Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[pipemum]

Question about processed birds. I butchered 2 CX yesterday. They were gorgeous and healthy. When I plucked them, I noticed they both had a few strange, blackened feather nubs. Sorta like feather black heads? Kinda hard to explain and of course I didn't take any pictures. It was almost like the feather nubs had been burned. There was the tiny 'burned" portion, and the feather quill below the skin was normal. Skin around the blackened pins was normal, the little pinholes themselves were normal when the feather stub was pulled. The nubs themselves were a bit harder than regular feather nubs. They looked, literally, like the feather had been burned to the skin, but healthy underneath. So strange. Only a few per bird....maybe 20 on one bird and under 10 on the other. I haven't butchered THAT many chickens, but of the 20 or so, this was the first time I've seen the blackened feather things.

Um, to relate this to fermented feeds...uh...the CX are feed FF from the start and are beautiful and glowing and nothing like those broken, poop squirting messes some people refer to as CX.

as a side note--while they seemed huge to me, they were only 3.5 and 4.5 lbs processed. I could have let the grow for another week or two, but they were having a hard time with the heat (it's been in the mid-90s all week) and even in the nice shade of the chicken yard, they were just plain hot. I was dreading finding one or both them succumbed to the heat before I could butcher! So ends my spring meat raising. I'll start up in August or September with small batches of 10 or so till it gets too hot again!

 

[Beekissed]

Question about processed birds. I butchered to CX yesterday. They were gorgeous and healthy. When I plucked them, I noticed they both had a few strange, blackened feather nubs. Sorta like feather black heads? Kinda hard to explain and of course I didn't take any pictures. It was almost like the feather nubs had been burned. There was the tiny 'burned" portion, and the feather quill below the skin was normal. Skin around the blackened pins was normal, the little pinholes themselves were normal with the feather stub was pulled. The nubs themselves were a bit harder than regular feather nubs. They looked, literally, like the feather had been burned to the skin, but healthy underneath. So strange. Only a few per bird....maybe 20 on one bird and under 10 on the other.

Um, to relate this to fermented feeds...uh...the CX are feed FF from the start and are beautiful and glowing and nothing like those broken, poop squirting messes some people refer to as CX.

I've never seen anything like that on CX I've processed but maybe it's because I process mine long after pin feathers are an issue. Could that blackness you are seeing be old blood turned black?

 

[pipemum]

I've never seen anything like that on CX I've processed but maybe it's because I process mine long after pin feathers are an issue. Could that blackness you are seeing be old blood turned black?

Hmm. I don't think so, because then the gunk in the quill would be black too? Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, the quill stuff was dried out...not black, but none of that jelly stuff. I guess they were feathers that must have been damaged early in growth?

 

[Beekissed]

Could be! Next time you run across something like that, could you take a good close up so we can see it? Could be educational!

I was just sitting here laughing about these 3 wk old CX....the rest of my flock are on the roosts and the chicks are out running back and forth, foraging. And that's after they already had their supper. Man, those birds are hungry! Their crops are bulging like some kind of growth and they are still out hunting until darkness falls.

Three of my CX show some damage right now due to being pecked at the feeders by my laying flock. I have a few birds in this current flock that are too aggressive around food and I'll be glad to cull those birds out when the time comes. Two of the CX have bloody, open places on the back of their heads and another has one on a wing.

I'll be building a bigger feeder this week to try and help this situation.

 

[tjo804]

Could be! Next time you run across something like that, could you take a good close up so we can see it? Could be educational!

I was just sitting here laughing about these 3 wk old CX....the rest of my flock are on the roosts and the chicks are out running back and forth, foraging. And that's after they already had their supper. Man, those birds are hungry! Their crops are bulging like some kind of growth and they are still out hunting until darkness falls.

Three of my CX show some damage right now due to being pecked at the feeders by my laying flock. I have a few birds in this current flock that are too aggressive around food and I'll be glad to cull those birds out when the time comes. Two of the CX have bloody, open places on the back of their heads and another has one on a wing.

I'll be building a bigger feeder this week to try and help this situation.

I saw this on another forum posted by armorfirelady

I bet something like this would work for your meaties and could be easily put up and taken down as needed.

This I used to feed the tots in when they were small. The front slats are just screwed on so I could change the width size as they grow. The back & sides are covered with plastic netting tho its hard to see in the pic. The big girls could not fit in there much to their dismay.

 

[LindaB220]

Mondays is my day to clean out the coop for my layers (hubby does rest of the week as we clean out daily) and this morning when I stuck my head in I noticed a complete absence of any smell whatsoever

, also the little poop that was on the floor was pickup-able - for the first time ever

. They have only been on ff for 4 or 5 days! Another BIG plus for me is that my two dogs are always sniffing round the ff at every available opportunity, they are fed a BARF diet - but one of the dogs still drops massively offensive 'fluffs' in the evenings, so for the last two days I have given them one strainer spoonful each with their dinner - no smelly farts for two days from either dog

.

I have tried searching some of the UK forums for fermented feed users - and there is an embarrassing dearth of chicken owners who do it on the forums I tried. I then checked on two self-sufficiency forums I belong to and only found one person who does it - but an encouraging number of people who are interested in my findings (said I would report after two weeks as I want to see if there is an increase in yolk size etc) so I will be able to share the knowledge I have learned from this invaluable thread thanks to all of your generous posts.

I am extremely pleased to have found a way to improve my girl's health and boost their immune systems - and very happy to be able to spread the word to my fellow chicken lovers about the benefits of ff.

Yea!!! Good for you wolfpup..

 

[Beekissed]

I saw this on another forum posted by armorfirelady

I bet something like this would work for your meaties and could be easily put up and taken down as needed.

This I used to feed the tots in when they were small. The front slats are just screwed on so I could change the width size as they grow. The back & sides are covered with plastic netting tho its hard to see in the pic. The big girls could not fit in there much to their dismay.

It sure would and I don't know why I didn't think of a creep feeder all this time....my mind has been a bit foggy of late. I can jimmy up something with scrap lumber here and do this quite easily until they are big enough to own their feed. Thanks for reminding me of the value of the creep feeder!

 

[armorfirelady]

I didn't know what they called them when I made it but it certainly worked well when the tots were young. They would go in there to get away from the older hens to get some peace & quiet as well.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I saw this on another forum posted by armorfirelady

I bet something like this would work for your meaties and could be easily put up and taken down as needed.

This I used to feed the tots in when they were small. The front slats are just screwed on so I could change the width size as they grow. The back & sides are covered with plastic netting tho its hard to see in the pic. The big girls could not fit in there much to their dismay.

That is a terrific idea. When we used to breed and raise Quarter horses, we used a creep feeders for the foals. so that the mare wouldn't hog all the feed. It worked sometimes and sometimes it didn't because the mares work take their noses and manage to separate the metal bars. That won't happen with the chickens.

 

[LindaB220]

Quick question. My babies are 3 weeks old and still in brooder. I put dirt in there also from the first. Should I assume that I won't need to worry about using Corid for prevention? Just worried. New Mama after all.

On another note, all you gardeners, this is a favorite site of mine. Thought this might interest you.


http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2014...someone-you-know-a-garden-plan-we-can-all-do/