Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

I bought this bunch from TSC. I don't think I will do that again since I ended up with birds I didn't really want too. I think I will get my next ones from McMurray or from Purely Poultry. I have had good luck with both.

TSC has a pretty bad record of mislabeling birds. I got six from them back in the spring (two breeds) and one breed was mislabeled. It turned out okay because I have ended up liking what I did get. I believe they came from Mt Healthy hatchery. I have ordered from Meyer and so far the birds seem nice enough. They were also pretty nice and helpful to deal with. Years ago I ordered geese from McMurray. They were really nice birds.

 

[Bleenie]

I have a quick question for everyone...

For the past 2 weeks(about) I haven't had the time(or just plain forgot!) to mix the birds ferment so they've been getting their feed dry. I noticed that the hens just look skinnier now, I am assuming because of the diet change but I wanted to see if anyone else had this happen when they forgot/weren't able to mix the feed?

Everything has been a mess here getting my grandmother through her last chemo treatment so everything else kinda got the back burner for a while

 

[DaveMorey]

I often wonder about that....many people buy straight run of mystery breeds and then spend the rest of the time trying to figure out the breeds they bought, which ones are roosters(because they cannot have those where they live and that leaves the question, "Then WHY did you buy them???"), how to get rid of the roosters, why my breed isn't laying well, why is she always broody, why doesn't she have feathers on her back, why won't they let me pet them, etc?  

Why do they start out making things difficult for themselves right away instead of carefully studying breeds, ordering such breeds from a hatchery and ordering the sexes they wish to have?  I've never had a hatchery send me the wrong sexed bird yet, so chances of that happening must be pretty slim. 

Bee, when I got the straight run I did it with the full knowledge that I would end up with roos. The problem came in where it appears that they mixed two kinds of birds (production reds and red pullets) together. I ended up with almost an even split of roos and hens from that batch. They don't even look alike. The positive side is that the roos I ended up with are HUGE. They were destined for the table anyway so at least they aren't little skinny birds. I really was hoping for some more hens and less roosters is all. Next time I am going to buy breed specific. Lesson learned. I would like to add some Marans in the spring. Perhaps when I order my first batch of CX chicks for the year...

 

[Beekissed]

I have a quick question for everyone...

For the past 2 weeks(about) I haven't had the time(or just plain forgot!) to mix the birds ferment so they've been getting their feed dry. I noticed that the hens just look skinnier now, I am assuming because of the diet change but I wanted to see if anyone else had this happen when they forgot/weren't able to mix the feed?

Everything has been a mess here getting my grandmother through her last chemo treatment so everything else kinda got the back burner for a while

Other people have reported changes when going back to feeding dry...even temporarily...that they didn't like. They noticed the birds lost their zip and gloss, their poop started stinking again and that they had to feed twice as much to keep the same conditioning in the birds. That's probably what you are seeing right now.

Bee, when I got the straight run I did it with the full knowledge that I would end up with roos. The problem came in where it appears that they mixed two kinds of birds (production reds and red pullets) together. I ended up with almost an even split of roos and hens from that batch. They don't even look alike. The positive side is that the roos I ended up with are HUGE. They were destined for the table anyway so at least they aren't little skinny birds. I really was hoping for some more hens and less roosters is all. Next time I am going to buy breed specific. Lesson learned. I would like to add some Marans in the spring. Perhaps when I order my first batch of CX chicks for the year...

Dave, I think everyone hopes for that when they order straight run but the hatcheries are trying to get rid of males...they are not as profitable, so I'm thinking they put a goodly number in that straight run just to get rid of them. Course, that could just be my paranoia speaking! Could be they actually don't sex the batch at all and just send them out...but my skeptical side sees them slipping in some unwanted roos in the batch just to get rid of them.

 

[Lacy Blues]

They may be trying to get rid of them that way but its more likely that they are having them sexed by some professional who knows how to do it... all the little boys get put on a conveyor belt which drops them LIVE into a grinder to make pet food. If you're ordering straight run, you generally get 50 - 60% roosters.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I often wonder about that....many people buy straight run of mystery breeds and then spend the rest of the time trying to figure out the breeds they bought, which ones are roosters(because they cannot have those where they live and that leaves the question, "Then WHY did you buy them???"), how to get rid of the roosters, why my breed isn't laying well, why is she always broody, why doesn't she have feathers on her back, why won't they let me pet them, etc?

Why do they start out making things difficult for themselves right away instead of carefully studying breeds, ordering such breeds from a hatchery and ordering the sexes they wish to have? I've never had a hatchery send me the wrong sexed bird yet, so chances of that happening must be pretty slim.

Because Bee, just like me, they don't know what they don't know. Like pigs don't know pigs stink.

Like me for instance.....normally before I go into something I read, read, and read some more on what it involves and what I need to do and just what all I need and on and on and on. I'll study on it some times for months before I finally make up my mind. I have also been known to do this when I need an appliance except I don't study etc. I go price them in different places and then if I don't feel confident about what I need to do I will go home and wait. I pray before I go by the way. But then I will think on it and then go back later and get the one I feel like is the right one. Don't like making hasty decisions especially when it involves a lot of money. Soooo that being said.....I have raised ducks before and did very well at it I think. I didn't buy any of them they were given to me by my daughter for Easter one year. But I raised babies from those. So when I decided to get chickens I didn't do any studying at the beginning because I had raised ducks thinking, they be close to raising ducks just much less water. TOTALLY different than raising ducks. So once I did get into the chickens I'm like oh dear this is NOT like raising ducks and ole girl you need to learn some more stuff. lol AND again just like me.... I had no clue about BA's when I got them all I knew was they laid a lot of eggs and that's what I was after. We all make our mistakes and sometimes SOME of us learn from them and some folks don't. They just keep making them over and over. I'm not one of those, especially when it comes to money, I try to learn from my mistakes and remember them so I don't make them again. So some times ya just don't know what you just don't know and IF you don't know it, how do you know you're making a mistake?

That's what makes life interesting I guess, making mistakes and with me, learning from them! I'll raise up my BA's and get them to laying I hope and maybe get some eggs from them and then maybe I can sell them and get me some more RIR's and that way I will have only one breed and it will be less stressful that way and I wont have to be fighting broody BA hens all the time. OR that's what I have read about them anyway, they like going broody and it's contagious.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Yep and they are either trying to tunnel their way out or dig all the way to China! ...or digging a trap for me! lol I don't know how they dig like they do with those little dinosaur feets!

LOL yep mine are digging to. I'm like I need to do concrete around these walls to keep you from digging out. Sometimes they do get UNDER the 2x4 on the bottom of the wire but haven't made it outside yet because I always fill their holes back in.

 

[Lacy Blues]

LOL yep mine are digging to. I'm like I need to do concrete around these walls to keep you from digging out. Sometimes they do get UNDER the 2x4 on the bottom of the wire but haven't made it outside yet because I always fill their holes back in.

You could put pavers around the inside of their runs right up against the fence. I don't know if these are cheaper than having concrete poured but I'm thinking it probably is.

 

[RoseMarie1]

You could put pavers around the inside of their runs right up against the fence. I don't know if these are cheaper than having concrete poured but I'm thinking it probably is.

I'm going to fix a lot of it when I get my grazing frames in place in there. They'll go against the walls n there and they wont be able to get in there then because of those.

 

[Lacy Blues]

That's a good idea!