Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

Here is a pic of my feeder made from scrap 2x4s and rain guttering..yes, it's got a coating inside that keeps the feed from coming in contact with the metals. My hens do not get inside this or scratch but if they did, it is very easily overlaid with wire to prevent this. Drill a hole or two and zip tie on a wire cap...done. The wood feet keep it at a good height that prevents climbing inside but allows the standard bird to stand easily and eat at chest height. Coupla boards, coupla screws and you are in business! I've even drilled holes in the bottom of this feeder to allow excess fluids to drain off the feed.

Mine is up 5" tall for my chicks and they are constantly STILL getting on it! I put wire over it and not the BA's want to roost on the wire as I call it. (during the day) I am always making them get off! UGHH Have had to get poop out to be able to put food in it.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I just mix in things that would be beneficial for the hens. Pumpkins seeds, Boss, herbs, sunflower hearts, flax seed, alfalfa, garlic, etc. Whatever I happen to have on hand. I don't give them to them all the time. More in the fall and winter when they dont have much to forage for. I put them in muffin tins freeze them then pop them out & store in freezer bags in the freezer until I give them to the hens

 

[RoseMarie1]

OK I got a question..... reading about eye worms that is gotten from the chicks/chickens eating cock roaches and am understanding they can get this also from mosquitoes. Has anyone feeding ff had a chick or a chicken get an eye worm? Just curious about this and wanted to ask.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Thought I'd share this video of my fresh chicks enjoying the FF.

They are a day old, and at the end you can see the two week old chicks who taught them how to eat appear.

It worked out really well!! Chicken see, chicken do

SOOOOO CUTE!! lol

 

[RoseMarie1]

We've been in the midst of torrential rain and wind storms here in the PNW for days now and no end in sight. My seven birds are confined to coops with out access to green stuff until the storms pass so the thought of adding alfalfa to my FF sounded intriguing.
A 40 lb. bag of alfalfa cubes cost me $12.
I will ask about the timothy grass pellets next time.
I soaked six alfalfa cubes in warm water for a few minutes then tossed the whole thing in the FF. Stirred once. Gave a sample to all the birds. They gobbled it down faster than ever I've seen since getting them! Especially the 3 1/2 month old Silkie chicks!
My FF is two weeks old now and a bucket full of bubbly goodness. Sometimes it's soupy sometimes it's thick as mortar. Never seen any mold ever. No mess, no fuss, just scoop and go. I use the two bucket method. It works very well for me and I just use one scoop and one bowl each feeding. About two gallons going at any time. The same liquid with mother I started with two weeks ago. I just add every other day to keep it percolating. Pretty straight forward and easy.

Wonder HOW MUCH protein is in the alfalfa cubes? Do they come in something like the pine shavings come in, it's cube like. Just wondering? That's fairly cheap for 40 pounds of food.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Yep easy peasy never had to start over. I do add ACV when the smell starts to go away. It does bubble a lot when stirred but it also has bubble holes is the mix before that. I have put some effort into figuring how much dry to put back in but that was easy enough. If I take out 6 scoops FF I put back in 4 scoops dry and a little less than 3/4 gallon of water. That makes it real sloppy but then the next morning it only has a little water on top about an inch I stir it and that night when I feed it has soaked that up and looks thick with a generous layer of mother on top. My 5 gallon bucket is 2/3 full I take out half (6 scoops) that leaves 1/3 of a bucket add back the dry (4 scoops) next night it is 2/3 full.
What I carry to the coop 6 Scoops ff 2 scoops dry stir together. No holes in my trough to drip into the litter (moisture is bad) and make a mess and the trough is clean the next day.
Now that's what works for me. So take whatever feeding method works for you and do whats below.

If you are having mold problems do yourself a favor.
1 Make sure you keep the sides of your bucket scraped clean so that it can dry and not mold.
2 Feed out of the same bucket and replenish it every day.
3 Never use more than half of what is in your bucket before refilling.(if you need more than that
you should have two buckets of FF.
4 Don't let it ferment more than 24 hours it is not necessary and IMO raises the acidity to high
giving watery poops. To much of a good thing is a bad thing.
5 Shake your ACV before using to stir up the mother. Ain't no good if you don't.
5.5 Add one touch of ACV on Wednesday and another touch on Sunday.

It does not matter if your doing it the way Bee does it with two buckets or if your doing it the way I do with one bucket. This will prevent your mold issues.

Now I said if your having mold problems do that. If your not keep doing what your doing it seems to work for you.

OK so THIS may explain why some of mine have watery poop. I'll go back to feeding my ff more. I'll just use the one larger bucket since the 5 gallon one wasn't enough. Was afraid it would over flow on me if I got it too full. I have mine inside and already dealt with one mess and don't want another one. ;-)

 

[RoseMarie1]

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

Looks like they're enjoying it.

 

[RoseMarie1]

well after three weeks of reading 315 pages of posts, in my spare time, i have decided to take the plunge into fermented feed with my dual purpose flock. i started a small batch (not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket...hehe) two days ago. wish me luck

alright,one more convert.

wishing you luck!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I switch it up now and again...have been adding steamed barley to even out my proteins but the last stuff I mixed was oats, wheat, barley, a little cracked corn and a little BOSS...along with the layer mash and a very light sprinkling of the calf manna that is still hanging around in the mix from when I first got this flock back and wanted to add some quick fats before winter~now they are fat and almost too fat, so am cutting the richness of that mix with some lower protein grains now.

I usually move to a 50% mix of mash and whole grains for winter anyway to save on the feed bill during low egg production times, so I'm right on schedule with the whole grain mix I just added.

Do you ever use the alfalfa cubes in yours?

 

[RoseMarie1]

Everywhere I have ever worked is literally filled to the gills with these types of people! Can't escape them, though now I have....

I have family like this and I too avoid them like the plague. I have also slowly cut all my former "friends" out of my life that also have this problem....and that took out most of everyone I know. It's almost an epidemic proportions plague of the mind for society now to complain loudly and often about things they could easily change, but won't. But they still expect you to sit still and listen ad nauseum to their litany of problems.

I'm a fixer, not a whiner. If I have a problem I tackle it. If I cannot solve it, I learn to bear it gracefully...and quietly. The world is more and more lacking in those who are willing to solve the problems and more abundant in those who like to hear the sounds of their voices in a high pitched and rhythmic drone set on the Problem Station.

Don't believe me? Go to the section of the forum that deals with health issues and injuries and try to help. The most frequent flyers on that forum are also those who will either ignore your help and continue to do it "their way"...as that has been so successful for them in the past, or they will deny a million times that your solution will work "for me" and that they could "never do that!!!"~translate "WILL never do that".

It all makes my butt tired and it gets more tired the older I get.

I TOTALLY agree! TOTALLY! Can I say that again?

I look for solutions and if none can be found, then I have to live with it. But I'll drop dead looking for a solution to fix the problem. I can't stand someone to always complain like you said and you offer advise on how it can be fixed and they just want to complain. It's milks you of your energy and just zaps you totally. I'm like you, I try my best to avoid it.