Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

That's good to know and it sounds like your broody is a good one!

 

[jrsckn]

Week 4 Update!!


Day 29 6/27/12 Wed End of Week 4

Finish bucket #24 & 25 : 188C or roughly 60.75 lbs ( 156C starter @ 5oz/C and 32C broiler @ 6oz/C )
Fed CC 4C : 98C or roughly 31.375 lbs ( 86C starter @ 5oz/C and 12C broiler @ 6oz/C )
Total feed for all chicks : 92.125 lbs; according to Whelp Cum. intake for 26 pullets should be 104.546 so chicks are almost on target.

Calculations will include both cups and pounds but starting next week all calculations will be in lbs only since all feed will be weighed.

Fermented Feed Chicks
Total feed consumed to date : 188C 60.75lbs
Total feed during week 4 : 80C 27.00lbs
Weights in oz. : 32.25, 30.75, 32.875, 20.125, 28.625, 35.5, 24.375, 30.125, 33.00, 26.875, 34.25, 26.375, 27.375, 34.00, 28.875, 35.375, 24.625, 36.875 = 542.25oz
Avg Weight : 30.125oz. or 1.883lb ( 0.8864lb behind Whelp but their Cum intake is 0.646lbs less as well )
Avg weight gain in week 4 : 12.507oz.
Avg C eaten per chick : 4.444C/chick
Avg lb eaten per chick : 1.5lb/chick
Avg oz gained per C fed : 2.814oz./C
Avg oz gained per lb fed : 8.338 oz./lb
Overall gain oz./C : 2.884oz./C
Overall gain oz./lb : 8.926oz/lb

Crumble Chicks
Total feed consumed to date : 98C 31.375lb
Total feed during week 4 : 36C 12.250lb (20C*5oz+16C*6oz=196oz/16oz/lb=12.25lb)
Weights in oz. : 34.125, 37.25, 37.50, 39.25, 35.375, 45.25, 37.00, 40.00 = 305.75oz
Avg weight : 38.219 oz. or 2.389lb ( 0.358lb behind Whelp but their cum intake is 0.099lb less as well )
Avg weight gain in week 4 : 14.984 oz.
Avg C eaten per chick : 4.5C/chick
Avg lb eaten/chick : 1.531lb/chick
Avg oz gained per C fed : 3.330oz./C
Avg oz gained per lb fed : 9.787oz./lb
Overall gain oz/C : 3.120oz/C
Overall gain oz/lb : 9.743oz/lb

Conclusions:
Week 4 shows the CC : weigh 8.094 oz. more than the FFC
gained 2.477 more oz. than FFC
ate 0.056 more C/chick ( or 0.031lb/chick ) than FFC
gained 0.516oz more per C fed ( or 1.449oz/lb ) than FFC
Overall feed : CC 12.25C/chick or 3.922lb/chick
FFC 10.444C/chick or 3.375lb/chick
Overall gain shows the CC gained 0.236 oz more per C fed than FFC ( or 0.817oz more per lb fed )

So, the CC are converting their feed more efficiently than the FFC but the difference is less than an ounce per pound of feed which is a very small difference considering only 3-4 lbs of feed has been consumed per chick so far. FFC are growing half a pound slower than the CC but at this point, the drastically reduced smell is a fair trade off.

 

[Zootopia]

Very cool to have the stats jrsckn. Thank you. My growers ( chicks, poults, keets) all have dry game bird in the pen but barely touch it. On the other hand they mob me when they see the FF bucket and they clean it up

 

[jrsckn]

It is crazy how much they love it. Yesterday was the first day feeding half of the FFC 50%fermented crumbles and 50%fermented grains - cracked corn and whole oats. They did NOT like the fermented whole oats, they lasted all night in the feeder, who'd a thought CX would leave food in the feeder

My 16 week old pullets don't like the oats as scratch but will eat them if they're fermented and mixed in well. I think I'll break down and get the more expensive steamed, rolled oats and make everyone happy.

So how bout a list of the fermented grains everyone's birds like or don't like? Please be specific with the grain because oats for instance, come in 3 different forms at my grain mill.

I'll start with mine: Like: cracked corn Dislike: whole oats

I haven't tried anything else because they can only eat so fast lol. But, I'm off to the grain mill in a few hours to get something new.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

My broilers like it all although they seem to like the screened wheat better than the whole wheat.

My pullets don't like the whole oats so I think I'm going to get the steamed, rolled oats next time too.

My feed mix consists of screened wheat, whole oats, steamed, rolled barley and cracked corn.

 

[Beekissed]

The wheat doesn't ferment well, the outer casing is too tough...the birds didn't like it and left it alone until they just HAD to eat it. Crimped or whole oats is another thing they didn't seem to like.

Barley was a big hit, cracked corn a little less desirable but still got eaten.

Anything that was milled more finely and then fermented was a big hit...can't be selective when the pieces are small, can they?

 

[Island Roo]

Whole grains : oats, wheat, barley - and cracked corn.
Grains were mixed with grower pellets and fermented.
The birds picked the whole grains off the top, but then every else disappeared.

 

[Smarcebird]

Just got back from the feed store with my whole oats that were on sale. THEN I read the posts that the birds aren't crazy about them. Oh well - they'll eat them eventually.

 

[Zootopia]

Seems the younger birds don't care for the Barley, or the whole oats, the hens and roos get FF as a treat and pick all the grain out first.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Mine do seem to like the barley best, then the oats, then corn...they will leave some of that...but if the ground is not picked clean then guess what? They get no more till it is! I figure they must not really be hungry after all.