Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[wolfpup]

Providing you have a program that can read Microsoft Excel 2010 I will happily send it to you via email. You don't really need to understand how it works, just be able to type in a number or delete a number in one column. I used to be a lecturer in IT before I retired teaching advanced Word, Database, Excel spreadsheet and Powerpoint.

If you want anything adding to it that you use that I don't just let me know and I can add it to the spreadsheet for you before emailing it.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Guess that lets me out as I run on a Macintosh/Apple OSX based machine my son built for me.

 

[wolfpup]

If you have a basic knowledge of your system's equivalent of spreadsheets - all you should need are the equations in the right cells. I could send you a copy of mine showing the equations and you just replicate them in your system.

I have no experience whatsoever of Mac machines - we only used PCs at work, so I am afraid I cannot say for definite that this would work - but surely its worth a try??

 

[tjo804]

Providing you have a program that can read Microsoft Excel 2010 I will happily send it to you via email. You don't really need to understand how it works, just be able to type in a number or delete a number in one column. I used to be a lecturer in IT before I retired teaching advanced Word, Database, Excel spreadsheet and Powerpoint.

If you want anything adding to it that you use that I don't just let me know and I can add it to the spreadsheet for you before emailing it.

I would love that!
Thank you

[email protected]

 

[Triple Willow]

@ChocolateMouse... I feel your pain! I got into a spat with one of those type people but even worse. They seem to get their jollies out of seeing their sick birds die then taking them apart piece by piece and telling everybody about it. They seem to take pride in their terminally diseased flock. And a lot of people think that person is just so intelligent and wise. If they were wise their flock wouldn't be a science project gone seriously wrong! And yep, they sell birds to other people out of their diseased flock. I was reprimanded for 'starting a fight' with that person and that person carries on with their abuse of birds and gullible people are still eating up their wisdom. Makes you want to gag I tell you!!!

I agree with you, I've always wanted to be a hermit- but I prefer a tropical island (where I wouldn't be washed away by a hurricane). lol A couple of dogs, some rabbits and chickens, a horse for transportation, garden seed - sounds like heaven to me.

 

[tjo804]

Question

What are some of the distinctions of a

Flock Master
VS
Pet Keeper

I am really pouring over forums here to be the best Flock Master I can to my Chickens! I have only 1 acre so I will not be able to run a Huge Poultry organization I just want a simple home flock of Happy Healthy layers and meaties with my Garden and hopefully one day some rabbits.

I do not want to be a PET OWNER! but I do enjoy the company of my chickens. They keep me company when weeding or Reading in the garden and I love the contented cooing of their answers when I am feeling silly or bored.

I would never knowingly subject my chickens or any others to disease or harm.
(I do not consider freezer camp to be harm)

so I guess the short question is What frame of mind do I need to adopt to be a Flock Master?

 

[LindaB220]

Meaty chicks at 2 wks....

Bee, I have a question about your coop. The netting on the inside of the cattle panels, will it hold up to a raccoon? I know you have electric fencing. I have a grow out pen covered in this stuff 1/2" wide. I just wondered if it was safe to put my babies in it in the daytime.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Question

What are some of the distinctions of a

Flock Master
VS
Pet Keeper

I am really pouring over forums here to be the best Flock Master I can to my Chickens! I have only 1 acre so I will not be able to run a Huge Poultry organization I just want a simple home flock of Happy Healthy layers and meaties with my Garden and hopefully one day some rabbits.

I do not want to be a PET OWNER! but I do enjoy the company of my chickens. They keep me company when weeding or Reading in the garden and I love the contented cooing of their answers when I am feeling silly or bored.

I would never knowingly subject my chickens or any others to disease or harm.
(I do not consider freezer camp to be harm)

so I guess the short question is What frame of mind do I need to adopt to be a Flock Master?

First let me say that I am not a Flock Master. That said, I do believe that there is an approach to becoming one.

I believe first and foremost is to understand the meaning of stewardship. With authority and dominion over animals comes responsibility. If you have authority over your flock then you have a responsibility to feed them, house them, protect them, clothe them.....no, wait....that's children, but I digress....provide them with a good quality of life, care for them if they are sick or injured, but not at the expense of their suffering.....or the cost of a vet(just my opinion, which seems like a pet thing). Recognize and be prepared to end the suffering when necessary.

Recognize them for what they are: a food source that provides entertainment and enjoyment during their life, whatever the length of time that life might be.

Share the bounty of the food they provide with someone who needs it. Generosity always comes back to you.

Finally, always be thankful for them.

This is what I am trying to achieve with my flock

 

[bobbi-j]

First let me say that I am not a Flock Master. That said, I do believe that there is an approach to becoming one.

I believe first and foremost is to understand the meaning of stewardship. With authority and dominion over animals comes responsibility. If you have authority over your flock then you have a responsibility to feed them, house them, protect them, clothe them.....no, wait....that's children, but I digress....provide them with a good quality of life, care for them if they are sick or injured, but not at the expense of their suffering.....or the cost of a vet(just my opinion, which seems like a pet thing). Recognize and be prepared to end the suffering when necessary.

Recognize them for what they are: a food source that provides entertainment and enjoyment during their life, whatever the length of time that life might be.

Share the bounty of the food they provide with someone who needs it. Generosity always comes back to you.

Finally, always be thankful for them.

This is what I am trying to achieve with my flock

This.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

~~What are some of the distinctions of a Flock Master VS Pet Keeper

You know, the way this is phrased is really good.

I think pet owners get animals thinking of what the animals will bring to them. They WANT an animal because of eggs, companionship, love, stress, whatever. I feel like "pet" chicken owners tend to think more about "I am getting this so it will serve a purpose for me". Be that silly antics or rainbow eggs or healthy food, the goal is the chickens serve them.

I think people with a strong grasp on animals husbandry view themselves more as "I am getting these birds so that I can serve a purpose to THEM". I got chickens for my goal of having cheaper, healthier eggs. (Grocery eggs are like $2/doz here) If I thought about the best way to get eggs out of my chickens, I would just get grocery eggs. They're very efficient and that's a chicken serving me, giving me what I want from it for cheap.
Instead I serve my chickens. I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is feed them. Then I think about what they will need now and in the future to be happy, healthy animals. I am serving a purpose to my chickens, and I get something in return, but they sure aren't serving me when I spend 48 hours putting in a clean pen for them, or I spend 4 hours baking them flock blocks or I spend $22 on a bag of sunflower seeds just for them, or when I plant a whole garden just for them. That's a VERY inefficient way to get eggs, I spend a lot of hours working on it. But I'm not doing it "for me", I am doing it so that I'm not supporting battery chickens. It's way easier "for me" to just buy some frickin' eggs, you know?
The same thing with culling. It's emotionally easy to keep every bird, to let them get crowded, to treat and "save" sick birds. It's fulfilling. But it's shallow because when you do that you're not thinking about "how can my flock benefit from this" you're thinking "how can I feel good afterwards".

And the moment you ask what you can do for your flock and rid yourself of what you want out of your chickens, your perspective will change. I wake up every day and the first thing I do is feed them. I watch my birds for a few minutes and I learn what "normal" is for my flock so I can spot anything "abnormal". Then I think about what I should do special today to improve their world. Do they get some fodder? Do they get let out of the pen (supervised)? Or does a slow bird that drags the group down get culled and possibly replaced? And if that slow bird happens to be my favorite the "goal" is to put that aside and do what's best for the flock. And, well, you already know my perspective on disease. I'd rather be sad about having to cull my whole flock and not keep chickens for a while than be happy about keeping sick birds. And is it really in your flock's best interests to spend $500 on a single vet appointment that could go towards a better quality of life for the whole flock?

So I would ask yourself what you can do to make your flock a better flock. And if you're ever like "I want this", think about what that will do for your flock. Heck, even my plan to get blue egg layers has a role in my flock management, even though I "want" blue eggs. If I can keep a blue egg roo, I can sell the whole flock's eggs as EE hatching eggs. That will let me pay for better feed for them (maybe organic?), a nicer coop, more treats, equipment to grow them fodder and mealworms in the winter, a hoop house to keep them less crowded in the snow... But keeping a Maran hen serves no purpose to my flock so I don't have one even though I "want" one.

And the best part about this is when you start thinking about what you can do for your birds you get results. So there's still reward at the end, it's just much harder to get there. A healthy, happy, well managed flock is a masterpiece. The birds become more hardy and disease resistant. They lay better. They look better. They're quieter, but chipper and active. They grow faster. Because all their needs are met so they don't need to strain to produce what you WANT from them. They just do it naturally! And then they do it even BETTER.

So the TLDR is; Think not what your chickens can do for you. Instead, think about what you can do for your chickens! And the end result will be more rewarding than any other!