Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

The others will help get her all cleaned up... and then you'll be feeding again.

Its so funny...3 are cleaner & one looks like she bobs for FF since her head & chin to upper chest is white lol......The funny part is the feeder is just high enough so that it comes at about throat level so they wouldnt try climbing in. Apparently she has figured out how to make a mess lol

 

[Oakieridge]

I love reading about how everyone is using FF for their flocks. We started in Sept with FF as a treat and now it is 1/2 their feed at this point. I have tried reclaimed oats and they did eat it but prefered their layer pellets. Lately we have been using Rolled whole Oats by the 50# bag. We are feeding a flock of about 100 so the 50# bag will last 2 days this way. My husband bought big covered trash cans to ferment in and I use a collander I got free from some cereal company. The birds love the rolled oats much better. In fact they are turning their noses up at the layer pellets to the point that now I mix the pellets in at the time I feed otherwise they won't eat them, lol. I want to try other graines but haven't yet. Only my adult birds get FF right now but love the eggs we are getting since we switched to 1/2 FF. I love the fact that the FF is good for them and is helping with the cost of feed at the same time. Our choice of feed went up $6 a #50 this summer.

Can't wait to hear if the tires and hay keep the FF warmer. We are moving ours to our basement once we get the trash barrel empty of feed.

 

[Bulldogma]

Just posting a brag. I started using FF nearly a month ago. Here is a photo I took yesterday of my daughter's late-June hatch bantam cochin cockerel going through his first molt. Yup - this bird is young and in mid-molt... and I can practically see my reflection in his feathers! Though I have feathers all over my yard and they should all be looking raggedy, all my babies are looking more lustrous each day!



Feed waste has gone down to almost 0 and the birds love the FF. My feed bill has been cut by about 3/4! I have my FF in our laundry room and though you can smell it when you're near the laundry room, it just smells like sourdough bread... and my family ain't complaining about that! I catch my 9-year-old going over there just to smell it. She loves the smell And I love the smell of helping our little flock be healthy!

 

[TamTurkey]

BEAUTIFUL!

 

[galanie]

After getting a bad bag of flock raiser the other day, I ended up getting Organic flock raiser. Twice as expensive but this gave me a reason to try it. Now, with all that grain goodness and having a real mash rather than crumbles or pellets, I figured I'd do one thing different: Not add ACV or Whey.

After 4 days, it smells perfect. Just the way it should when cooking away. So depending on what you're feeding, it might not even be needed to add anything at all. Kassandra never did with her oats and stuff, so why not?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just posting a brag. I started using FF nearly a month ago. Here is a photo I took yesterday of my daughter's late-June hatch bantam cochin cockerel going through his first molt. Yup - this bird is young and in mid-molt... and I can practically see my reflection in his feathers! Though I have feathers all over my yard and they should all be looking raggedy, all my babies are looking more lustrous each day!



Feed waste has gone down to almost 0 and the birds love the FF. My feed bill has been cut by about 3/4! I have my FF in our laundry room and though you can smell it when you're near the laundry room, it just smells like sourdough bread... and my family ain't complaining about that! I catch my 9-year-old going over there just to smell it. She loves the smell And I love the smell of helping our little flock be healthy!

Beautiful

 

[Miss Lydia]

After getting a bad bag of flock raiser the other day, I ended up getting Organic flock raiser. Twice as expensive but this gave me a reason to try it. Now, with all that grain goodness and having a real mash rather than crumbles or pellets, I figured I'd do one thing different: Not add ACV or Whey.
After 4 days, it smells perfect. Just the way it should when cooking away. So depending on what you're feeding, it might not even be needed to add anything at all. Kassandra never did with her oats and stuff, so why not?

I wish I could get organic flock raiser here, it's all layer and i have to drive close to 80 miles round trip for it,. Purina has a big Monopoly here in our area.

So you just covered with water only is that what you mean? I use Purina FR what was wrong with yours, I'll be buying a bag tomorrow.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Just posting a brag. I started using FF nearly a month ago. Here is a photo I took yesterday of my daughter's late-June hatch bantam cochin cockerel going through his first molt. Yup - this bird is young and in mid-molt... and I can practically see my reflection in his feathers! Though I have feathers all over my yard and they should all be looking raggedy, all my babies are looking more lustrous each day!



Feed waste has gone down to almost 0 and the birds love the FF. My feed bill has been cut by about 3/4! I have my FF in our laundry room and though you can smell it when you're near the laundry room, it just smells like sourdough bread... and my family ain't complaining about that! I catch my 9-year-old going over there just to smell it. She loves the smell And I love the smell of helping our little flock be healthy!

I hate to bust your bubble but if this bird was hatched in June of 2012, it won't go through a full molt until fall of 2013. Young birds molt and grow new sets of feathers about 5 or 6 times before they finally get their adult plumage and this will definitely give you a yard full of feathers and not make them look raggedy at all. On the other hand, he is definitely beautiful and looks very healthy. Very nice.

 

[galanie]

I wish I could get organic flock raiser here, it's all layer and i have to drive close to 80 miles round trip for it,. Purina has a big Monopoly here in our area.     So you just covered with water only is that what you mean? I use Purina FR what was wrong with yours, I'll be buying a bag tomorrow. 

Water only, yes that's what I meant. I usually feed a local brand, M-G. Been using them for years and sometimes there's just a bad bag I guess. It was full of what looked like floor sweepings and dead bug parts. I took it back and used the credit for the Organic stuff. When I tried to give them Purina last year, they wouldn't touch it. I mean they'd starve to death rather than eat it. I gave up after giving them nothing but that food for 4 days.

 

[galefrances]

Could someone tell me if this feed looks bad? I made too much and it's been sitting for two days and I've never seen this growth before. (mold?) It smells like sourdough, but much stronger than what I previously had.( It could knock you over ) I don't think it smells like "bad bacteria" but I feel uncomfortable giving it to my pullets unless someone can tell if it looks okay. Thanks.