Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Lacy Blues]

Lacy - Yeah... Me too! I got a call from her in the middle of the night saying she had a chicken in the car and asking me how to tell if these feral chickens were boys or girls. Like just feathered out half-wild mutt chickens mind. Apparently they'd only just gone from "peeps to clucks" but no standing-out boys or girls yet. She was also under the impression that hens have two holes on their bottom (one for eggs and one for excrement... Cause, ya know, girls have more holes than guys in any other animal, right?) and roosters had one. And that roosters fertilize the eggs after they were layed too.... Oh man. My sister can be a real dork sometimes. At least I managed to set her straight on those silly thoughts! Couldn't even begin to tell her if her chickens were boys or girls... And she couldn't even send photos. I said give it a couple months, told her the basics of chicken butchering (in case it was a boy) and sent her on her way... She may or may not be eyeing those birds up as her Christmas dinners right now!

 

[Beekissed]

She is not alone! Years ago I worked for the Red Cross and we would travel in vans for hours to set up at a place to take blood. Naturally, all of us ladies would get into some weird discussions and one night we were discussing chickens. One lady was saying how she makes deviled eggs each year for the holidays and couldn't wait to get started on them this weekend. For some reason it turned to a discussion about where eggs come from and she and another lady(both in their late 50s, early 60s) said that eggs were clean because they came out of a different hole than the poop.

When I assured them that the eggs did indeed, finally, come out of the chickens butt they wouldn't believe me and said chickens have a separate hole for that like humans did...that they had a vagina. I had to explain the finer points of the oviduct, the cloaca, etc. They were thoroughly disgusted and swore off eating eggs ever again!

How does a woman get that old without knowing these basic things about animals and particularly about their food supply? A chicken is a pretty common animal. I could understand if they didn't know about the anatomy of a platypus... but a chicken?

 

[Triple Willow]

Any of you guys ever use the scoby from vinegar for anything like tea? I have got a couple'a monsters growing!!! LOL I used some Bragg's and made more UP-ACV w/ Mother from pasteurized acv and this is what happened.

I was just thinking, there's no way I could get that big scoby disk out of that quart jar if I wanted to other than break it all up into pieces.
(This pic is looking up through the bottom of the jar.)


Do any of you guys make kefir?

 

[TexasLisa]

GOOD MORNING FELLOW FF'S!!

I am going to have to bring this subject up with my family on 'chicken anatomy'!! Out of 7 kids I am the country girl.

I have a feeling it will be a wild and lively discussion!!

Have a GREAT day!

Lisa

 

[Angelicisi]

I need a grain mix to Ferment for my meat birds. In bulk tho! Not bagged. Is there a recipe mix high enough in proteins that I can mix from a mills grains earlier in this thread? Is hate to search 250 pages for not but I will! Lol
We are looking to find bulk food we can mix. This $20/bag is stupid for this many meaties lol we ferment great. I LOVE FF! It helps the feed bill tremendously. I just want more savings. Don't we all?!
So while hunting for a mill not too far I suppose I should also know what I need from the place lol.
I feel a lil lost on the "is it enough nutrition" or "is it more like scratch filler ill be able to get"?

 

[BCMaraniac]

It's amazing to me that there are places where chickens can live wild and predators (dogs mainly) not kill them all.

Sounds like there is a "people predator" issue there.......

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: It was kind of ironic that jerk chicken was on the menu for lunch that day........maybe thats why I didn't see as many chickens around as I thought I would of

 

[Triple Willow]

Sounds like there is a "people predator"  issue there.......

No doubt! LOL

 

[Triple Willow]

It was kind of ironic that jerk chicken was on the menu for lunch that day........maybe thats why I didn't see as many chickens around as I thought I would of 

I bet that jerk chicken was good. That reminds me of Jamaica. One of these days I am going there and I hope to get to spend plenty of time sight seeing and just relaxing. I may not come back! lol

 

[Beekissed]

Processing cheap meat roos today. I've never processed this late in the year and have found that all the skin and connective tissue is bound like super glue to these carcasses! I'll never do this again, I tell ya. Usually a warm bird can be shucked down mostly by hand and only at key points will you need a knife but I've had to skin every inch of these roosters...talk about tedious!

It's cold and windy today, so hands are stiff for the job. Lesson learned....always there are lessons to be learned about this whole chicken and livestock business.

This free meat has its price.