Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

Exactly riiiiiiiiight.<insert Sam Elliott voice here>

BUD is of indeterminate age but he is not crowing or showing any interest in the gals and Toby hasn't kicked his featherless bum yet so I'm thinking around 3 mo. old...but he's huge for that age. Yes, he still has a hitch in his giddy up and is easily overbalanced but is a nasty bird in the flock social structure, so his troubles will soon be over. He's a bully at feeding time to the young pullets....NOT a smart move on his part but then..he is called Big, Ugly, and Dumb for a reason.

On a positive note, his breasts and thighs are filling out nicely and he is scheduled to be harvested in the next cull to happen here soon.

 

[armorfirelady]

Happy Halloween from Lucy, Stella & Sophie. Tots first pumpkin and they loved it.

A friend who buys eggs from me just gave me 4'giant pumpkins I threw in the compost pile. She just wanted the seeds. Girls will be in their glory when they wake up tomorrow and find them

 

[AletaG]

Yep..and it doesn't have to be a big crack in that lid...you can tape a penny on the edge of the lid of the cooler so that it can't close all the way and it would be sufficient for air exchange. You'll want your feed to be able to draw yeasts from the air to inoculate your feed so you can grow some good LABs.

I keep my bucket in a cooler, also; there's a drain hole (that I would think Margarets should have also) that I leave open for air flow. I put mine sideways like a mini-fridge. Did it to keep the little boogers out, now we'll all see if the insulation helps keep it bubbling away over winter.

Happy Halloween from Lucy, Stella & Sophie. Tots first pumpkin and they loved it.

A friend who buys eggs from me just gave me 4'giant pumpkins I threw in the compost pile. She just wanted the seeds. Girls will be in their glory when they wake up tomorrow and find them

My husband was so entertained by our girls first encounter (the guts from pumpkin carving this weekend) that he's been calling all the local produce places. <sigh> Most of it's spoken for at this point, but he's got that silly gleam in his eye.

 

[Beekissed]

Put an ad in the locals to dispose of people's fall decoration pumpkins and gourds. People are often at a loss of what to do with this big, rotting pumpkin or so on their porches and would love to have that problem taken off their hands.

 

[Darkangael]

Good point you don't want it to explode..

 

[RoseMarie1]

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.

She is sooo pretty and white. Looks like a bundle of cotton.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I would have to guess that it probably would. I dont see why it wouldnt?

I have had messy butts with my big girls. It was nasty. It wasn't an infection, they just oozed all the time. I did some research and read that calcium can cause it. When I put everyone on grower, because I had gotten the tots, the big girls messy butts cleared right up. They have been on layer again because I was trying to use up the little I had left and the messy butts came back. Today they start on grains. No more commercial layer feed for them.

RoseMarie- I trim the feathers around their vent with scissor then wipe their butts off with baby wipes. It takes a few times to get the dried on clumps off the feathers closest to their vent.

No there are no ventilation holes. When I opened it yesterday to stir it everything seemed ok in there. I would guess there is enough ventilation tho since there has been no condensation on the plexiglass front. And there is no condensation on the blue insulation inside either.

Thank you Armorfirelady. I'm going to tend to her tomorrow if I can.

 

[RoseMarie1]

No. Since mine free range all the time, they tend to be self-cleansing in the dew and rain, plus they will groom that area themselves. When I got the Gnarly Bunch back I did some trimming and cleansing until I could be assured it wasn't a gleet infection from their last place of residence but after that, they are on their own. You can trim it but in my opinion that just lets the mess get closer to the skin and allows flies into that area as well...the fluffy feathers there can form a barrier between the poop and their own skin and flies and their skin. I found that out the hard way when I cleaned and trimmed Bertha's butt a couple of times...the more I trimmed and cleaned, the more her butt was exposed to the fecal matter, then her skin got red from the feces caking there....which caused me to have to keep cleaning her bottom...rinse, repeat if necessary kind of thing. When Middle Sister had it, I left it alone to see what would happen and it wasn't long before she had a snow white bottom again.

If chickens are kept in clean environments they are pretty much self-cleaning if you just let them be. Chickens have had messy butts since the beginning of time and no one cared to wipe it for them...I'm pretty sure the good Lord set them up well for keeping butts clean when it's necessary. I know how you feel about messy butts, though...they looked so pretty and fluffy and all the sudden they have what looks to be dirty behinds and it messes up the pretty picture of your flock. I feel the same way and I'm almost embarrassed when people visit that they will notice that black streak on the very white birds and ponder about my chicken's hygiene...sort of like when people who don't know you well visit unexpectedly and find you filthy dirty in your work clothes, hair all a mess~that's the level of embarrassment. I love it when my birds all look clean and glossy but I also know this is a working flock and working can make ya dirty and that's just the process of getting things done.


You sound like my boys...if they knew the FF had the potential to explode they would have already asked me to lend them some so they could make a "feed bomb".

They like to see anything go BOOM!

LOL Bee, that's funny yeah they always visit when your house or you is in a mess.

 

[beverly evans]

I can see it now... a big yogurt container about 3/4 full of ff. Duct tape the lid on and wait. hehehe Or... ff in a balloon...hmmm? That way there shouldn't be any injuries. lol

You and Bee's boys should get together to make ff bombs!

 

[beverly evans]

Beverly... you do know that should you fall down and die in the coop those sweet little birds will eat you, right? LOL

You got me lol ! I got this immediate visual just like a Halloween movie, of being eaten alive by a mad horde of squawking rabid chickens ! He,he,ha,ha......