Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

Phew, Just finished processing 25 cornish x, 9 weeks - kill, scald, pluck (Starpluck, friggin amazing machine), and gut. Nasty work, but now I've got lots of good meat. Now if I can just get an elk in October.

Our home scale wouldn't register the birds, gonna try another scale and get a post processing weight. I'm guessing live weight at 5-6lbs.

Fair amount of fat on the birds, good sized drumsticks.

Can't really say I'm in the mood for chicken right now though!

WOW but you will be soon I hope. I've got a few I am raising to eat but they are RIR's.

 

[Beekissed]

Hey Bee,
I know your birds free range and you are feeding fermented whole grains also. What would you guess the protein content is of the mixed grains you are feeding? (before any benefit from fermenting)
Thanks!

Not sure right now....I don't usually do the math, but I'd say it's somewhere in the nature of 11%? The layer ration is 16 and the scratch is 7 and they are mixed just about equal parts, so if one just averages the two it comes to around 11. They are starting to taper down on the grain feeds and I'm hoping to take them down to the bare minimum...right now 11 birds are consuming around 2 c. per day...but two of those birds are small enough to barely make a dent in the ration and I have a broody that isn't eating much per day, so that's 2 c. for around 8 birds.

I'll keep dropping that amount as forage nutrition rises with the summer...it's getting there. And I'm getting 5-6 eggs out of 6 layers, with two of those being 6 yrs old...and yolk size is increasing. Forage...it does a body good!

 

[lazy gardener]

Rose Marie: My best little layer does the "moon walk" you describe. She also does a eye blink with her inner eye lid, and occasional head shaking associated with it. Most often in the morning. When I give her extra vitamins (Nutri-drench) it seems to clear up for a bit. She's bright, acts great, has a great sheen to her feathers, fine in every other way. I'm guessing that it's neurological in nature, perhaps driven by nutrient malabsorption. So, until she acts like it is affecting her well being or function, she stays, but does not get to play in the gene pool!

 

[Bluegill]

Not sure right now....I don't usually do the math, but I'd say it's somewhere in the nature of 11%? The layer ration is 16 and the scratch is 7 and they are mixed just about equal parts, so if one just averages the two it comes to around 11. They are starting to taper down on the grain feeds and I'm hoping to take them down to the bare minimum...right now 11 birds are consuming around 2 c. per day...but two of those birds are small enough to barely make a dent in the ration and I have a broody that isn't eating much per day, so that's 2 c. for around 8 birds.


I'll keep dropping that amount as forage nutrition rises with the summer...it's getting there. And I'm getting 5-6 eggs out of 6 layers, with two of those being 6 yrs old...and yolk size is increasing. Forage...it does a body good!

Great information!
Thanks!

 

[AKCharle]

I guess I'm following Bee around so here is the post I posted on her thread.

When I first started fermenting I used apple cider vinegar in the water (1 Tbs. per gallon) to give my chicks a probiotic boost. My recipe for my FF is just starter crumbles and water to cover. Stir twice a day for 3-4 days, strain and feed. When I first fed them the FF they looked at it like I had fed them poison, but since they were hungry they ate it anyway. Now I'm just slopping the hogs. What oinkers

 

[beverly evans]

Phew, Just finished processing 25 cornish x, 9 weeks - kill, scald, pluck (Starpluck, friggin amazing machine), and gut. Nasty work, but now I've got lots of good meat. Now if I can just get an elk in October.

Our home scale wouldn't register the birds, gonna try another scale and get a post processing weight. I'm guessing live weight at 5-6lbs.

Fair amount of fat on the birds, good sized drumsticks.

Can't really say I'm in the mood for chicken right now though!

When you dressed them out did you notice how the raw chicken doesn't smell as bad or as strong as store bought? I noticed that right away. I'm guessing it's another benefit to FF. ??? : )

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: Hi Linda, Why "frig for 3 days" before freezing? Just curious. : )

 

[thedude]

When you dressed them out did you notice how the raw chicken doesn't smell as bad or as strong as store bought? I noticed that right away. I'm guessing it's another benefit to FF. ??? : )

I didn't really notice much of a smell, but most of the chicken we used to buy was frozen so not much smell there.

I did notice more color than the store bought (Foster, big bag of boneless breasts from Costco).

The biggest things I've seen are:

1) Much less food - especially my layer chickens. I was going through about a 50lb bag every 1.5 -2 weeks for 11 chickens. Since I started the FF, the last time I bought feed for them was on 5/10. I just recently poured almost the last of that bag into the FF bucket. If that holds, then it should drop to less than a bag of feed per month. That's over a 50% reduction. I'm guessing most of that is wasted food that they kick around.

Same goes for the meat birds, they were eating less with the FF. With about 30 birds I was feeding 8.5 cups twice per day of FF.

2) Much less poop and definitely less stinky.


the time in the fridge is "aging time", let's the meat relax and get rid of the rigor before you freeze it. At least that's what I've always been told.

 

[pinback]

I'm using equal parts of wheat, oats, and corn.

Is this going to ferment well for my Cornish cross?

 

[LindaB220]

Hi Linda, Why "frig for 3 days" before freezing? Just curious. : )

Some say to freeze immediately before rigor mortis is completed and just let set in fridge upon defrosting for an extra day or two. Others say they have tried it and it doesn't taste as good as using fridge first. I don't know.