Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Miss Lydia]

Lol it takes 5 minutes to feed and water the Turkey's
Then there's the rabbit, the ferret the dog and the turtle and Wed we get chickens. I work several jobs and am a single parent of a baseball addicted preteen. 5 minutes of my mornings would take away a cup of coffee.. which in turn would make everything else take longer and in Houston getting on the road 5 minutes late could put you in 30 minutes of traffic ... Then my road rage would kick in and with my lack of coffee I may just go ballistic on some idiot and then I'd go to jail and then who'd feed my birds their store bought pellets?

your baseball addicted preteen?

 

[Pozees]

Time Management and FF:

If you are getting chicks you will need a few minutes to feed and water them every day regardless of which kind of feeding you do, and as others, I have found once you get through the first few days of adjustment (starting on a Saturday decreases the impact of this and you can time yourself) FF takes no more time than dry, and in many ways less, because I make fewer trips to the feed mill. Turkeys can also eat FF.

Preteens can be really good at helping, and presumably at least one or two of the pets are his/hers, so feeding and cleaning them should be the preteen's responsibility - I was a single mom too, like Bee, completely understand how difficult it is to manage time, and unless the preteen wants to pitch in on pet care, you may have too many animals. I got into that situation myself, and had to cut back, which broke my heart at the time, but it was the right decision for me and my son, and for the animals. They had more attention from people who had more time for them, and I finally got some rest and had a better attitude toward my son. I figured he was only going to be growing up once, and that had to be at the top of my priority list.

Once I realized I was actually only one very imperfect human being who only had so many hours and so much energy in each day, and adjusted to my new reality, life got a lot more manageable.

 

[Kassaundra]

It is true if you are scooping and feeding dry food every day, then scooping and feeding fermented food takes no more time to your feeding routine then the dry, however if she has a set up for her dry feed that allows the dry feed to be free choice 24/7 then it may very well add time to her feeding schedule. I also agree about the pre teen doing some of the feeding chores, however in reality that may just add to the time it takes also, all the time it takes telling him/her to do it, not to mention the mental frustration in a busy morning schedule.

 

[Pozees]

It is true if you are scooping and feeding dry food every day, then scooping and feeding fermented food takes no more time to your feeding routine then the dry, however if she has a set up for her dry feed that allows the dry feed to be free choice 24/7 then it may very well add time to her feeding schedule. I also agree about the pre teen doing some of the feeding chores, however in reality that may just add to the time it takes also, all the time it takes telling him/her to do it, not to mention the mental frustration in a busy morning schedule.

Good point, was just thinking with chicks you usually have to tend to them once or twice a day anyway.

Also good point about reminding/arguing with the preteen, but if you post a chart on the fridge that says, "3 reminders = rehoming this pet/these pets" and mark every time you have to remind, be clear about what time chores must be completed, etc. could be a chance to teach responsibility and consequences, as painful as that can be for all concerned.

After I thinned down the number of pets we had, my son would periodically beg for a new puppy, and I would ask if that meant he no longer wanted to attend birthday parties and sleepovers, because the puppy needed to be taken care of every day, not just the ones that fit his schedule. When he said yes, I would say okay let's practice for a month and see what happens. It would take about a week or so for him to realize he would rather see his friends than stay home to do puppy care. Granted, it was easier to reinforce that lesson because we lived far enough away from school and his friends that he couldn't just walk or ride his bike when he wanted to go visit, he needed me to drive him if he didn't just go home with a friend on the bus after school.

What worked for me will not work for everyone, and if the only way to fit chicks/chickens into a schedule is to keep a dry feeder topped off, obviously millions of chickens have done just fine on that.

 

[3 NH reds]

Put kids to work. If they get paid for chores the will do it, just remember not to pay if they stop. Cold weather had stopped me from feeding FF. The stink of the poo and the amount of feed pellets I went through stopped this. I never dump out old ff juice I just add water with every new batch.Takes no time to do this. As far as draining it to get ff out I rest a bucket over the other bucket and scoop away. I am lucky that all my birds can have food out 24/7 and do not get fat. But my meat birds are Rangers not Cornish.

 

[Beekissed]

your baseball addicted preteen?

Hey...it's a legitimate excuse to not do FF!

It is true if you are scooping and feeding dry food every day, then scooping and feeding fermented food takes no more time to your feeding routine then the dry, however if she has a set up for her dry feed that allows the dry feed to be free choice 24/7 then it may very well add time to her feeding schedule. I also agree about the pre teen doing some of the feeding chores, however in reality that may just add to the time it takes also, all the time it takes telling him/her to do it, not to mention the mental frustration in a busy morning schedule.

Training from an early age to do as you say will take care of all of this. Reinforcing that training will keep it fresh and working well so that you can depend on them to do the jobs to which they have been assigned. It helps them later when they have to work for a living and have to do tasks assigned without being told each day.

Put kids to work. If they get paid for chores the will do it, just remember not to pay if they stop. Cold weather had stopped me from feeding FF. The stink of the poo and the amount of feed pellets I went through stopped this. I never dump out old ff juice I just add water with every new batch.Takes no time to do this. As far as draining it to get ff out I rest a bucket over the other bucket and scoop away. I am lucky that all my birds can have food out 24/7 and do not get fat. But my meat birds are Rangers not Cornish.

Seriously???

I was never paid for a chore in my life and neither were my children. Food and shelter are pay. It's called room and board in a real life job and it equals part of the total compensation and all children need to learn this. Would I still give them room and board if they did not do chores? Silly question...they have to do chores and there is no option for NOT doing them. Period.

I could go to work each morning knowing without a doubt that they were going to do their feeding chores and come home knowing that they are scrambling to get the other chores done "before Mom comes home"~just like I did as a child.

 

[TexasLisa]

I totally agree with Bee. I was never paid for doing chores around the house and neither did my kids. They had chores inside and outside the house. Whatever I (or my husband) was doing, the kids were right there doing it with us. It could have been changing the oil on the car, painting, sheetrocking, etc. etc. Kids need to be worked, not pampered.

I hope 'TamTurkey' doesn't think we are picking on her, because we aren't. I understand her comment about Houston's traffic!

If my DH is 5 minutes late in leaving the house, he gets caught int he worse traffic ever!

Lisa

 

[Pozees]

I totally agree with Bee. I was never paid for doing chores around the house and neither did my kids. They had chores inside and outside the house. Whatever I (or my husband) was doing, the kids were right there doing it with us. It could have been changing the oil on the car, painting, sheetrocking, etc. etc. Kids need to be worked, not pampered.

I hope 'TamTurkey' doesn't think we are picking on her, because we aren't. I understand her comment about Houston's traffic!

If my DH is 5 minutes late in leaving the house, he gets caught int he worse traffic ever!

Lisa

Yes, I've been in Houston only once, but traffic was truly unpleasant.

 

[TamTurkey]

Lol. My son does take care of the animals when he is home. And our livestock is his FFA projects we just get the bonus of eating the leftovers. These are not pets. Due to sports and school he is literally up before the chickens. Take my original post as the compliment it was intended to be. Fermenting isn't for everyone and that's ok.

 

[Beekissed]

That is true! We didn't mean to gang up on you in our zeal for everyone to drink the ACV......

Sorry. Just us cult members being fanatical.