Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Turkeytruff]

'Seems there was some talk about rabbits not being able to eat corn I believe. So I'd wait till someone who has rabbits comes in, I feed both I am giving 20 chickens and about 8ducks 3cups of ff a day.I'll probably feed more when warm weather starts again in the spring, but I don't sit the ff out till late morning now so it has a chance to warm a bit outside. They have finished 3 cups by late afternoon, The chickens eat most of it the ducks nibble,. I use a strainer and scoop out 3 cups let it drain over the bucket for about 45min. then feed'
Apologies if this is somewhere in the forums already. I have finally read all the FF info (wow!

) and all the turkey forums and have been feeding 14 chickens (7 bantams and 7 'rescue' black copper marans that were in severe moult and also had scaly problems and some had twisted feet from living on wire) and 4 turkeys (2 BB 'heritage' turkeys and 2 Narragensett ones). My query is that I have been feeding them about 90% FF for about 3 weeks now and wonder if there is enough available protein for the turkeys. They descend on it like there is no tomorrow but one of them is also eating feathers and sometimes plucking them from the others which I read is a possible sign of needing more protein. Any ideas out there? Thank you!

 

[Lacy Blues]

It's generally a sign that they need ANIMAL protein. Try throwing them some handfuls of dry cat food. You could put it into your mix if you want.

 

[Beekissed]

'Seems there was some talk about rabbits not being able to eat corn I believe. So I'd wait till someone who has rabbits comes in, I feed both I am giving 20 chickens and about 8ducks 3cups of ff a day.I'll probably feed more when warm weather starts again in the spring, but I don't sit the ff out till late morning now so it has a chance to warm a bit outside. They have finished 3 cups by late afternoon, The chickens eat most of it the ducks nibble,. I use a strainer and scoop out 3 cups let it drain over the bucket for about 45min. then feed'
Apologies if this is somewhere in the forums already. I have finally read all the FF info (wow!

) and all the turkey forums and have been feeding 14 chickens (7 bantams and 7 'rescue' black copper marans that were in severe moult and also had scaly problems and some had twisted feet from living on wire) and 4 turkeys (2 BB 'heritage' turkeys and 2 Narragensett ones). My query is that I have been feeding them about 90% FF for about 3 weeks now and wonder if there is enough available protein for the turkeys. They descend on it like there is no tomorrow but one of them is also eating feathers and sometimes plucking them from the others which I read is a possible sign of needing more protein. Any ideas out there? Thank you!

You can try adding a little calf manna into your FF until they are back on track with their nutrition. It is a high pro feed used for finishing for show or market but it's also useful in reconditioning flocks that have had poor nutrition and care.

 

[pigeonguy]

'Seems there was some talk about rabbits not being able to eat corn I believe. So I'd wait till someone who has rabbits comes in, I feed both I am giving 20 chickens and about 8ducks 3cups of ff a day.I'll probably feed more when warm weather starts again in the spring, but I don't sit the ff out till late morning now so it has a chance to warm a bit outside. They have finished 3 cups by late afternoon, The chickens eat most of it the ducks nibble,. I use a strainer and scoop out 3 cups let it drain over the bucket for about 45min. then feed'
Apologies if this is somewhere in the forums already. I have finally read all the FF info (wow!

) and all the turkey forums and have been feeding 14 chickens (7 bantams and 7 'rescue' black copper marans that were in severe moult and also had scaly problems and some had twisted feet from living on wire) and 4 turkeys (2 BB 'heritage' turkeys and 2 Narragensett ones). My query is that I have been feeding them about 90% FF for about 3 weeks now and wonder if there is enough available protein for the turkeys. They descend on it like there is no tomorrow but one of them is also eating feathers and sometimes plucking them from the others which I read is a possible sign of needing more protein. Any ideas out there? Thank you!

Sometimes it is not about that you are not giving enough protein but are you giving the right kind of protein. I don't know what your protein level is at the moment.
I will tell you what I would do if this was happening to me and I thought my protein levels were good. I would add animal protein and fat into their diet. Hopefully you eat bacon add the bacon lard to their feed. How do you do this with fermented feed. Take the FF out of your main bucket and put into another put in the bacon lard and stir well and feed as normal. Hamburger grease would work also. Do not put grease in your main ferment bucket. Post your protein levels or exactly what is in your ferment by weight or parts and I will try to give you your protein value. Do remember though fats and other minerals are important too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Was anyone else having a problem getting into threads last night? I could get on BYC but couldn't get on to any threads. So happy to be able to catch up this morning.

 

[galanie]

Yep, site was not available for me for a bit. There was another I tried to get to as well that wasn't reachable. I did a bit of research and a main backbone server was down for a repair for a bit in.. now I can't remember, Virginia or Georgia. So I thought that might have something to do with it.

 

[smyers32]

Finally ran low enough on my original bag of crumbles to buy more feed. I really wanted to do a mix of whole grains and crumbles or pellets, but couldn't find any whole grains at the feed stores near me(only have chain stores left i.e. Tractor supply, orscheln's...old fashion feed mill went out of business last summer

) So anyway, I found this 'game bird blend' that is a mix of many different grains. I'd have to look at the tag, but it looks like wheat, milo, corn, oats and maye some other stuff, plus a small portion of game bird pellets. The overall protein for the blend was 15% which I thought was a little low, so I got a bag of 20% crumbles to mix in, figure it would even out to about right for a flock of layers.
Here's what it looks like all mixed together:




Kinda pretty, no?
let it 'cook' for about a day and a half (very warm here the last few days) and voila! chickens are happy anyway.

 

[Beekissed]

Looks good enough to eat!

 

[smyers32]

Looks good enough to eat!

The chickens thought so too! I wish it didn't have soybeans, but seems the chooks pick around them anyway, so whatever. Got another egg today too! 4 eggs in 3 days is still pretty pathetic from 6 hens...ok make that VERY pathetic. But after seeing nothing for 3 weeks, I'm excited anyway. I'd love to figure out who is laying though, so I can eat the others. I have all kinds of yummy plans for them.

 

[bruceh]

Looks good enough to eat!

bee i am not eating it. it looks to healthy.