Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

In the year I have had my hens I have never had worm problems. My ole hens had access to the veggie garden in the fall thu spring happily eating any kind of bugs and worms they found.

Perhaps it because I add cayenne pepper once a month to their FF as a preventive that I have had no problems. Their on a dirt floor and have access to worms 24/7.

And here is my youngest. BR at 16 weeks enjoying her FF. it made me think of the "got milk" commercial

 

[TexasLisa]

Bee I got another question for you.

lol


OK went out to the chickens pen today and had lots of flies and knats in the roosting area where they poop (under the roost.) I've been turning it over about every other day since they're not working this area at all. They're really working the run area when they're in the pen but not the roosting area at all. It's not smelling nice either. What do I need to do? Do I just need to keep adding materials to it or just keep turning it over? Wondering if I need to take what's on the bottom and move it to the top? I've just been pitch forking the top over on it. What am I doing wrong? Not liking this smell

and all these flies and knats.

shooooo The run doesn't stink at all but then again they're not pooping much in it since they're out mostly free ranging.
OH AND by the way....lol They are pooping on my patios less and less so that tells me they're staying out in the areas they need to be free ranging so the less food idea is working.

I've not had to run them off every hour on the hour. NOR clean up poop!

I've not put the DL in the backside of the run where the roof is because this is the area they dust bathe in and they're food is in right now. Going to relocate the food shortly though since it's a tight squeeze for them now where it is.


ALSO Bee I wanted to show you this. lol I fed them so late yesterday evening they didn't get to quite clean they're plate before they were hitting the roost. Not much at all left in it but just enough for them to need to finish it before I added fresh to it this evening. Was out there with my camera taking a pic of one of the chickens I wasn't sure about being a cockerel or a pullet so was going to ask on a page about it. Anyway I had let them in their pen to finish up the food and I was outside the pen raking up pine straw and I could hear them. So I decided to go in and video it. Check this out. Do you think they love this stuff or what?

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=575330112525882

I couldn't view the video. Says it is unavailable.

Lisa

 

[TexasLisa]

Good Morning Everyone!!

I have a Speckled Sussex hen who when it gets hot (I am talking 100+ temperatures), she starts 'hack, hack' in her breathing. When it cools off she is fine. She eats, lays eggs, and free ranges just fine. Should I be worried? I change their water several times through the day and throw an iced bottle in there too.

Lisa

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Do y'all have big plans for the holiday weekend? I don't. lol My boyfriend suggested buying food and just sitting in the house and eating. No grilling-too too hot! I believe I may make some ice cream. I wonder.... have any of you ever used coconut milk to make ice cream? He doesn't do milk, makes him feel sick.

Oh yes! Coconut Milk makes AWESOME Ice Cream! It is very creamy - you can use it pretty much the same way you use regular milk in ice cream recipes. Just make sure you get the Whole Coconut Milk cans, not the Low Fat ones. If you do a google search for coconut milk ice cream you will get TONS of results! Here is one with several links on it - http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2012/07/homemade-coconut-milk-ice-cream-recipes.html

If you don't want to make it yourself, So-Delicious brand makes a wonderful coconut milk ice cream, but it is rather expensive...

 

[Beekissed]

Bee I got another question for you.

lol


OK went out to the chickens pen today and had lots of flies and knats in the roosting area where they poop (under the roost.) I've been turning it over about every other day since they're not working this area at all. They're really working the run area when they're in the pen but not the roosting area at all. It's not smelling nice either. What do I need to do? Do I just need to keep adding materials to it or just keep turning it over? Wondering if I need to take what's on the bottom and move it to the top? I've just been pitch forking the top over on it. What am I doing wrong? Not liking this smell

and all these flies and knats.

shooooo The run doesn't stink at all but then again they're not pooping much in it since they're out mostly free ranging.
OH AND by the way....lol They are pooping on my patios less and less so that tells me they're staying out in the areas they need to be free ranging so the less food idea is working.

I've not had to run them off every hour on the hour. NOR clean up poop!

I've not put the DL in the backside of the run where the roof is because this is the area they dust bathe in and they're food is in right now. Going to relocate the food shortly though since it's a tight squeeze for them now where it is.


ALSO Bee I wanted to show you this. lol I fed them so late yesterday evening they didn't get to quite clean they're plate before they were hitting the roost. Not much at all left in it but just enough for them to need to finish it before I added fresh to it this evening. Was out there with my camera taking a pic of one of the chickens I wasn't sure about being a cockerel or a pullet so was going to ask on a page about it. Anyway I had let them in their pen to finish up the food and I was outside the pen raking up pine straw and I could hear them. So I decided to go in and video it. Check this out. Do you think they love this stuff or what?

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=575330112525882

Just keep your DL deeper in the areas where it's needed most and keep turning it in to the DL. Pretty soon the litter pack there will start to attract bugs and such as the moisture builds up under the litter....and your chickens will find it one day and toss that stuff all over the coop in a search for the bugs. Then you can fork it back under the roosts and keep turning it in each day or so until the process happens all over again.

That's how I do it under my roosts...every other day I look to see if poo is on top of the litter and just take the pitch fork and turn it into the bedding or throw excess bedding from other areas on top of it. That keeps the flies and gnats from accessing it, keeps smells down and also feeds your litter pack bugs. Sort of like keeping a bin of earthworms...the worms don't like to come out in the open to feed on garbage and such, so you place them under the top layer of soil so they will compost the scraps. Same concept...the bugs that live in the deepest litter don't like having to come to the surface to feed on manure, so turning it in a little will help with all that.

The reason I know this is because if I turn the manure in the same place, I don't unearth any manure that I buried the time before! It's gone...been disseminated into the bedding below by all the busy little workers there.

Do y'all have big plans for the holiday weekend? I don't. lol My boyfriend suggested buying food and just sitting in the house and eating. No grilling-too too hot! I believe I may make some ice cream. I wonder.... have any of you ever used coconut milk to make ice cream? He doesn't do milk, makes him feel sick.

I didn't realize there was a holiday this weekend?

I kind of lose track of time when I'm not working and don't have kids in school. Guess I won't be doing anything special that I don't normally do anyway.

Can you guys help me out please. I have a girl that keeps getting FF on her nostrils then proceeds to rub it off in either ash or dirt. By time I can catch her it has dried every time. Now it sounds like she has something partly clogging her nostrils. I tried to clean it the best I could, is there any way to clean out what I can't reach or should I just wait until it works its way out? BTW she is not sick and her lungs sound clear. The noise is in the nostrils only and is a direct result of the above.

You can raise your feeder up enough that they have to put their necks up and over the lip of the feeder and access the feed...that way they aren't diving head first into the feed and this lessens the feed going so far up their beaks.....like such...it doesn't eliminate all the feed on their beaks but it helps to not shove it up their nostrils each time.




I'd just take a pointy object and lightly clean those nostrils but I wouldn't get too vigorous on it...wouldn't want to poke the mucosa in there that is past the beak material. Mostly, the birds seem to eliminate all that on their own when they drink or eat in wet grass, so I wouldn't worry too much unless it's causing trouble with their breathing.

Good Morning Everyone!!

I have a Speckled Sussex hen who when it gets hot (I am talking 100+ temperatures), she starts 'hack, hack' in her breathing. When it cools off she is fine. She eats, lays eggs, and free ranges just fine. Should I be worried? I change their water several times through the day and throw an iced bottle in there too.

Lisa

Lisa, I've never heard of that nor seen it in any of my birds, so that is a mystery. Maybe she dusts more in the cool of the dusting spots when it's hotter and gets more dust in her breathing passages? If she is acting fine otherwise and no other birds are getting that cough, you could wait and see what develops...could just go away on its own. If you don't want to do that, you could always dose her with some raw honey and garlic or even castor oil, to see what happens.

You shouldn't have to change out their water so frequently unless you are looking for something to do...maybe once every two days? If their water is getting dirty, it may be to your advantage to raise it up so they can't kick scurf into it.

 

[JoyfulPromise]

For those who were asking about a way to have easy-peel hard-boiled fresh eggs, what works for us is poking a small hole with a push pin through the fat end of the egg into the air cell before boiling. This works every time and gives you PERFECTLY smooth peeled eggs, even if they were taken out of the coop less than an hour ago!

Here is a link to the article explaining the process - with nice clear pictures too!

The Perfect Hard-boiled Egg

 

[wlhtx]

Okay, so there's lots of info on BYC about cayenne peppers being used as natural dewormers. Anyone ever looked into whether jalapeños serve the same purpose? I've given my birds jalapeños before that have sat unused for too long, and was just curious if they would work similarly to the cayennes... The birds ate them really well chopped up and fed out as a topping on the FF. And those were some pretty hot peppers. Made my finger tips burn when I was chopping them up.

 

[BlueMouse]

about the ice cream. My youngest has a cow's milk protien intolerance (he can have goat and sheeps milk.) So we do a lot of "alternative" cooking this is very tasty.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/romans-dairy-free-chocolate-coconut-ice-cream In his case there's at least a decent chance that he'll sort of grow out of it. Until then he quite likes goat's milk, and we've found ways to substitute for almost everything in our day to day diet.

 

[Demosthine]

For those who were asking about a way to have easy-peel hard-boiled fresh eggs, what works for us is poking a small hole with a push pin through the fat end of the egg into the air cell before boiling. This works every time and gives you PERFECTLY smooth peeled eggs, even if they were taken out of the coop less than an hour ago!

Here is a link to the article explaining the process - with nice clear pictures too!

The Perfect Hard-boiled Egg

about the ice cream. My youngest has a cow's milk protien intolerance (he can have goat and sheeps milk.) So we do a lot of "alternative" cooking this is very tasty.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/romans-dairy-free-chocolate-coconut-ice-cream In his case there's at least a decent chance that he'll sort of grow out of it. Until then he quite likes goat's milk, and we've found ways to substitute for almost everything in our day to day diet.

Thank you both for the information! I'm so looking forward to trying those eggs that way. And making dairy free ice cream for my daughter would thrill her to death! Such a great source of information here!

 

[Triple Willow]

Oh yes!  Coconut Milk makes AWESOME Ice Cream!  It is very creamy - you can use it pretty much the same way you use regular milk in ice cream recipes. Just make sure you get the Whole Coconut Milk cans, not the Low Fat ones.  If you do a google search for coconut milk ice cream you will get TONS of results!  Here is one with several links on it - http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2012/07/homemade-coconut-milk-ice-cream-recipes.html 

If you don't want to make it yourself, So-Delicious brand makes a wonderful coconut milk ice cream, but it is rather expensive...

Thanks much! I bookmarked that sight! I will definitely have to find a good recipe and make some ice cream he can eat. He is ALWAYS doing stuff for me and sometimes I feel like I don't do much of anything for him. I'll make him some ice cream and tell him I worked so hard... LOL Like he'll fall for that... LOL