Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Ullie]

Here is a photo of my chickens enjoying some FF, they pick out the BOSS first.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here is a photo of my chickens enjoying some FF, they pick out the BOSS first.

Very pretty chickens what breed?

 

[Ullie]

Thank you, they are Black and Blue Copper Marans as well as a OE mix in the background.

 

[aoxa]

Are my chickens the only chickens that don't care much for BOSS? They'd much rather have barley and oats. I have this scratch mix that has less corn than the barley and oats, and it's their absolute favourite.

Though the very #1 favourite grain/seed they love is Millet. Watch out! Especially if you offer it by hand to chicks. Fingers will be eaten

 

[cutechick2010]

Anyone know if rabbit food is dangerous for chickens to eat? My birds keep eating all my rabbit food

Mine have never shown any ill effects from it, and they have been stealing it any chance they get for years. The only thing in the rabbit feed that might cause a problem is the salt content, and it doesn't seem to be high enough to hurt them.

 

[cutechick2010]

Okay, I'll try bigger holes than!
Shur Gain. It's not medicated. I have no idea what it consists of. I have just two barn bunnies hopping around and looking cute

No real purpose other than cuteness really. I just don't want anyone getting sick from eating their pellets.

Mostly timothy or alfalfa hay and minerals etc. There really is no "medicated" feed for rabbits like there is for chickens.

 

[cutechick2010]

Thanks for keeping FF simple! It has been an effective practice for me with my small flock of 14 chickens. The eggs are larger, the poop less messy, the chickens eat it (so does the dog!), and the routine is simple, fast, and effective. Even though I'm a newbie (again) to chickens, I really think I've learned enough to do it without this thread...yet I keep returning...but now sure why now. Everything seems to repeat or get very nit-picking.

Oh, your dog too? LOL That is the only problem I have had with using the FF, I have to corral and put up the dogs before feeding or they steal it from the birds! I would never have expected dogs to want to eat vinegar smelling grain, LOL. Goofy critters.

 

[cutechick2010]

I didn't do it in the FF, but I did soak it in water and serve last year. It smelled God awful

It didn't smell like pickles.. It's hard to explain.
They would not touch it last year. This year my birds are eating rabbit pellets, so maybe they would like it a bit more...?
Maybe a bit of rabbit pellets in the food would give it a nice added green colour.

You must have gotten a moldy bag or something, alfalfa cubes should only smell like hay. I love the smell of the soaked cubes, similar to a freshly mowed lawn.

 

[aoxa]

I didn't do it in the FF, but I did soak it in water and serve last year. It smelled God awful

It didn't smell like pickles.. It's hard to explain.

They would not touch it last year. This year my birds are eating rabbit pellets, so maybe they would like it a bit more...?

Maybe a bit of rabbit pellets in the food would give it a nice added green colour.

You must have gotten a moldy bag or something, alfalfa cubes should only smell like hay. I love the smell of the soaked cubes, similar to a freshly mowed lawn.

It was pellets, not cubes. It didn't look moldy at all

 

[cutechick2010]

I sometimes put rabbit pellets in my FF

I wonder about the salt content in the rabbit feed though? I have always been told that salt is not good for chickens.