Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

I currently have 9 chickens, managed to give away one rooster for breeding. How many 5 gal buckets do I need to have enough ff going to keep my cks. in feed?  I have yet to buy the grain.  Need to get supplies first. One for barley, what are two others that are best for ff.  Then there are flats to sprout BOSS and barley in.  What else sprouts well??  Gotta do this right!  Teach me.  : )

I'm not Bee but I was feeding 10 chickens from one 5 gallon bucket and it worked fine. I don't really know how long but it lasted over a week.

 

[Beekissed]

I currently have 9 chickens, managed to give away one rooster for breeding. How many 5 gal buckets do I need to have enough ff going to keep my cks. in feed? I have yet to buy the grain. Need to get supplies first. One for barley, what are two others that are best for ff. Then there are flats to sprout BOSS and barley in. What else sprouts well?? Gotta do this right! Teach me. : )

Ditto what TW said... just one 5 gal. bucket is plenty big enough for a flock that size and I refill mine about once a week as well. You can use any grain for fermentation...most just ferment their current feed ration. Oats sprout well, as does corn.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Some production layer breeds will get a little shabby looking when they are laying well...it seems to be a bit of a trade off for consistent, daily lay. My granny always used to say that the scruffiest looking bird in the flock will be your best layer and I would have to agree with her on that, particularly with the RIR breed or sex link birds. My best layer in this current flock is a little New Hampshire hen that just can't be beat..but she's never really glossy like the other birds and her comb doesn't get that bright, cherry red.

Nutrition will be diverted to maintaining reproduction when they are laying well and not so much into plumage...and, conversely, when a bird is molting heavily and trying to recover from it, nutrients get diverted to feather regrowth and not towards production. In a true layer breed it will mostly go into reproduction most of the time, sometimes leaving them the ugly girl at the prom.

Many newbies rush to deworm their birds at the slightest hint of dull feathering or comb, but I won't be the one to ever recommend that to you...there are several reasons for individual birds to have dull feathering or a less than cherry red comb~only one of which could be anemia caused by a severe parasite infestation, at which time they would not likely be laying well. For birds with good nutrition, good care and a naturally clean living environment, anemia from internal parasites would be the very last thing I would think of when assessing appearances. If they were being raised in horrible conditions, it would be more inclined to believe they had an infestation above other causes and would act accordingly.

I don't think much of DE as a wormer or as anything I'd use in my chicken arsenal, though it seems all the rage right now for that very thing. I'd just give it a wait and see attitude and watch how they go along, but I wouldn't be getting nervous about internal parasites with them just yet.

Thank you Bee. I think we have figured it out to. I asked about this some where else as well and someone brought up something I had already said and I think this is it but not sure. Don't know if you remember me telling about using the layena feed and trying to ferment it or not but it turned to a mushy mess and would even stick to my scoop like it has molasses or honey in it. It was soupy like, really weird. So I had to go get my normal name brand feed and use it. I had only gotten this other brand to save a long trip to town. Anyway to not waste this food that wouldn't ferment I was feeding that to them dry and had cut back on my ff. fed them the dry in the a.m. and the wet in the evenings trying to use up this other food that wouldn't ferment right. So they wasn't getting nearly bout the amount of ff they used to get since I was trying not to over feed them. I THINK this might be the reason for the color change in my chicken, I have two of them that the color changed pretty quick. I have checked and rechecked them for critters and found none but under her vent her feathers are a matted mess. Maybe from upset tummy. ??? no critters around the vent but going to trim those feathers under her vent tomorrow. I should have KNOWN not to go messing with their food I did this VERY THING with our dog and gave him constipation like you would not believe! ARG BUT as you know I'm not feeling well these days so I wasn't thinking and I HATE wasting things as well. Since it wouldn't ferment I was like well I'll feed it to them dry just not thinking they wouldn't eat as much ff.

Oh AND she IS my best layer AND she is the one that lays those larger eggs because I have caught her coming out of the nest and checked her leg band just to see which one she was. Bless her heart she does look rough around the edges.


PLUS one of our older cats threw up roundworms a few weeks ago and we wormed her like the meds said to do. Or actually hubby and the daughter did since I can't be close to them due to allergies to them. Anyway they had to treat for them several times because that's what the directions said to do. So this is what I was wondering was going on with her since that cat had it and they hang out around the cat/cats.

They have been ONLY getting ff for 2 or so days now though. Was going to take some of her poop to the vet and let him test it just to see IF she had worms but wondering now about that since someone reminded me about the food issue I did. One day I am going to learn, if it aint broke don't fix it. BUT again I was trying to not waste that food! Was telling my daughter what has happened and she said THROW THAT MESS away! LOL I will just give it to somebody that feeds dry feed. lol that way it wont be wasted. ;-)

 

[RoseMarie1]

Absolutely... NOT!

nope and haven't for quite sometime!

 

[RoseMarie1]

RoseMarie, Do you have boys? My beautiful girls plumage on their backs is always slightly sticky feeling and dirty because the roosters are mounting them non stop and they don't get a chance to clean up I found a home for one, now for the other.
What's a soft shell egg? I've never seen one of those. I did have what seemed the insides of an egg in the nesting box the day before a small egg appeared for the first time.

Yes Beverly I have 2 boys. BUT her feathers aren't damaged like the others from the roos. Not sure why either because shes laying, ??? The shell around the white and yellow is soft, not hard.

 

[RoseMarie1]

That's a soft shell egg. Sometimes called a leather egg, fart egg, etc. They are difficult to lay due to being soft and the surface is often not very smooth, so one often sees them lying on the coop floor under the roosts...I always imagine it is because the bird just feels like she is having a bowel movement and just strains it out while sitting on the roost in the morning, instead of seeking out a nest for her egg.

OH ok that makes sense! thanx yet again Bee!

 

[Beekissed]

Why not just mix a little of it into each new bucket of feed until you've used it up? It can't mess things up too much if you just use a little bit of the stuff.

For the chooks, when in doubt about worming, you can always just throw a bit of natural deworming stuff into them and see what happens. I'm doubting that you have a worm problem in your setup and with how you've managed your flock and their environment thus far. But throw a dose of castor oil in those hens or even pumpkin seeds mixed with CO, like Bruce did, and see what happens. Or some fresh garlic in the FF.

Your best layer could have a messy butt simply due to being "open", which means her vent may be nice and loose because she's in lay and with the bigger size of her eggs, so she doesn't pinch off a loaf as well as she used to do. That's another thing my granny used to point out...that often the best layers had the messiest butts and I can tell when a few of my hens that lay the larger eggs are laying simply by looking at their fluffy feathers when they walk away from me. Middle sister went from having a snowy, spotless rear to a white butt with a black streak down the middle a few weeks back when she came back into lay. Little Red is the only hen I currently have that doesn't get a messy butt when she is open and laying and that's because she lays a small egg, so her butt is never very loose.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Why not just mix a little of it into each new bucket of feed until you've used it up? It can't mess things up too much if you just use a little bit of the stuff.

For the chooks, when in doubt about worming, you can always just throw a bit of natural deworming stuff into them and see what happens. I'm doubting that you have a worm problem in your setup and with how you've managed your flock and their environment thus far. But throw a dose of castor oil in those hens or even pumpkin seeds mixed with CO, like Bruce did, and see what happens. Or some fresh garlic in the FF.

Your best layer could have a messy butt simply due to being "open", which means her vent may be nice and loose because she's in lay and with the bigger size of her eggs, so she doesn't pinch off a loaf as well as she used to do. That's another thing my granny used to point out...that often the best layers had the messiest butts and I can tell when a few of my hens that lay the larger eggs are laying simply by looking at their fluffy feathers when they walk away from me. Middle sister went from having a snowy, spotless rear to a white butt with a black streak down the middle a few weeks back when she came back into lay. Little Red is the only hen I currently have that doesn't get a messy butt when she is open and laying and that's because she lays a small egg, so her butt is never very loose.

OH MY GOSH Bee I just love you to death! THAT explains it and did not even think of that! You are so wise! I actually took a pic of her poor booty but it's blurry because I had her in my lap inspecting her and taking close up pix of her poor dull color. DUH now WHY didn't I think about that!
This chicken is my favorite one in the whole bunch. She will walk up to me and I can pick her up with no problem. She's so gentle and docile.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Why not just mix a little of it into each new bucket of feed until you've used it up? It can't mess things up too much if you just use a little bit of the stuff.

For the chooks, when in doubt about worming, you can always just throw a bit of natural deworming stuff into them and see what happens. I'm doubting that you have a worm problem in your setup and with how you've managed your flock and their environment thus far. But throw a dose of castor oil in those hens or even pumpkin seeds mixed with CO, like Bruce did, and see what happens. Or some fresh garlic in the FF.

Your best layer could have a messy butt simply due to being "open", which means her vent may be nice and loose because she's in lay and with the bigger size of her eggs, so she doesn't pinch off a loaf as well as she used to do. That's another thing my granny used to point out...that often the best layers had the messiest butts and I can tell when a few of my hens that lay the larger eggs are laying simply by looking at their fluffy feathers when they walk away from me. Middle sister went from having a snowy, spotless rear to a white butt with a black streak down the middle a few weeks back when she came back into lay. Little Red is the only hen I currently have that doesn't get a messy butt when she is open and laying and that's because she lays a small egg, so her butt is never very loose.

Do you trim under their vents to help with this so it's not so matted? You really can't tell anything if she had bugs in that area or not because it's so matted.

 

[Beekissed]

I love you too, Rose.

As time and seasons go along you'll get to notice all this stuff for yourself in your flock if you are curious enough to pick up your birds and examine them closely for bodily changes as they go along. I was just getting ready to go up and check my four young pullet's vents tonight to see if they are laying yet but just dropping them in the woods. They just passed their 6 mo. mark and the rooster isn't showing them much interest, so I could be jumping the gun...but I also know he won't divide his interest between two flocks and I have two older girls laying, which means he will stick close and be breeding them more.

Those youngsters are always off in the woods and away from the other birds but I could have sworn one of them had the back of her neck a little ruffled the other day, so I'm wondering if he is covering her without me getting to see it happening. She's also been sleeping next to him on the roost and that's usually the place reserved for active layers. Since they still have some glowingly white butts, I'm doubting they are open but I'll check them anyway just so I can get a feel for how close they are getting.

This is Hope in a pic taken last month and she is my largest pullet of the four. She's also been breaking off from the other pullets a little and can be seen with the main flock more, so I'm thinking she is the one to watch for the onset of lay soon. I love her look, I love how she carries herself and even her face...she reminds me of a young Bertha and I predict she will be the matriarch of this flock in her prime.