Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RedRidge]

Suggestion; if you're going through 15# of dry feed a month with free access before FF, you can figure to go through no MORE than that fermented. Calculate out your daily dry feed needs (sounds like about 0.5lbs/day?) and ferment and ration accordingly. So if you wanna do a fresh fermentation to feed daily, ferment .5lbs every day, if you wanna do a weeks worth, ferment 3.5lbs and feed out through the week. If they finish that every day and don't get super fat you're not doing them any harm and you can creep down from there as-needed to encourage more free ranging or up to make up for a lack of forage in winter. I'd say however much dry they were eating before FF is a good expectation for the tops of how much dry matter you should ferment for them.

In other words... for those who weigh their FF... about 1 lb of dry grains equals about 2.25 of wet grains in most of the rations I have weighed.
So if you feed 1 lb/day to 3 birds, then to those same three birds you will give 2.25 lb of FF

 

[Triple Willow]

lol it rained like that here yesterday. Good thing I'm up on high ground! BUT our land does slop down hill toward the chickens pen so we had to do a little ditch at the front door to make the water go around that way and not right through the middle of their roosting area.

We are up on fairly high ground too, but the house is at the top of the hill and everything else is headed down hill. Rain is just falling so fast it has nowhere to go! I guess if the coop was at the top of the hill I might have chicken turds running through my living room! LOL August is always hot and dry here. Any year in the past I would have had plenty of dry weather and time to get the fall monsoon-ready coop prepared, but nooo not this year. This is so weird, it is just like October-November weather.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

un-doubtly not because mine have done the same thing and they dearly LOVE this stuff for some reason!

When we put the tin up on the north wall and the west wall of their pen, the tin has big humps in it so I filled all those in so snakes couldn't get in AND so it would be warmer in the winter time. I have had to keep poultry wire leaned up on each side on the inside so they can't get at it. Then on the outside I have pieces of ceramic tiles to keep them out of it. I was so worried when I first saw they did this but then when they were alright the next morning I was like well, I guess they are OK. Can you nail some narrow pieces of the poultry wire over it so they can't get at it?

Hi Rose, I found some old pieces of left over siding laying under the deck so I fastened those to the last row on the bottom. This had blocked the east and north walls, now I just need to block the west wall. The south facing wall is too high for the to reach up and eat any styrofoam so I'm not worried about it. They're all fine this morning so I guess it hasn't caused any ill effects thus far ! The little buggers !

 

[7acres]

I wouldn't feed it continuously...but then, I would never feed dry feeds on a continuous ration.

If they are not free ranged, how would you feed? Are you saying that you would not just feed ff all the time and would alternate with dry feed. I do not free range mine at present due to the fact I live in a dry area and the grass dies over the summer and predators. I have 7 acres and it is all wooded except for the area around my house. Plus it is on a gradual sloping hill and my concern is that the chickens will scratch up the little leaf cover I have in the woods and when we get a heavy rain it will wash the soil away.
I am going to fence in an area that is about 300 x 30 and build a new coop and let them roam in there during the day and lock them up at night. Just had something get in and get a cockerel that I had separated inside a 4 ft fence and open front shed. I was going to give him away and wanted to separate him from my pullets. Oh, to have to worry about too much water!

 

[Beekissed]

If they are not free ranged, how would you feed? Are you saying that you would not just feed ff all the time and would alternate with dry feed. I do not free range mine at present due to the fact I live in a dry area and the grass dies over the summer and predators. I have 7 acres and it is all wooded except for the area around my house. Plus it is on a gradual sloping hill and my concern is that the chickens will scratch up the little leaf cover I have in the woods and when we get a heavy rain it will wash the soil away.
I am going to fence in an area that is about 300 x 30 and build a new coop and let them roam in there during the day and lock them up at night. Just had something get in and get a cockerel that I had separated inside a 4 ft fence and open front shed. I was going to give him away and wanted to separate him from my pullets. Oh, to have to worry about too much water!

No, I'm saying that no matter what I fed it would not be on a free choice, continuous basis like people do with large, bulk feeders. Even if they could not free range, I would not do this. For one, leaving a continuous offering of grains out in the open attracts rodents, bugs and wild birds to the grains and results in feed waste and disease vectors in their living area.

It also presents them with a steady food source from which they graze continually but receive no real exercise, so it's essentially feeding up a bunch of couch potatoes and soon you will have the results of that in their health and in their laying life~just like in us humans. Rich, continuous diet and no exercise, nothing to do and nowhere to go...what kind of life is that, really? Leads to stress, feather picking, poor laying, poor health, poor socializing.

Free range provides an ongoing banquet...but the catch is they have to move continuously to feed from it. They are gaining exercise and also eating the ideal diet for their specie, so health is at a premium.

I would not keep chickens if I could not free range or keep them in a very large paddock/run for this very needed exercise and freedom of movement. Within that paddock or VERY large run I would provide deep litter opportunities so that they were not living on soils with high fecal contaminate and the feces were being composted on a continuous basis for the betterment of the soils, their health and for additional protein/foraging source as the litter encourages bug and worm life.

Within that paddock I would carefully cultivate and preserve the grasses. If in a large run, I would build growing frames in which to grow greens that chickens actually eat, guarded by wire so that the greens could not be destroyed. I'd also add compost from the run to these beds of greens and grow cold hardy greens such as kale, spinach and winter wheat. I would provide different levels of being, with logs, stumps, roosts and small brush piles, sheltered dusting spots and all manner of things I feel necessary for healthy chicken life and socialization. In other words they would have habitat suiting their species.

For grain feeding in a confined situation, I would provide one feeding that would be enough for two full meals...two full crops...for each bird. That would have to be guestimated but you'd soon find out what keeps them in good condition. Then I would provide grazing opportunities with the use of grass frames and deep litter in the run.

What mystifies me is the fact that people feel that birds confined to a small area need continuous food to keep them healthy, when it's actually less of a need for birds that never do much but walk around in a confined area all day. They are burning less calories and as such, need less food.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I would not keep chickens if I could not free range or keep them in a very large paddock/run for this very needed exercise and freedom of movement.  Within that paddock or VERY large run I would provide deep litter opportunities so that they were not living on soils with high fecal contaminate and the feces were being composted on a continuous basis for the betterment of the soils, their health and for additional protein/foraging source as the litter encourages bug and worm life.

Some really great info there, Bee !!

What do you suggest one uses for deep litter in a run ? I currently allow my chickens to free range only during the times I am home to supervise which means for the must part they are free ranging every evening and all day on weekends. I am wondering what I could use for deep litter in their run for when they need to be confined ?

 

[Beekissed]

Use whatever materials you see in nature and try to emulate that....bark, wood shavings, pine needles, woody weed trimmings, leaves, dried grass clippings(if you live in a hot and arid climate). Whatever encourages bug and worm life, keeps the barren soil covered, creates a depth of carbonaceous materials with which the nitrogen of the feces can bind and decompose properly. Keep adding to it as time goes along to keep that depth and proper balance of materials to promote good composting of all the materials.

It's the equivalent of giving your chickens a big compost pile to live on, with all the healthy bacteria and insect life that they need underfoot and in their habitat. Imagine the feral chickens of tropical climates and how rich is their diet when they forage under the canopy of a tropical forest. Think of how deep that forest floor litter really is and how rich in bug life, how clean the soils are so that they are loamy, spongy and able to absorb water instead of letting it stand on the top to grow harmful bacteria and attract pestilent mosquitoes. Their climate may be humid and damp,but their footing is dry due to all the leaf and twig litter on which they are walking.

If you live in a dry climate, use bedding that absorbs or has natural moisture, like grasses, hay, etc. If you live in a humid climate, add more dry materials that decompose more slowly, like bark and shavings.

 

[7acres]

I understand now Bee. thanks. You have given me more information than I asked for and ideas that will help set up a larger run. Some good stuff. One of the marks of a good teacher is that they not only answer the question, but expand the students mind with relative information. You do that in your responses. I was just thinking how great it would be if local backyard poultry people had a resource in given geographical areas. Like junior colleges that would offer community service classes by learned people like you to instruct in things that pertain to raising chickens by those of us that are novices. The problem probably would be that we are so scattered and loosely banded that it would be hard to get enough to come together for an occasional class. Thankful anyway for this type of forum.

 

[Beekissed]

I would so love to participate in something like that because it really has value for those who are earnest about learning it. I thank you for even wanting to learn, as it is a rare thing in animal husbandry nowadays, that people actually want to learn for themselves a better way than the books describe. My goal is that no one need ever have to treat illness in their flocks because they rarely, if ever, have any. That kind of flock keeping is immensely gratifying and is a great investment of the money spent on chickens.

 

[foreverlearning]

I would attend if something like that was offered. I joined this site because it was the closest I could get to learning from people who actually know better ways. Before I got into chickens I read a lot of books and mags about raising them, I think they are mostly fillers meant to help you "start". They tell you nothing on how to better your flocks health and living environment naturally. Everything seems to be meds, store bought feed, and space requirements. This helped at first, but I wanted something better and it led me here.

Thank you Bee for being on here, it seems that every time I look for an answer it is you either answering someone else or or me directly. I have learned a lot from your posts.