclined to do so, so it's a good choice if you are building for the long run.  They suit my style because I'm too cheap and my chickens use the feeder lightly, but I think if someone has a large flock the PVC is the way to go. 

Why won't they last? Mine are vinyl and are easy to clean- I just hose them out or wait for rain. What's your definition of a large flock?

 

[Beekissed]

Why won't they last? Mine are vinyl and are easy to clean- I just hose them out or wait for rain. What's your definition of a large flock?

Mine are metal and they went through 54 meat birds trying to perch on the edge, climbing inside, pushing out the sides, etc. and then they graduated to my LF layers who aren't as bad to use the feeder for a walk zone while they inhale feed but they are still a little hard on the flimsy nature of the metal.

I don't know how good the vinyl is at snapping back after 10 lb birds have been walking, standing, fighting and lunging against them but the metal ones are woefully inadequate for rough treatment.

To me, a large flock for a backyard is 40-50 and all the numbers above those. Medium flock is around 18-30 and small flocks are anything under 15 birds. But then, that's just my own little perception...others may feel differently. It's all relative. As is the type of breed being raised....CX and heavy breed DPs are harder on equipment than are lightweight layers and bantams/toy breeds.

 

[Tikkijane]

I live on a farm ... in a farm zone. I can have as many chickens as I want. But to be honest we have more than I originally wanted. I had a partner who was very keen to have as many chickens as possible, so kept pressing for more. We are reorganizing that a bit, but do have plenty of customers for our eggs. People in our area like farm fresh eggs. As do we. I'm a little nutty about pretty eggs ... I like lots of colors of eggs, so that means having a variety of breeds.

We also have some ducks, and have done some turkeys the past two years.

Me, too. Because we're new here, I don't have much of a customer base yet. I have one gal that does 10-15 dz every few weeks, but since I'm getting close to 2.5dz a day.....I am going to get business cards so I can hand them out as folks ask for info.

 

[Tikkijane]

I agree!  Unless one is putting in the water to cut the slime factor when it's hot out, it's not necessary when feeding the FF. 

Mine is for slime. Is garlic needed still or does the ff cancel that out, too?

 

[Tikkijane]

Mine are metal and they went through 54 meat birds trying to perch on the edge, climbing inside, pushing out the sides, etc. and then they graduated to my LF layers who aren't as bad to use the feeder for a walk zone while they inhale feed but they are still a little hard on the flimsy nature of the metal. 

I don't know how good the vinyl is at snapping back after 10 lb birds have been walking, standing, fighting and lunging against them but the metal ones are woefully inadequate for rough treatment.

To me, a large flock for a backyard is 40-50 and all the numbers above those.  Medium flock is around 18-30 and small flocks are anything under 15 birds.  But then, that's just my own little perception...others may feel differently.  It's all relative.  As is the type of breed being raised....CX and heavy breed DPs are harder on equipment than are lightweight layers and bantams/toy breeds. 

I guess that means I'm in the large flock category, lol. I have several sections where they can get on both sides and I haven't seen any perching (they are on the ground). The most I've had is stepping in it. I've got one CM that goes with me section to section, and I always leave a little bit in the bowl. So far, so good. (Knock on wood!)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Me, too. Because we're new here, I don't have much of a customer base yet. I have one gal that does 10-15 dz every few weeks, but since I'm getting close to 2.5dz a day.....I am going to get business cards so I can hand them out as folks ask for info.

I've been meaning to do business cards, and I even have a design idea based on our farm logo. But I need to find a graphic artist to make me the appropriate computer files, etc., and that's a project I've been procrastinating. Then I can print labels for the egg cartons, or have a stamp made, etc. I'm sure it will be useful. But that's kinda "fluff" as much of the time I could sell way more eggs than I have.

In the past, when I've needed more customers, I've advertises on Craig's List. Right now I have a little local buying group taking about half of my eggs, and a couple other "large drop" customers, and that leaves me with just enough to hand out to friends & family. My sister's family goes through a dozen eggs every few days, so she's always pleased to get some (IF someone will bring them to her). My father has a LOT of friends, and if we have egg-ses, he takes a couple dozen eggs every time he leaves the house and nearly always finds homes for them. You can do that this time of year cuz the eggs won't cook or freeze in the car.

Also, this time of year is a great time to find people who could use some free eggs. We handed out at least 15 dozen free eggs just this past week. It's hard to find a way to get farm fresh eggs if you're on food stamps, have limited mobility, or are cash-strapped.

The thing that happened at this time last year was I PANICKED and thought I needed to find a lot of new customers because the egg refrigerator was overflowing ... so I advertised and get a whole bunch of new "regular" customers ... then BAM ... the birds settle down for summer and I had to disappoint people. So this year I'm not panicing ... I'm finding creative ways to keep the eggs moving out to the regular people while there are egg-stras. And I'm eating more eggs myself. I have discovered custard, and this afternoon I'm making a big frittata.

I'm always having to adjust things just when I get comfortable. Right now some of my buying group customers are choosing to go with the "organic" eggs available from another of the groups sources ... they can be a little testy about how the "organic" source doesn't have as large a supply of eggs as I do ... so we've decided to consider switching to "organic" feeds ... which is a whole different topic. For one thing, I haven't yet found a source for organic poultry feeds that I trust.