FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Another long range option not considered is to choose and develop stock that doesn't need supplemental nutrition to breed, have good fecundity and strong, healthy chicks. Many landrace breeds are known for these qualities.

That's what I did when choosing a sheep breed as I didn't like the idea of having to flush livestock merely to get offspring or to feed offspring, so I chose a naturally hardy breed of sheep that didn't require so much tweaking.....because if you can yield the same desired results in an easy care breed using easy care routines and a cheaper feeding method, why not do it?

I'm all about the big picture when dealing with livestock....I firmly believe they shouldn't consume so much time, money, thought or effort merely to produce healthy food and profit. Many are subscribing to this paradigm shift away from expensive agriculture solutions that require much time, money and care to produce an animal that is only strong when fed certain feeds and medicines to remain in good condition and to reproduce.

Salatin seems to be the most vocal but that movement is growing in America and other countries as well, as people grow more and more disillusioned with our current food production methods.

 

[jbher]

If you've got a hand saw and a screw driver or drill, some wood scraps and fencing scraps, you can build a nifty feeder that eliminates all that and keeps the chicks out of the feed.....simple and quick.

WOW love that idea too!!! And they don't fall in those squares???

 

[Beekissed]

WOW love that idea too!!! And they don't fall in those squares???

They are only 2x2 so they just walk on top of the squares and don't seem to get down into them. I mix my FF very dry and crumbly also and that's a great option for chicks as well...won't cling to little feet that way. This trough design also facilitates draining off of excess moisture as the joint at the bottom of the "V" shape trough allows seepage of moisture.

 

[jbher]

They are only 2x2 so they just walk on top of the squares and don't seem to get down into them. I mix my FF very dry and crumbly also and that's a great option for chicks as well...won't cling to little feet that way. This trough design also facilitates draining off of excess moisture as the joint at the bottom of the "V" shape trough allows seepage of moisture.

That sounds perfect!! So does that V come together or do you leave a tiny space for that drainage??

 

[Beekissed]

That sounds perfect!! So does that V come together or do you leave a tiny space for that drainage??

It comes together...you can't make it so tight that it doesn't allow some fluid to come through unless you were to apply a sealant of some kind.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Another long range option not considered is to choose and develop stock that doesn't need supplemental nutrition to breed, have good fecundity and strong, healthy chicks. Many landrace breeds are known for these qualities.

That's what I did when choosing a sheep breed as I didn't like the idea of having to flush livestock merely to get offspring or to feed offspring, so I chose a naturally hardy breed of sheep that didn't require so much tweaking.....because if you can yield the same desired results in an easy care breed using easy care routines and a cheaper feeding method, why not do it?

I'm all about the big picture when dealing with livestock....I firmly believe they shouldn't consume so much time, money, thought or effort merely to produce healthy food and profit. Many are subscribing to this paradigm shift away from expensive agriculture solutions that require much time, money and care to produce an animal that is only strong when fed certain feeds and medicines to remain in good condition and to reproduce.

Salatin seems to be the most vocal but that movement is growing in America and other countries as well, as people grow more and more disillusioned with our current food production methods.

Salatin doesn't breed his own chickens. Instead of creating a local bird that thrives on his farm, he tested a bunch of supplements to help the hatchery birds work for him. He uses Fertrell's Nutri-Balancer. He has only just started to explore the notion of breeding replacement layers ... you can't breed your own Cornish X.

 

[Beekissed]

Salatin doesn't breed his own chickens. Instead of creating a local bird that thrives on his farm, he tested a bunch of supplements to help the hatchery birds work for him. He uses Fertrell's Nutri-Balancer. He has only just started to explore the notion of breeding replacement layers ... you can't breed your own Cornish X.

No, but he does breed his own cattle. Chickens don't feature too big in his farming...but it doesn't mean we can't translate the same methods to our flocks when WE breed chickens.

 

[LindaB220]

Another long range option not considered is to choose and develop stock that doesn't need supplemental nutrition to breed, have good fecundity and strong, healthy chicks. Many landrace breeds are known for these qualities.

That's what I did when choosing a sheep breed as I didn't like the idea of having to flush livestock merely to get offspring or to feed offspring, so I chose a naturally hardy breed of sheep that didn't require so much tweaking.....because if you can yield the same desired results in an easy care breed using easy care routines and a cheaper feeding method, why not do it?

I'm all about the big picture when dealing with livestock....I firmly believe they shouldn't consume so much time, money, thought or effort merely to produce healthy food and profit. Many are subscribing to this paradigm shift away from expensive agriculture solutions that require much time, money and care to produce an animal that is only strong when fed certain feeds and medicines to remain in good condition and to reproduce.

Salatin seems to be the most vocal but that movement is growing in America and other countries as well, as people grow more and more disillusioned with our current food production methods.

I did buy Azomite to put in my garden and to sprinkle on feed. It has like 70 something minerals. 40 # will last a couple of years. It's supposed to make the veggies a lot bigger and healthier. Chickens. too.

 

[azygous]

Bee - I thought FF protected chickens from maladies like sour crop. How does a hen who's been fed FF come down with it? Will others in the flock be apt to come down with it, also?

I got ahold of some Monistat and I gave her a second dose this morning along with amoxycillin. She's showing some signs of feeling a bit better, but she still won't eat much. and I haven't seen her eat any FF, just bits of cabbage and some meal worms. Do I continue with the castor oil, or is the Monistat enough to do the job?

Is there anything else I ought to be doing?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

No, but he does breed his own cattle. Chickens don't feature too big in his farming...but it doesn't mean we can't translate the same methods to our flocks when WE breed chickens.

Mostly of the stuff I've read about Salatin addressing the "localized herd" idea it is when he writes about his son's rabbits. But I've only given Salatin so much of my time and $ and am probably missing a lot. I've mostly read about his chickens ...

I have only JUST begun trying to do this with chickens ... only set my first ever eggs for this purpose this past week ... starting at point A ... or A- ... or A----- ... or further back than that. I knew zippidydoodah about having chickens a couple springs ago ... and even the old-timers here on this farm are perplexed by the idea of a dual-purpose flock on pasture getting to act like chickens ... we don't even have real pasture. Yet.

I think there have been some huge shifts in the whole chicken thing, and it will take a while before we get all our collective "ducks in a row" again now that we've decided to bring chickens home to our back yards and barn yards so to speak. And in reality we'll probably be inventing something new rather than recapturing the past.

It used to be that barnyard chickens didn't always need a lot of feed because their job was to clean up everything everyone else around them wasted, and patrol for bugs and other small forms of life and keep things stirred up so they didn't get rank. Now ... most of our Back Yards and our Barn Yards are pretty well dead environments.

And our commercial poultry rations are formulated to keep a specialized factory bird alive for a matter of weeks (meaties) or months (layers) maximum. IMO, the feed needs some tweaking. Pastures? Fresher feeds? Animal products? More living soils?

And a lot of people can't have roosters or more than 3 birds, so are stuck buying chicks from hatcheries, and raising them by hand, and then they are pretty well pets instead of livestock, so we want them to stay healthy and productive for years instead of months. And of course back in the day people had roosters and hatched their own chicks and a broody bird was a blessing not a curse.

The living conditions need tweaking compared to previous ideas ... can't have chickens ruining the neighborhood, etc.

The birds themselves need tweaking because basically all hatchery birds are now leghorns in disguise bred to artificially produce as many healthy offspring at the factory as possible ... alternatively, many of those "heritage breeds" from "real breeders" have been ... lost ... by being turned into show birds.

It is going to be work, and it will very likely be highly individualized work. Particularly for those of us just starting out.

I'll have to re-find and re-post the article I once posted about a poultry operation working towards a localized bird ... it was interesting, though I didn't agree with everything about it, and it was for layers instead of dual-purpose birds. Salatin is starting something similar this year with his layers.

Every time I try to make this post shorter, it just gets longer.