Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

Bee do you just the ff in the cooler itself? Or the bucket in the cooler with ff in it?

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Finally got my bliss!  Worked all day in the blistering cold wind and finally got to come into the wood heat, eat a bowl of homemade chicken soup and take a hot shower.  Now THAT'S living, folks!  Supposed to get in the teens tonight and tomorrow, it's spitting snow here and I got to see a wondrously beautiful sunset up on the hill as we finished up with firewood.  All purples, pinks, salmons and gold! 

Tomorrow I pick up two new layers and a passel of free meat roos!  e   Got their pen all cozied up and ready with a thick bed of shavings and leaves.  The new layers are BAs and are supposedly just POL, so that should be interesting.  We'll see how they like the life of a free ranger! 


Side note:  Can't remember now who thought of the ice chest for the FF but I want to give feedback...the ice chest is working beautifully, no freezing of contents and a good ferment still going.  Wish I had thought of that idea because it's a doozy!    

Tonight will be the true test of my waterer setup, to see if it will remain thawed clear down to the nipple lever...so far it's done great in temps in the 20s. 

Hi Bee... If you posted about your watering setup previously then I must have missed it... What do you have for a setup ? Wondering because I want to know what's the easiest for keeping my chickens water from freezing.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee do you just the ff in the cooler itself? Or the bucket in the cooler with ff in it?

Straight in the cooler! No bucket. My buckets have been retired for the winter after a year's service. Poor things deserve a rest....

 

[Angelicisi]

Thanks!

 

[Beekissed]

Hi Bee... If you posted about your watering setup previously then I must have missed it... What do you have for a setup ? Wondering because I want to know what's the easiest for keeping my chickens water from freezing.

I'll take a pic of it as soon as I can but I usually use a large heated dog bowl for the water but the birds really kick litter up into it as they dig around in the coop, even with it being up on a high pedestal. I get tired of that. I tried the whole setting an ice cream bucket down in the dog bowl to add more height to the water but that resulting in merely higher, dirty water. So, this year I am setting a bucket down into the bowl with a lid on it, and it has a nipple cup waterer on the side of it.

My older birds don't like that kind of waterer but I'm not providing an option and they will either learn it or go thirsty. The younger birds are using it just fine and so far, with temps in the low 20s at night, the water is good and the nipple is staying thawed and working.

Here's a pic of my dog bowl last year....it's pretty large. A 5 gal. bucket can sit down inside of it. I'm using a 2 gal. bucket, though, for the waterer.



This is the style of nipple that I am using on it. It's on the side of the bucket, right above the top of the bowl.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I'll take a pic of it as soon as I can but I usually use a large heated dog bowl for the water but the birds really kick litter up into it as they dig around in the coop, even with it being up on a high pedestal. I get tired of that. I tried the whole setting an ice cream bucket down in the dog bowl to add more height to the water but that resulting in merely higher, dirty water. So, this year I am setting a bucket down into the bowl with a lid on it, and it has a nipple cup waterer on the side of it. My older birds don't like that kind of waterer but I'm not providing an option and they will either learn it or go thirsty. The younger birds are using it just fine and so far, with temps in the low 20s at night, the water is good and the nipple is staying thawed and working. Here's a pic of my dog bowl last year....it's pretty large. A 5 gal. bucket can sit down inside of it. I'm using a 2 gal. bucket, though, for the waterer. This is the style of nipple that I am using on it. It's on the side of the bucket, right above the top of the bowl.

Ok. I understand the setup... The heck of me using this setup would be the watering cups. I had 5 of those exact cups setup this past summer and my birds would not use the to save their lives. I tried putting treats on the dispenser triggers and all... Nothing worked so I have been using a gravity fed waterer in the coop. Outside I have a 5 gal bucket with 3 nipple waterers on the bottom and they will use those with no problem at all, but those cups, they won't have anything to do with 'em.

 

[Beekissed]

Ok. I understand the setup... The heck of me using this setup would be the watering cups. I had 5 of those exact cups setup this past summer and my birds would not use the to save their lives. I tried putting treats on the dispenser triggers and all... Nothing worked so I have been using a gravity fed waterer in the coop. Outside I have a 5 gal bucket with 3 nipple waterers on the bottom and they will use those with no problem at all, but those cups, they won't have anything to do with 'em.

Mine wouldn't either the first time I tried them and I did just what you did...treats and all. No go. But now I have younger birds to show the old geezers what to do and I made it more difficult for them to get water elsewhere by lowering the level of water in the dog's heated bucket so they could not reach the water. I know someone's using the waterer, just don't know if it's the older birds. I'm not going to worry about it..they will learn it or go thirsty. They don't consume much water in the winter anyway and the FF seems to be enough most of the time.

I stopped feeling sorry for them when I brought those cheap meats roosters home and they picked up on the nipple cup in about 10 hot seconds when they had never used one before....so I know my birds can learn it, they just refuse. Not taking that anymore.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Mine wouldn't either the first time I tried them and I did just what you did...treats and all.  No go.  But now I have younger birds to show the old geezers what to do and I made it more difficult for them to get water elsewhere by lowering the level of water in the dog's heated bucket so they could not reach the water.  I know someone's using the waterer, just don't know if it's the older birds.  I'm not going to worry about it..they will learn it or go thirsty.  They don't consume much water in the winter anyway and the FF seems to be enough most of the time. 

I stopped feeling sorry for them when I brought those cheap meats roosters home and they picked up on the nipple cup in about 10 hot seconds when they had never used one before....so I know my birds can learn it, they just refuse.   Not taking that anymore. 

Isn't that just like a bunch of old prude biddies... To stubborn to change their ways ! I may just do this also and once they get thirsty enough they'll try it or go parched !

 

[beverly evans]

Very cold here today and I'll be working out there splitting massive pieces of firewood(some are 36 in. in diameter), so no bliss today until I come in the house this evening to the warmth of the wood fire...now that's bliss!!! Then I'll be eating some more of that homemade chicken soup and bread..yum! Already built a cheap meat's rooster pen this morning...better than the last one and easier to build with more shelter for the birds from the weather.

I make my bread by hand and since we don't eat it every day here, I make it into a sort of flat roll that can be sliced and used in the toaster. I make a whole batch of these and then freeze them in portions, thawing out a bag of them as needed and then we just toast them to warm them up when we need them. Less bread is wasted in that manner, less crumbs in the toaster, and we can make big batches and not have to do it again for a good while. I call it WV flatbread but it's not a true flatbread as it's made from a yeast recipe that is out of this world and simple to make. I grind my own wheat here and it has so much good gluten that the bread practically makes itself!

Heading out to the cold and blustery day...love this weather to work in!!! Not so cold it makes your face numb but cold enough that you don't sweat too much.

I sure hope you have a good chain saw to tackle those 36' logs!

 

[beverly evans]

I agree. Heat tape is good for keeping small volume containers free from freezing, such as pipes or hoses, but not sure about larger containers such as buckets and such when the temps really get cold. I don't know of a way it could be utilized to keep chicks warm enough either.

I've often thought about making a fleece, down-filled "chick mama" with chicken wire inserts so that it can be bent to a needed shape, wherein one could brood chicks without a brood light or broody mama. One could heat a few bricks, wrap them in flannel, put them down on the floor of the brooder and place the fake chicky mama on top, with space enough under her for chicks to huddle under and fleece fringe hanging down like feathers around the edges to trap the heat while still allowing chick access.

Or the chick mama could have a place for a heating pad to be inserted to create a warm "chicken" over the chicks to give a more natural feel to the whole brooding experience. It sure would eliminate stress over using heat lamps and such, while providing chicks with enveloping warmth sort of like the Ecoglow but without the price.

I might see about fleecing some of these cheap meat roosters or my older hens of their softest under feathers during this next processing and using the feathers to make a chicky mama...maybe try it out next spring if I'm still here.

Okay, your idea will take flight! I have an old feather pillow to sacrifice, a heating pad and some chicken wire. Bee, I will get back to you with the finished product. I had visualized the same thing but hadn't thought of putting the heating pad in with the wire and feathers only under them. Then thought it would be too hot, but of course it can be covered. : )