FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

I don't need everyone to agree with me. I'm just saying that the assumption that chicks filling their crops twice a day eat more feed than those with feed available 16 hours is absolute nonsense.

That's your opinion. I happen to disagree with that assessment.

But I'm not going to run crying to another thread because you don't agree with me on it.

 

[LindaB220]

Bee, loved your pics of your babies. I think ours are about the same age 10-11 days old? I did notice that yours (CX) are much bigger and umm rounder than mine.

But on the whole I'm happy with my babies. The Delawares are definitely frailer and smaller than the other two Comets and White Rocks. I was surprised at the difference. I've lost 2 male Delawares and 1 female looks very puny. I have the AC in the store house now so they won't get so hot. All the Dels had pasty butt. I will admit that I'm so happy now. I just spent an hour playing on the seedsnow.com site and buying some more things to plant. A lot of different kinds of veggies you can't get for 99 cents.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, loved your pics of your babies. I think ours are about the same age 10-11 days old? I did notice that yours (CX) are much bigger and umm rounder than mine.

But on the whole I'm happy with my babies. The Delawares are definitely frailer and smaller than the other two Comets and White Rocks. I was surprised at the difference. I've lost 2 male Delawares and 1 female looks very puny. I have the AC in the store house now so they won't get so hot. All the Dels had pasty butt. I will admit that I'm so happy now. I just spent an hour playing on the seedsnow.com site and buying some more things to plant. A lot of different kinds of veggies you can't get for 99 cents.

These CX are from Mt. Healthy and are bigger chicks than those I got from out west, so it could depend on your source. They are growing very quickly and are ravenous!

Those Dels will catch up but will never be quite as big as the WRs..they are the king of birds.

I'll have to check out that seed site!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

This is the bird we culled because of crop issues. Her crop was as big as both of my fists! on top of that she was very skinny. Don't mind the horrible butchering job. This is the first time my husband and I have butchered by ourselves. We definitely made a mess of it.

Poor girl. That must have been very uncomfortable. I think you did the right thing.

Congratulations on getting through the first butchering job.

 

[Beekissed]

This is the bird we culled because of crop issues. Her crop was as big as both of my fists! on top of that she was very skinny. Don't mind the horrible butchering job. This is the first time my husband and I have butchered by ourselves. We definitely made a mess of it.

Wow!! Poor thing! What was in her gizzard? I'd have been interested to see if her gizzard was impacted and could not advance the food along. Was the proventriculus enlarged and engorged also? This is the second crop and is located between the crop you are showing and the gizzard. Here's a pic of one attached to the gizzard:

 

[pdirt]

I don't need everyone to agree with me. I'm just saying that the assumption that chicks filling their crops twice a day eat more feed than those with feed available 16 hours is absolute nonsense.

CC, I hope you don't leave this thread. I find your input and experience quite interesting and valuable. As I do find Bee's.

That said, I am not a very good scientist. But I do know that you ran a very good experiment. It's puzzling that it sounds like both you and Bee have done similar experiments and the results do not match up. Why? Why? The results of any single experiment would be considered notable yet inconclusive until the same experiment was ran again and again and again and again. With different breeds of chickens even perhaps. I admire the scientific process, but I find it boring and time consuming. That's just my subjective opinion of it which bears no weight on its usefulness. But the danger of such a process is drawing conclusions prematurely. In fact, some of the original "research" that showed the dangers of cholesterol and saturated fats is not only being discredited for very poor scientific method that was "bought" by powers that be BUT also is being proven as healthful and necessary components of human nutrition. Which is quite the opposite from what the popular thought has been for 30-40 years.

 

[Beekissed]

CC, I hope you don't leave this thread. I find your input and experience quite interesting and valuable. As I do find Bee's.

That said, I am not a very good scientist. But I do know that you ran a very good experiment. It's puzzling that it sounds like both you and Bee have done similar experiments and the results do not match up. Why? Why? The results of any single experiment would be considered notable yet inconclusive until the same experiment was ran again and again and again and again. With different breeds of chickens even perhaps. I admire the scientific process, but I find it boring and time consuming. That's just my subjective opinion of it which bears no weight on its usefulness. But the danger of such a process is drawing conclusions prematurely. In fact, some of the original "research" that showed the dangers of cholesterol and saturated fats is not only being discredited for very poor scientific method that was "bought" by powers that be BUT also is being proven as healthful and necessary components of human nutrition. Which is quite the opposite from what the popular thought has been for 30-40 years.

Nah....CCs experiment was done much more with a scientific process than mine. Mine is just gut instinct and observation. I don't know what breeds he used but it sounds like CX which automatically skews the process in favor of keeping feeds in front of them all the time to influence size and wt gains, which is something I'd never do for that very reason...I don't want my CX to gain weight too fast, though for most that is the desired effect.

I also never pen my animals, so my feeding is augmented by free range, even in the winter months, so I could never conduct an experiment such as he has done.

I think CC and I disagree on the theory, more than the process. I've seen birds fed in meals turn out just like their breed counterparts, same size and productivity, for years now compared to those who free feed....which is why I don't free feed. If I can get the same results without all that feed, why not do it?

I hope he doesn't leave either but I also hope he can take the fact that I don't often agree with his posts, just as he doesn't often agree with mine. That's not a reason to leave a thread, it's more of a reason to stay, so that those reading can get the opposite viewpoints and decide for themselves. Threads become very boring if everyone does the same things, says the same things and agrees on every little thing.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The purpose was to determine weight gain of chicks as well as total food consumption between the groups.
The breed was a dual purpose Mediterranean breed, the Black Penedesenca. (other pene varieties are egg type).
I do plan on doing the experiment continuously with each hatch with some modifications.
The next one will be to keep FF before them as I do with the dry fed chicks. I was truly disappointed with the results because I not only expected to see better weight gain but hoped for it. Now for my gut feeling, I believe the feed intake was less in the FF birds so the total nutrition available was less. I think if all groups have feed available 16 hours a day, the total feed intake (in dry form) will still be less with the FF birds because of less waste and better nutrition. We shall see.
I think adding in forage, which I normally do in season will skew the results since that isn't regulated like weighing the total intake.

 

[22qZoo]

Had a ?- I've been doing FF for about 9 months now and Im getting the gardening bug. Most of what I've been reading talks about the chicken poo being too hot, but I'm guessing that is info that isn't based on FF poo. Are any of you gardeners ,and is the FF poo less "hot" to use as fertilizer ?

 

[subhanalah]

Had a ?- I've been doing FF for about 9 months now and Im getting the gardening bug. Most of what I've been reading talks about the chicken poo being too hot, but I'm guessing that is info that isn't based on FF poo. Are any of you gardeners ,and is the FF poo less "hot" to use as fertilizer ?

I asked this same question and was instructed to read the thread, it's in there somewhere. *rolls eyes*