Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Loghousemom]

None of my hens will go out until it gets close to about 32. I open the pop door every morning, but they typically stay inside.

My hens seems to eat everything, but the geese and ducks don't like the FF in this weather for some reason. They ate it all summer, but now seem to just want plain old corn, oats and grain. The FF is pretty untouched even if I only put out a scoop. I figure it freezes within the hour. It's cold out there!

 

[sarahsunshine]

My 2 chickens, now living with a friend, that loved their FF all summer, are now stuck with dry. We deal with celcius tmeps here, but we had a cold snap back in November/December where it was below -40 for a week straight at night (-49 I think was the lowest - -40 is where it's the same c/f), and highs of -25 at the highest (-13f). Anyway, both got a little frostbite, one a bit worse than the other. They seem to be doing quite well now, though, and despite a brief rest in the egg laying department (only 1/day), they are back up to a consistent 2 a day - 2/2 chickens. I can't believe the production on these two - it must be the breed ISA browns. I figured that they would at least take a rest, but no... Every day! Must take a chunk out of a person - can't imagine giving birth EVERY DAY!!!

 

[dolfi]

Thank you s
Thank you so much

They wouldn't chock on the outer seeds. I'm sorry but I don't want to hurt them just because I'm afraid of questioning

 

[Lacy Blues]

No, they won't choke. Feed them and you will see how much they love them.

 

[dolfi]

Thank you. Lol

 

[RachaelS]

No, they won't choke. Feed them and you will see how much they love them.

x100, got some for my girls, put them out day 1 no one touched them, day 2 all gone, day 3 little stinkers try to climb in the bag when I open the storage box

 

[dolfi]

x100, got some for my girls, put them out day 1 no one touched them, day 2 all gone, day 3 little stinkers try to climb in the bag when I open the storage box

Ok anything for my babies

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Dolfi, BOSS is a major ingredient in most native wild bird seeds... It's a major food for bluejays and cardinals. These are much smaller birds and have no problem eating them so a chicken has no chance of choking on them. It would be like a person choking on a blueberry.

My derpy sister threw out some birdseed yesterday for the wild birds... But on the snow. Nothing has touched it but the squirrels. Even little birds refuse to go into the snow! I feel like picking it up and giving it to my chickens....

 

[Beekissed]

Hey all! I sure have missed all the great advice over on this thread.

Are any of you still able to run the FF with the fridgid temps? I have a heat source in each room of my coop, but it's more for the comfort of my head I think than anything. I don't think they actually help much. I find my FF frozen very soon after I put it outside. Especially in the goose/duck house. They just do not seem to enjoy it much in this weather. The chicken hens will gobble it up every time I put it out, but with the cold spell we've got again this week, I think I have to move it back inside. Sunday when I hung it for straining off the stuff froze.

The kiddos and hubs hate the smell, so I moved it back out when the weather warmed last week.

My FF mix now has some locally milled feed pellets mixed with local winter wheat, rolled corn, rolled oats and some alfalfa cubes. I can tell that no one really likes the local pellets, but they were free and darn it they will eat them so I don't have to go pay for a bag from the store.

My coop is an old building, and not insulated so I generally have a heat lamp hanging over their roost, and on the side where the kittens are there is an oil heater, but the cement keeps that room pretty cold. If I trusted those cats to keep using the litter box, I would fill that side full of straw bales to help hold the heat, but I am pretty sure they would just poo all over them.

Catch a all later!

Still doing it. My bucket is in my bedroom which stays a steady 50-60 degrees so it perks slowly and doesn't emit much smell. My chickens eat it so fast it doesn't have a chance to freeze...and I mean a picked clean trough just like always. Even with temps at 10-20 below in the coop I'm not seeing any freezing of the FF before it is consumed.

They wouldn't chock on the outer seeds. I'm sorry but I don't want to hurt them just because I'm afraid of questioning

I feed BOSS to day old chicks with no problem...they can eat a beetle three times the size of those seeds at that age! No worries!

 

[RoseMarie1]

oh yeah, mines in the utility room going strong. Haven't let up feeding it since I started this almost a year ago now.
We had snow, sleet and ice today last night and tonight. Suppose to be 70 on Sat. LOL That's South MS. weather for ya. Snowing one minute and beach weather the next. lol