Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[KPenley]

I have had a couple of really healthy hatches this year from FF hens

The chicks have not been larger than those hatched from dry fed hens, but they're strong, healthy, and I have not had one with abnormalities or leg issues ( I did before with shipped eggs, dry fed hens' offspring). Cream Legbars have thick shells, but all the chicks hatched fine! The best thing, and this could be coincidence...I've had higher female to male hatches both times (3/2, and 6/3)!
Some of our new babies

 

[Triple Willow]

Ours is quite strong 9kv... the trick is that depending on the kv you have you need to hook a certain number in sequence to prevent burning them out.

Thank you for the info. I am seriously thinking on getting some - and I sure don't want to fry it first thing! lol I will pay close attention to the hookup and power requirement part!

 

[Triple Willow]

Ours is quite strong 9kv... the trick is that depending on the kv you have you need to hook a certain number in sequence to prevent burning them out.

I do need to hurry up and get some electricity up. My dogs had me running out of the house early this morning with them barking at something down by the coop again. Their barking must have ran it off because nothing there when I got there. By golly I was prepared this morning, I had the 20 guage instead of my Daisy! lol As Martha Stewart would say, electric fencing "is a good thing!"

 

[RoseMarie1]

Originally Posted by Beekissed
I'm curious...anyone hatch chicks out this year from eggs of hens on FF? Was curious about those heavy, larger yolks and if the nutrition seemed higher for the chicks, yielding a stronger chick with better growth? Also was wondering about anyone hatching FF eggs that had too thick and strong of shells for the chicks to open?
I'm thinking that due to the silence, no one really thought about it. And, to be fair, you'd have to have good records or a good memory of "Before FF"... It IS a really interesting question. If I had acreage, I might do a 'control' test flock or two in the back 40 that only get H20 and layer mix, no ranging, and compare to a FF only ranging flock and a FF only non-ranging flock... hatch maybe 4 batches of 2 dozen eggs each group over the course of the hatching season, then publish the findings (obviously, would need comparable populations, all Orps or something, similar ages, prefer all hatched from same parent sets)... <sigh> I love research. I miss it.

yeah that would really be cool!!!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I have had a couple of really healthy hatches this year from FF hens

The chicks have not been larger than those hatched from dry fed hens, but they're strong, healthy, and I have not had one with abnormalities or leg issues ( I did before with shipped eggs, dry fed hens' offspring). Cream Legbars have thick shells, but all the chicks hatched fine! The best thing, and this could be coincidence...I've had higher female to male hatches both times (3/2, and 6/3)!
Some of our new babies

THANK YOU!!!! That all sounds good to me.

 

[mlowen]

So...when I rinse my stirring spoon or strainer or feeding bucket in the sink, am I doing wicked good things for my septic tank? Just wondering. :/

 

[Triple Willow]

Farm eggs here go for $2/dozen. If the same eggs made it to a health food store they would probably be $4/dozen. I am just getting back into chicken, haven't had any since I was a kid. I hatched out my birds in March and they are just now laying and I have more a few weeks behind those. I plan to end up with around 20-25 layers. I suppose I will sell some to try to cover feed costs but if I had my way I would give them away to deserving poor folks (not lazy). I'd especially like to supply the elderly folks with fresh eggs. I have a soft spot in my heart for them because I know how most of them are treated. Okay, enough of that... before I get something in my eye. haha

I bought a secluded tract of land (almost 7 acres) down the road from where I live for about $650/acre about 15 years ago. About 5 years ago it was worth about $5,000/acre a real estate friend told me. Now I might could get $3,000 out of it. I was going to live on it but there is so much hunting down there I was afraid I would catch a stray bullet while sitting in my living room! I was thinking about selling it but I keep thinking that if everything went crazy FOOD could be found down there (deer, squirrel, rabbit, wild turkey, etc). I live here on my mom's place but we rented most of it out this year for row crops - but I did keep me out about 2 acres to play on- the chicken ranch! LOL

 

[Triple Willow]

Do any of y'all ever grow rabbits? I keep thinking about that too. An Amish friend of mine told me that they eat more rabbit than they do chicken. A lot of them grow them.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Willow! I grow rabbits, in fact! :3

Rabbits are a GREAT resource. They do extremely well in cages so you can stack them "battery style" unlike chickens that like being in a flock and ranging. Rabbits like being out on the ground foraging but they're really NOT group animals, and they do very well in large cages.

I tend to spend $1-$2 per lb raising rabbits depending on the weather... Which is TBH comparable to the cost of raising meat birds around here if you haven't the land to free range all the time. (A bag of feed is $17-$18 and if each bird eats about half a bag and dresses down to 5lbs you're lookin' at about $1.40+/lb. Which for free range chicken is cheap around here.)

The trick is to feed hay. Lots and LOTS of high protein GRASS hay (IE, no clover, low in alfalfa, orchard and timothy do well). A rabbit will produce 4-12 kits in a litter (7-8 being average for most people) and each of those kits should give you 2-4lbs of meat in 10-12 weeks.

The thing about rabbits though is $5/lb is the going rate around here, even without organic or being chopped into "cuts". So the profit margin is much higher. Also they have more protein than almost any other meat out there, and less fat. They're very tasty and I like them better than chicken in a lot of ways.
Also there's a big market for them so selling live young for profit is quite possible if you get quality animals. And you get furs.

Here in Ohio rabbits are considered "non-amenable" which means they can be sold as a processed carcass from farm to consumer without inspection. Chickens can be too, and turkeys but only up to 1000/yr. No limit on rabbits! And boy are they easy to clean....

Well, I don't want to turn this into a rabbit thread but I could go on for hours about how great they are...! Feel free to ask me any questions! (Probably though PM?)

 

[Demosthine]

Willow, we just got our first two rabbits and want to start breeding for meat. I am free ranging one of them in my backyard and he doesn't eat the Timothy hay anymore. He prefers our grass and tree clippings. From my reading, you process them between eight and ten weeks after birth. California and New Zealands seem to be the two popular breeds.

Rabbits are slightly healthier than chicken. It has higher protein, less fat and fewer calories. I head they taste amazing, too, and are even easier to process than chickens. It's too hot for breeding here at the moment, though.

You can join The Urban Rabbit Project on FaceBook for a good group of people to talk to. We discuss it on the Arizona Backyard Farmers FaceBook page, too.