FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LindaB220]

Thanks, I was hoping it's ok. It definitely started fermenting today, the smell's not bad, just a little strong.

When you get almost to the bottom of the container, refill with water first and stir then add grain or feed. It will ferment overnight. Good luck Stick around and visit a while.

 

[1000yearoldeggs]

Thanks, I gave them some today and once the wyandottes tried it, everyone went nuts! They ate a whole bowlful within ten minutes. Wow, fermenting overnight sounds great! I wish I started with a bigger container, I'll have to start another one soon!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

All animals need some iron, as with all metals, even those considered toxic.
For good growth and health, living things require varying amounts of "heavy" or "toxic" metals in the diet. iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc, etc.. To determine the amount that is harmful is probably beyond the scope of a forum discussion.
Excessive levels can be harmful. Other heavy metals such as mercury and lead are toxic and their accumulation, over time, can cause serious illness. Certain elements that are normally toxic are, for certain organisms or under certain conditions, beneficial. Since the topic is iron, I'll forgo discussion of vanadium, tungsten and cadmium.

As the saying goes, "all things in moderation". I avoid rusty water or rusty feed containers.

Yeah ... googling poultry iron toxicity is interesting but not super informative. It can happen various ways. I saw one study of broilers on treated bedding.

For humans, there can be concerns when, for example, cooking in cast iron & using metal utinsels in them for people who already have more than enough iron in their systems. A string of "ifs" there ...

I avoid metal here. Buying galvanized waterers was one of my early mistakes. We fixed that pretty fast.

 

[debp]

What was the problem with galvinized waterers? Are they a problem even if you just use plain water in them? Do they rust quickly?

 

[subhanalah]

What was the problem with galvinized waterers? Are they a problem even if you just use plain water in them?  Do they rust quickly?

the problem is galvanized zinc leaching in the water more so the man iron from rust, when concerning safety of galvanized waterers. I thought they were fine as long as you don't add ACV to the water.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

X2
People (myself included) have used galvanized waterers for a couple hundred years. I never had a problem until I tried ACV. It rusted in a couple days.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

What was the problem with galvinized waterers? Are they a problem even if you just use plain water in them?  Do they rust quickly?

Birds are pretty sensitive to the stuff they use to do the galvanizing to begin with. Here, specifically, we have very acidic water that eats through metal pipes very fast, so buying metal waterers to use here was just a super stupid decision. :/

I have to admit that I don't like most commercial feeders or waterers.

 

[n3kms]

Yes. There are photos in this thread. If you look at the photos in Gallery View you can find them just as fast as I could ... as well as photos of other people's solutions. Lots of good ideas.

I've also posted some photos of solutions I'm experimenting with to help really fresh chicks being raised by hens ... but those are a work in progress. Really fresh chicks can't jump up into (or out of!) the troughs for a few weeks, and the hens raising them are extremely bossy about what and where the chicks eat. The hens like to do some extreme scratching, then cluck and peck to teach the chicks how to forage. But the flinging that happens when they scratch buries low feeders in bedding. Hens with chicks do SO much scratching & flinging.

ETA: over on the right, up near the top, there is a headline that says "Recent Images In This Thread" and then there is a "View All" link to click ... that should give you hours of fun.

Never had noticed that "view all" button. It's nice for finding pics you want. Probably nicer for others than myself. I get to looking at everything and forget what I went there for. Do the same thing at home all the time.

 

[n3kms]

Super cool coop! I like the people door. Mine is like that too.

Thanks. We have never really built anything before and it was quite a challenge. Trying to get and keep things square is really really hard. New neighbors across the street put in a new front door. Asked them what they were going to do with the old one and they gave it to me. Can't beat free. The windows are from when we replaced the windows in our house. We put them on hinges and have hardware cloth on the inside now. Heat in Tennessee will be more of an issue than cold in winter so I wanted a lot of summer ventilation.

 

[gunnysmom611]

I'm sure this is answered somewhere in this thread but after getting halfway through I haven't seen it answered yet and I'm not sure i'll make it through all of them....lol

So my question is i'm getting day olds in the morning and I have some feed bubbling on the counter.... So can i offer them FF from the start or should i give the starter dry for the first few days?
Also I started the FF with ACV can I still put that in my metal trough feeder without fear of leaching?