Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[foreverlearning]

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

You don't have to bookmark it, at some point in time you will be on here so often that your computer will automatically go to it.

 

[Triple Willow]

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 too BlueMouse! It's strange, my boyfriend drank milk all the time as a kid but it was fresh milk. The processed stuff makes him sick. I love him but I don't plan on buying a cow! LOL
I love chocolate and coconut! I will definitely have to try that recipe - bookmarked it too!

 

[foreverlearning]

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.

Thank you Bee. She breaths fine but while looking for a raccoon last night I swore she was snoring. Poor girl, I took her off the roost to check her. I listened to her lungs, neck and beak and it is defiantly at the nostril level. This is also the same girl that greets me on top of my FF bucket. Now... a few more nights and I should be able to get that raccoon, I can't move the broilers into that yard until I get rid of it. It hasn't gotten to my coop yet, but the last 3 nights it has opened my corn and gotten into it. Smart little buggers, I have my corn in those plastic kitty litter containers and it unscrews the cap off to get in.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I officially have what I think is a breeding pair of the biggest *** hawks waging war on the birds in my chicken tractor. NOT pleased! D< Coons aside, these birds are scary as all ****. I held a great horned owl on my arm once and I have NEVER seen claws like on these birds! Yikes! If my dogs weren't also intent on killing my chickens I'd let them out there to guard 'em but I might loose more chickens to my dogs than to hawks....

 

[Triple Willow]

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. 

I didn't know it until yesterday. It won't be a big deal around here eigher. lol ...other than ice cream that I am personallly excited about! LOL

I got some steamed rolled oats the other day. Is it possible to put too much of it in a ration?

 

[yankeehill]

Precicely. My birds live on deep litter, and earthworms LOVE that stuff. They're always all up in the wood chips and decomposing plant matter, doin' their job. And the chickens dig 'em out and eat 'em anyhow.

I feed my earthworms used rabbit bedding (hay and poop).

Is that all you feed the earthworms? Or do you need more? Since we had a high mortality rate of kits this summer with the fluctuations in temperature, we're planning on putting the does in the basement a week before kindling and keeping them there for about 2 weeks after kindling. I figured I could hand the rabbit cages, and use contractor bags attached to the bottom of the cage with the end cut out and draped into a 5 gallon bucket to collect the droppings. Would this be suitable for the worms? Of course, I think I'd have to drain the droppings to remove the urine, wouldn't I?

 

[foreverlearning]

I officially have what I think is a breeding pair of the biggest *** hawks waging war on the birds in my chicken tractor. NOT pleased! D< Coons aside, these birds are scary as all ****. I held a great horned owl on my arm once and I have NEVER seen claws like on these birds! Yikes! If my dogs weren't also intent on killing my chickens I'd let them out there to guard 'em but I might loose more chickens to my dogs than to hawks....

I don't know what I would do with those things. Scary!

 

[Triple Willow]

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.

I love peppers! I keep a shaker of cayenne on the table with the salt and pepper and let me tell you, I pile it on some things. lol To me eggs aren't half as good if they don't have pepper in them or on them. I bought a gallon jar of pickled jalapenos a day or two ago just for omlets. Sooo good! I will have a hard time sharing much of my pepper with my chickies. LOL

 

[Beekissed]

I didn't know it until yesterday. It won't be a big deal around here eigher. lol ...other than ice cream that I am personallly excited about! LOL

I got some steamed rolled oats the other day. Is it possible to put too much of it in a ration?

I get excited about ice cream too....

As for the oats, depends on for how long? Some people feed quite a bit of oats in their ration and you can even feed straight oats...but I wouldn't recommend it be the total ration for very long. They are high in fiber and low in proteins, so not a bad summer feed but not a balanced ration in regards to total nutrition, minerals and vitamins.

Right now I've got 1/3 of my ration mixed with steamed barley and will watch how the birds do as time rolls along...I've had it at 50% before with good results still, so it's not a big deal...particularly if you free range and the feed ration is merely a supplement.

I'm barely feeding 1.5 c. of feed now to 14 birds...not even enough to cover the bottom of the feeder..and they are foraging for the rest.

 

[Triple Willow]

Foreverlearning, that coon sure would be tasty cooked up for this Labor Day weekend... or anytime. Don't let it go to waste! LOL