Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

Pic of winter feed mix of layer mash, whole grain mix(barley, wheat, oats, BOSS, etc), cracked corn, a smatch of calf manna...

man that looks yummy! I bet they knock you over to get at that!

 

[RoseMarie1]

My 2 wk old chicks Diving into their morning FF.

2 of the silly chicks spent the night Under the Pallet house instead of inside w/Momma. Was 40F when I fed them this morning.

hee hee that's too stinkin' cute!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Oh, this thread is AMAZING!!! I've learned so much and I'm definitely going to give the fermented feed a try, and I'm super excited about it

Thanks so much for this thread, I love learning more about chickens and ways to keep them happy and healthy!

yea!!!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Omg! They LOVED it! I've never seen my babies stand up to the hens before, but those babies fluffed up and told the hens to take a hike!

Cleaned the bowl and then clucked around fat and happy.

When I went to put them to bed, they followed me right into the coop because they must have sensed that I had more wet deliciousness for them

So thrilled with the results already! This stuff is awesome!

ALRIGHT!!!!! LOL

 

[RoseMarie1]

That is sooooo funny! I thought I was the only mom with an oversensitive nose....

It's a curse, really. No, really..it is.

yes I think so to Bee! My husband takes a bath in his colgne and just about kills me. Makes me so sick to my stomach. But it's probably this sensitive nose of mine. My hearing is the same way. He tells everyone I can hear a pin drop. ;-) But the nose stuff is really bad!

 

[RoseMarie1]

My husband... OMG! I have ran from the room so many times...you guys are killing me my sides hurt, still laughing

I agree...... man we can do some discussing on this thread can't we? From poopy butts, to complainers, to farters.

 

[RoseMarie1]

That sorts the sheep from the goats, IMO. I like to give out good information to those who are practical, logical and most likely to use it for a good purpose. Anyone who won't kill a chicken for food is none of these qualities, in my book.

Gotcha beat. Takes me 5 seconds to scoop it out, about a minute to tote it out to the coop and dump it. The 2BS cuts out that middle time waster of draining it off.

WOW your coop must be at your back door! ;-) Mine is farther away so it takes me longer to get there. I have a little bucket I drilled holes in that has a handle on it that I scoop mine up with. Although I always have to scoop about 4 of the things out for sloppin' my lil pigs!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Yep. It was started here because feeding out meat birds is the most costly chicken project anyone can undertake and the cost and the mess/smell is a deterrent for people trying the CX, so I looked for ways to make feed conversion efficacy and to reculture these meaties bowels.

I had a theory that, in order for the hatcheries to breed these CX, they would probably be giving the breeding adults some pretty strong broad spectrum antibiotics in order to keep them alive long enough to become sexually mature in hatchery conditions. I found some info that confirmed that and that the chicks are born with those antibiotics in their systems at hatching.

Take a young chick and add strong antibiotics and you have a chick with the runs, with dehydration and with no natural immunities. So, I thought to restore healthy intestinal flora with the fermented feeds, while restoring the lost electrolytes and helping with immune system health. Just because they only live for a 2-3 months doesn't mean they can't be healthy while doing so....and who wants to eat unhealthy birds?

It worked! Much cheaper on feeds, much healthier and more active birds, zero mortality due to death from health or unknown health reasons.

Bee have you or do you know of anyone that has had eye worms happen to their chicks or chickens since eating ff?

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:
I use alfalfa meal as part of my laying ration in the winter (when they aren't free ranging) and always in my chick ration.
It is part of the premix I add to the FF grains (so the alfalfa meal itself is not actually fermented.
It is 17% protein (as a minimum)

 

[armorfirelady]

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.

Nope never in there year I have been raising chickens. And my yard is known as *Lake Schaefer* when we get a lot of rain. I have a low spot that runs from the front of the property to the back. When we had all that rain for almost a month straight it was the largest ever. I even had to move the coop. A lot of mosquitoes around but havent had a problem.

Im sure some were bitten as their coop even on higher ground is near where the sitting water was.

My plan is to hand dig a trench to take the water away from here.