FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[BY Chicken Lady]

We have so many people on the AZ thread who are turning to ducks. Some are even thinning out their chicken flocks for more ducks!

What new breeds do you have and what are you hatching out? I am lucky in that I keep chickens illegally so I can't expand my flock. I do have one chicken who has become so loud I may have to rehome so I am hoping to replace her with 2 of a different breed. I didn't do enough research when I started this journey and have 4 RIR's. I would love to have a variety of colors of birds and eggs as well.

My RIR's are my noisiest too! I thought it was just mine. Lol

 

[kpgoldstar]

I don't have any issues with messy chickens, lol. I pour my FF into a draining tray, most of the liquid is reserved, and they get only wet, not soupy, FF to eat. I don't want to be bathing all my hens! Lol.

I read both your blog links and your system seems to work great. Bathing hens is not fun, even if there are only 4. Hubby got drenched and girls were NOT happy!

 

[kpgoldstar]

OH..i got 2 of those acrylic thingies a month ago, all happy that it was deep enough that they wouldn't walk in their food. NOPE, they knocked those over too. So now i have to expend more energy to figure out how to stabilize them, LOL

That's why I have the acrylic holder in the coop. They can't tip that over. When they get their snack it is on the patio (cool deck we call it here) like concrete and most times the alpha knocks it over. They end up eating it all off the patio and if there is some they don't get, the dove will finish it off in the early morning.

 

[kpgoldstar]

My RIR's are my noisiest too! I thought it was just mine. Lol

My alpha hen is the only one who literally SCREAMS for no reason at all. The other 3 are very quiet and little sweeties.

 

[Meeka3]

Ditto.  People are passionate about their fermented feeds.   I know that I am.  I feel that mine is best but also different strokes.  Both methods work.  I just go for the easiest.     

On a different note, I just bought some really good chickens and also have some hatching.  So I'll need to think about increasing my buckets.  I work on 2 five gallon ones now.   I may do like Kassaudra does and ferment in a 33 gallon trash bin.    Get me a paddle for stirring.  Yup that's the ticket.  And now I'm hearing about white muscovy ducks like taste like beef.  The way the grocery bill is lately I may have to buy me some of them.  My family will have me committed. 

I can just picture you with you paddle ( even though I don't know what you look like ), I was stirring away in my bucket this morning with a garden stake and thought I must look like the witch stirring the cauldron. I had a little giggle to myself because I was born on Halloween and used to tell the kids to behave because I was a witch.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I read both your blog links and your system seems to work great. Bathing hens is not fun, even if there are only 4. Hubby got drenched and girls were NOT happy!

Lol, last year I hatched out 16 Silkies. As adults they wouldn't use the roost at night, they chose to sleep on the floor UNDER the roost, so I am quite familiar with chicken bathing! LOL. However, I must say Silkies love a bath...or at least mine did. They would sit still in the basin under warm running water while I lathered them up and rinsed them. They even looked rather euphoric while I blow dried them. My granddaughter (who was 6 at the time) would hold each bird in her lap while I trimmed all of their 'bangs' so they could see,

They were really sweet birds but such high maintenance for me.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

My alpha hen is the only one who literally SCREAMS for no reason at all. The other 3 are very quiet and little sweeties.

Mine scream if they don't get to use the 'special' nest box -when they want it. The 'special' one is any box that someone else is in, I have 7 boxes and 17 girls.

I wonder if you re-homed that one loud one, would another step up to take her place. I had one White Rock step up as queen Boss when I re-homed my rooster.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

I can just picture you with you paddle ( even though I don't know what you look like ), I was stirring away in my bucket this morning with a garden stake and thought I must look like the witch stirring the cauldron. I had a little giggle to myself because I was born on Halloween and used to tell the kids to behave because I was a witch.

LOL!

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

This is Freckles, I think she is beautiful.

She IS a big girl, but beautiful none the less!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Mine scream if they don't get to use the 'special' nest box -when they want it. The 'special' one is any box that someone else is in, I have 7 boxes and 17 girls.

I wonder if you re-homed that one loud one, would another step up to take her place. I had one White Rock step up as queen Boss when I re-homed my rooster.

I wonder that too. I'm pretty sure my #2 will step up to top hen, but she isn't loud. I would certainly hope that Snoop doesn't hand her trait down to the next in line if I get rid of her. I have 2 nest boxes and 4 hens. They only use one of them and a racquet does ensue if it is occupied and someone else wants in. There are a few times I've seen 2 of them in there together.

A friend of mine bathes her hens in a tub in the house and takes pics of them all cuddled up in their towels. They look so cute and content!