Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

What you see here is layer mash, some barley and a little too much BOSS...I had a little heavy hand on that mix when using the BOSS. Usually don't mix it in there that heavy.

 

[Triple Willow]

It's something I would likely never use but I would be very interesting to know HOW.  Knowledge is a good thing.  lol  

My friend, now knows as DR. Ruby Dao Mong, truly enlightened me.  His grand parents were from the Mainland and Mong was taught by 'gramps'.

So...please tell.  

BCMaraniac is the person I was referring to.

 

[bruceh]

i like the cooler idea . i cheated i put of a ceiling hung heater. to was just to cold. the water froze the ferment froze. so i got a darn heater. it knocks the edge off but no means warm. it works for now. we will see in the deep winter how it goes. i will never stop fermenting ever. the birds just benefit so much. i need to get a camera to take shots of these birds. i took in some older rhode islands reds. they were dull and light in color. put them on my feed. bingo they are shiny and darkened up . i was just amazed.
i want to report on molting also. now this could be the year of weird molt. although the molts seem to have gone much easier on the birds. faster regrowth . just was not as hard on them.

 

[fosterson]

Whups. Posted on the wrong FF thread. Needless to say, though, I like what FF is doing for my flock of misfits!

 

[Beekissed]

i like the cooler idea . i cheated i put of a ceiling hung heater. to was just to cold. the water froze the ferment froze. so i got a darn heater. it knocks the edge off but no means warm. it works for now. we will see in the deep winter how it goes. i will never stop fermenting ever. the birds just benefit so much. i need to get a camera to take shots of these birds. i took in some older rhode islands reds. they were dull and light in color. put them on my feed. bingo they are shiny and darkened up . i was just amazed.
i want to report on molting also. now this could be the year of weird molt. although the molts seem to have gone much easier on the birds. faster regrowth . just was not as hard on them.

It WAS a year of weird molts...more molting than I've ever seen! I bet my young pullets have molted 3-4 times this year..nothing heavy but still molting. My older birds molted 2-3 times themselves and I still have one molting but recovering fast.

Would love to see pics of those glossy, dark red birds, Bruce!

My cheap meat pen of roosters have been on the FF for a week now and all their colors are brightening up...combs, legs, feathers, beaks. Could be a combination of ridding them of massive parasite infestation and the feed, but I'm still happy to see them getting cleaner, glossier, healthier in appearance. Might feed this group for 3 wks just to make sure they've gotten all the gamey, nasty smell and flavor out of their meat before processing.

Made improvements on their pen today so that no more escape attempts can transpire..time will tell. Placed Fat Cochin back in the cheap meat pen because he kept wanting to be there...something about these birds that have lived in confinement~they all seem very scared of freedom and feel more secure in the enclosed pen. The other pullet I bought the same day keeps wanting to be in the rooster pen along with her flockmate....in all my born days I've never seen chickens wanting to get INTO a pen, only out of one.

 

[Beekissed]

Whups. Posted on the wrong FF thread. Needless to say, though, I like what FF is doing for my flock of misfits!

We like the reports from new FF users...it never gets old to hear success stories on this feeding method. Tell on!!!

 

[Angelicisi]

I promote it every chance I get! Couldn't be happier with the outcome. Less wasted food from spills, fills them up and the eat less also. Eggs are bright and thick. Poos are solid and hardly smell and their feathers shine. I love it. Lol

We like the reports from new FF users...it never gets old to hear success stories on this feeding method.  Tell on!!! 

 

[fosterson]

We like the reports from new FF users...it never gets old to hear success stories on this feeding method. Tell on!!!

Well, if you insist, Bee.

A little bit of back story. When I wound up moving to 30 miles south of the Canadian border, I had dreams of getting some chickens again. Then I almost immediately lost my jog (business shut down unexpectedly) and I put off having chickens for another year or two.

Then a friend's aunt decided she was just too old to keep taking care of her hens, so she gave me the hens, the feeder, the nesting boxes, the perches, the heat lamp, the waterer, the feed and bedding, and some fence posts. I paid out about $20 total for some chicken wire. I had an old coop attached to my house that just needed to be cleaned up, so after about 3 days of labor, I had a fully functional chicken pen. The poor old girls...I had no idea what a bad situation they came from. I went to pick them up and finally SAW the coop they'd been living in for nearly 3 years. UGH. YUCK. NASTY. They were all underweight, molting, and skittish. Thankfully a good looking over at least reassured me they didn't have a massive load of mites or worms. I took them home and was pleased to see 6 out of 6 eggs at a time. I first noticed Bee's FF thread and started reading it. Yes. All of it.

I had a dog attack a few days later and started looking for a rooster. If I hadn't ACCIDENTALLY gone out at the same time as the attack, I would've had dead chickens, because they hardly made a sound.

Then I decided that I'd really like to have more chickens come spring, so I bought 5 more fence posts, and freecycled some old pavers, a massive old shipping crate, an old wooden doghouse. Then before I was ready (hadn't actually built the coop) I was given a small 'pet' rooster (that'd be Fugly) so I could have more of a noisemaker and a 'old maid' pullet who wasn't laying yet. Had to scrabble to get the old dog house turned into a makeshift 'isolation pen', but it worked well. I isolated and then integrated Fugly and Bling into the old flock and started getting serious about the idea of FF, but the other half, who is extremely 'wussy' about smells wasn't very sure.

Then before I knew it, the same friend who got me the first flock found out that one of her husband's poker buddies had a flock of year old 'barred rock' hens that he didn't want. Instead of feeding them all winter, or putting them down, he was intending to just feed them till he ran out of feed, and then let nature take it's course. I was horrified. I was MORE horrified when I got 5 NAKED birds. No sign of parasites, but man they were naked and ugly. He said they'd been that way since summer.

I got them home, into the isolation pen (they're just bigger than banties, so the small dog house worked well), and started them up on Feather Fixer, which is seriously pricey around here. They put on weight, got a little less flighty, but did not put on any feathers. They did start laying again, at least. I upped their protein, read all sorts of advice, but still had 5 naked chickens. I had JUST put my first batch of FF on to ferment when I noticed that BOTH sets of chickens were suddenly having nasty, green, foamy poop. I'm sure I somehow managed to bring some contamination home, but by then I was invested. I hated to spend the money on the antibiotic (and I HATED not having 2 weeks of eggs), but I didn't want to lose any birds. So I used the 5 days of antibiotics concurrently with FF. The poops firmed up in 2 days. At the end of the course of antibiotics, all the chickens looked far better than they did before they started. There were no more nasty smells or poops.

I just happened to notice last night, as I was putting the small barreds (and Fugly) up that even my worst barred has pin feathers all over her body, and they've been exclusively on FF for only 3 weeks.

There. I rambled. I strongly believe in FF. My chickens have put on muscle, their new feathers look way better than their old feathers, and even my eggs are much heavier. Now if all the girls would start laying again...it'd be nice.

 

[Beekissed]

Excellent story!!!! And what a nice thing that you were able to give those birds a better situation. I've heard that over and over around here from people who no longer want their chickens and just stop feeding them and let them out of the pen to "let nature happen". I always look at those people like they have their heads on backwards...one, how irresponsible do you have to be? Two, what an incredible waste of food! Three, REALLY???????????

People are cold, I tell ya.

It would be great to take some before and after pics of those nekked birds and track how quickly they plume out. So glad you found FF!

 

[fosterson]

I only have a cell phone camera and these ditzy biddies do not hold still for cell phone cameras. I don't chase unless I HAVE to, because they're still pretty flighty.