Ok, so my feed has been "cooking" for almost a week now, and still no bubbles. It smells sour and slightly pickled, but I have to really get my nose in the bucket to even smell that. I started feeding it yesterday, because i figured even if it's just soaked it still should be better than dry, and my two are nuts over it. But I'm concerned that it's not really fermenting. I'm fermenting whole oats, and scratch, with some split peas and barley thrown in.
Also, I wanted to supplement with some flax seed. I know you don't sprout it because it gets so slimey when it soaks
. should I throw it into the ferment bucket, or serve it as a top dressing with my ground eggshells and kelp meal
?? Your FF will get a little slimy/snotty anyway, so I wouldn't be worried about a little extra slime in there. I've also fermented the egg shells with the rest of the feed no problemo, but haven't tried the kelp meal, though I'm pretty sure I've seen where others have tried with no problems. and should I grind it for the chickens like I would for other animals, or can they manage the seeds themselves in their crops (seeds are too hard for most animals to digest, but, unsure of that concerning chickens with the grit in their crops?).
also, as a completely new chicken owner, having trouble wrapping my head around how much to feed them... is it possible to feed them too much?
From my limited experience and some reading, chickens are self regulating when it comes to food. Except for the meaties(CX), they tend to have leg problems if they eat too much too fast. they clean up what I give them twice a day (although not immediately), should I give them more until there's a little left? Is there a sort of "about x amount per chicken then adjust to suit current needs?" Currently they're not getting free range, they'll start that sunday. Plenty of fresh air and sunshine through the double doors on the shed during the day though. I give them all the fruit/veggie scraps from the kitchen, and some leftover bread/scraps of meat/cooking grease as well. I feel super sorry for them shut up, but I don't want them to run off and haven't had them quite a week yet! I've been splitting up their kitchen scraps into a couple lots and taking things out several times a day so they have fresh things to look at and scratch around throughout the day..... seems like it would be really boring shut up in a shed even with lots of fresh air and sunshine!
Once I started mine free ranging, I cut their feed back a little so that the trough is empty for 1/2-3/4 of the day. If we ever get any rain to get the weeds/grass growing and the spring bugs arrive, I'll cut their feed even more.
I'm also adding ACV to their water at the rate of a little more than a 1 TBSP per gallon, is that enough? I'm giving it to my two parrots in their water as well now, I'm hoping it may help my 35year old feather plucking previously abused african grey do a little better.... I was considering giving them a bit of the fermented feed as well, has anyone tried this? I don't think it can really hurt them. Right now they get a diet of sprouts, seeds, vegetables/fruit, nuts in the shells, and free choice pellets that they prefer to throw on the floor. But I figure it's impossible to have too many good bacteria in their guts!
Don't know about this one but you're probably right. People on here have fed FF to all sorts of birds: chickens, ducks, turkeys, quail, don't forget dogs, horses, cats, cattle, hogs...
Forgive me if any of this has already been covered, I'm only on page 280....
