Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

You're right! I never thought about it, but it does smell a little like coffee brewing and I love that smell too...but I don't like coffee. I also like pipe smoke, the smell of gasoline, spray paint, rubbing alcohol, fingernail polish, and magic markers. When I was pregnant for my last two boys my mouth would actually water when I pumped gas...I actually CRAVED the smell of fumes. Did some reading up on it and found I was not alone and many crave smells instead of certain foods.

my daughter also loves the smell of gas. I love the smell of a fresh rain. ;-)

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Thought y'all would get a kick out of this vid....can see many BYCers being described here! So funny!

LOL !! So true !

 

[mlowen]

Another "skunk smells like coffee" person...and I like the smells you like, too, Bee! I thought I have an olfactory disability, but maybe we are all just unique.

 

[fuzziecreatures]

Ok, so I am trying to read through this gigantic thread and am only on page 70 after 5 days... I was trying to find some sort of recipe for feed. I feed 65 chickens ages 2 years to 2 weeks. 1 mature rooster, some juvenile cockerels, rest pullets and hens and babies. I've been soaking the start and grow for the last few days and they love it so far. I'm ready to jump into fermentation.

I don't want to waste food or grain, experimenting with fermentation recipes. We have Purina start and grow feed, BOSS, hard white wheat, sratch grains with oats, and buckwheat currently. We can get corn, I'd have to ask the feed store about other grains. I have my own acv going, 2 different recipes. I have Heinz acv with mother. 5 gal buckets to ferment in. I also have a giant 55gal barrel I can use in the garage.

Any specific ratio for these ingredients?

I have oyster shell on the side for the hens and grit free choice but they get most of that free ranging in the yard - they have about 1 1/4 acres to roam.
Those juvenile cockerels are also going to be grown up for the table.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: I missed this question originally. Yes, I hatched chicks out of FF hens... they were production chicks, they were either Buff on Buff, or Buff on Prod Red. Hatching went great... Muccle, my d'Uccle who spends most of her life broody hatched them for me. She was determined to hatch that golf ball she was on so we gave her 7 eggs. No trouble with the hatch, chicks are almost too friendly (can't get the silly things out from under foot), and quite healthy. Only lost one of the entire hatch at about 4 days old. Everyone this year has had nothing but FF and free range. Muccle wasn't with the free range group yet so she'd had nothing but FF.
My chicks who are anywhere from 2 months to 7 months right now have had nothing but FF - ever.
I have quite a few chicks... zero health problems... and other than the one Muccle lost at four days old have not lost one chick that made it out of the bator.
And I have a LOT of chicks this year... let's see... 20 HRIR, 7 Rhodebars, 7 SFH, 24 production layers, 8 d'Uccles... so that's 66 chicks, 65 still alive and doing well... 5 d'Uccles went to a friend's daughter. So I currently have 60 chicks... hoping to get that down quite a bit better winter gets here. Don't want to feed them all.

I am keeping 12 HRIR (2 cockerels, 10 pullets), 3 Rhodebars (2 cockerels, 1 pullet), 6 SFH (1 cockerel, 5 pullets), 16 production layers (the girls), 2 d'Uccles (the girls). So... as you can imagine my cockerel pen is getting quite full... it has quite a variety in it. By Oct all the production layers will be combined, along with the d'Uccles. The HRIR, Rhodebars, and SFH will stay separated until I get breeding pen assignments done... still waiting to see how a few grow out.

This year, my production layers have helped support the remaining birds by selling a bunch of eggs, but next I need a few of these other breeds to step up to the plate and help support the flock. Am hoping to sell some fertilized eggs from the SFHs at the very least. My Rhodebar breeding program will have all F1 crosses next year, so most of those will not be breeders.

Wow... long answer to a short question... sorry I guess I got off on a tangent...

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Anyone ever notice their chickens' combs and wattles seem to become a more colourful, deeper red after feeding FF. I have a few 12 week olds and a couple on particular had pale combs before feeding FF; now that I have had them on FF for a couple of weeks their combs appear to be getting more colourful and red. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this ?

 

[armorfirelady]

Anyone ever notice their chickens' combs and wattles seem to become a more colourful, deeper red after feeding FF. I have a few 12 week olds and a couple on particular had pale combs before feeding FF; now that I have had them on FF for a couple of weeks their combs appear to be getting more colourful and red. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this ?

Yes I noticed this last year with my 4 older hens when I started them on FF.

 

[7acres]

Another "skunk smells like coffee" person...and I like the smells you like, too, Bee! I thought I have an olfactory disability, but maybe we are all just unique.

Evidentally I have a different type of skunk here and buy a different kind of coffee.

 

[Triple Willow]

I missed this question originally. Yes, I hatched chicks out of FF hens... they were production chicks, they were either Buff on Buff, or Buff on Prod Red. Hatching went great... Muccle, my d'Uccle who spends most of her life broody hatched them for me. She was determined to hatch that golf ball she was on so we gave her 7 eggs. No trouble with the hatch, chicks are almost too friendly (can't get the silly things out from under foot), and quite healthy. Only lost one of the entire hatch at about 4 days old. Everyone this year has had nothing but FF and free range. Muccle wasn't with the free range group yet so she'd had nothing but FF. My chicks who are anywhere from 2 months to 7 months right now have had nothing but FF - ever. I have quite a few chicks... zero health problems... and other than the one Muccle lost at four days old have not lost one chick that made it out of the bator. And I have a LOT of chicks this year... let's see... 20 HRIR, 7 Rhodebars, 7 SFH, 24 production layers, 8 d'Uccles... so that's 66 chicks, 65 still alive and doing well... 5 d'Uccles went to a friend's daughter. So I currently have 60 chicks... hoping to get that down quite a bit better winter gets here. Don't want to feed them all.

I am keeping 12 HRIR (2 cockerels, 10 pullets), 3 Rhodebars (2 cockerels, 1 pullet), 6 SFH (1 cockerel, 5 pullets), 16 production layers (the girls), 2 d'Uccles (the girls). So... as you can imagine my cockerel pen is getting quite full... it has quite a variety in it. By Oct all the production layers will be combined, along with the d'Uccles. The HRIR, Rhodebars, and SFH will stay separated until I get breeding pen assignments done... still waiting to see how a few grow out. This year, my production layers have helped support the remaining birds by selling a bunch of eggs, but next I need a few of these other breeds to step up to the plate and help support the flock. Am hoping to sell some fertilized eggs from the SFHs at the very least. My Rhodebar breeding program will have all F1 crosses next year, so most of those will not be breeders. Wow... long answer to a short question... sorry I guess I got off on a tangent...

RedRidge, you are one hard working woman, and pretty dang smart too.

 

[TexasLisa]

Well I guess I will have to join the 'odor' group. Skunks don't bother me either. What seems to make people think I am crazy is when I tell them I love the smell of cow manure and old barns. They tend to keep their distance after that!

I also love the posts on rabbits. Very interesting!

Lisa