Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure about the ins and outs of maggots and if they can carry disease through their eating...but eating from a manure patty from herbivorous animals would be quite different than eating maggots that have feasted on a dead animal..particularly if that animal is a vector for diseases that may or may not affect chickens. I don't know that there would ever come a time when my chickens needed extra protein that badly that they couldn't go out and pick up some bugs for themselves.

 

[Triple Willow]

Triple Willow:  I have found the best way to get the hedge apple sap off of your hands is to rub your hands in dirt.  It worked for me!

Lisa

Thank you Lisa! I will definitely keep that in mind. I plan on getting some more soon. I'm going to see how well chickens like them. I do wonder about the nutrient value and health benefits.

 

[Demosthine]

...but eating from a manure patty from herbivorous animals would be quite different than eating maggots that have feasted on a dead animal..particularly if that animal is a vector for diseases that may or may not affect chickens.

Fair point well made...

 

[Jo Anne]

I don't strain mine, nor do I keep it covered in water. Any film on top each day is stirred into the mix. My fermented fluids are stored in the reservoir created by stacking two buckets, so they rise into the feed mix when fresh water is added at the top. I ferment layer mash and whole grains and I add enough each time that I don't get to the bottom of the bucket for 4-5 days, so the mix is fully fermented and deepening into that all those days. I don't empty the bucket entirely but add new feed when there is about a day's worth of feed still in the bottom of the bucket.

Here's about the level of water I use and even a little lower.....

beekissed you said you have two buckets how big are the holes in the first bucket i tried this earlier and the water never really drained into the lower bucket, but i was also using chick feed mesh not pellets.
i currently have 20 crosx about 3 weeks old and 4 laying hens. this is my second go around with the crossx and earlier in the summer i notice my layers loved to eat the fermented mash of the cross x rather than their dry crumbles.
do you ferment for layers as well.
what we did last time with the crossx is just spread the food out on the ground and let them have at it we can free range them all day also.

 

[Demosthine]

beekissed you said you have two buckets how big are the holes in the first bucket i tried this earlier and the water never really drained into the lower bucket, but i was also using chick feed mesh not pellets.
i currently have 20 crosx about 3 weeks old and 4 laying hens. this is my second go around with the crossx and earlier in the summer i notice my layers loved to eat the fermented mash of the cross x rather than their dry crumbles.
do you ferment for layers as well.
what we did last time with the crossx is just spread the food out on the ground and let them have at it we can free range them all day also.

With the pellets and mash, they tend to break down and become mush. This is not condusive to draining, at all, so I had made the wholes larger. Ultimately, I ended up with too much of the fine powder or sludge in the second bucket and had further draining problems. I've opted to switch to the single bucket method and just keep the water level slightly higher than the feed. This gives me a nice, thick consistency when I scoop it out and has worked out very well. If I was fermenting whole grains, it would be significantly easier to do the two-bucket method.

I ferment for all of my layers, starting with my day-old chicks I get from the hatcheries or shops. Their eggs firmed up nicely after a few weeks on the fermented feed and they all absolutely love it. I'm also fermenting the higher protein feed for my turkeys, which are due for Camp Freezer in about two months. It's the only way I'll feed my poultry from here on out. It is practically no work at all, either, for my 17 chickens and 3 turkeys at least. I spend about five minutes a day scooping food, taking it out to them, and then refilling the feed bucket or adding water.

 

[Jo Anne]

Quote: ok thanks that is about what i did with the first bunch i raised.
where is the best or cheapest place to get whole grains?

 

[Lacy Blues]

In my bucket, I ferment whole grains (barley, wheat, milo and oats) plus flock raiser. It makes it thick and harder to drain but I have a big colander I set into a dollar store dish pan. Until I can get a mineral supplement and some steady source of animal protein, I will continue this way. It is harder on me and takes a lot of time but I feel my birds need whatever is in the Flock Raiser. Generally, I use a yogurt cup to measure my feed with. This yogurt cup is a 1 quart size container. My ratios are 1 qt. barley and oats. 3/4 qt whole wheat and 1/2 qt milo plus 1 qt of the flock raiser.

Separately, I soak alfalfa cubes which have been broken down along with beet pulp pellets. I usually grate a few carrots into the mix and I also sprout things for them. Lentils are by far the easiest to sprout. So is fenugreek. I'll also sprout sunflower, safflower, wheat, barley, and dry beans of various sorts.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Oh man, the hawk that got one of my chickens is still about too. I'm scared to let the ladies out of their safe tree-covered spots-to-hide pen during the day right now. These hawks scare me. Every time they scream every animal in the area falls silent and I'm immediately scanning the trees and sky. Scary birds. Big ones too. I keep having dreams about them showing up in my yard too.

hubby has the crow caller do dad and it makes them leave. Crows are their enemy,

 

[mlowen]

hubby has the crow caller do dad and it makes them leave. Crows are their enemy, 

MumsyII on the natural chicken keeping thread put up a bunch of tall poles and streamers and stuff. She lives near hawks and eagles and the "decorations" really seem to work. Leah' Mom, same thread, has a very tall PVC pipe with a flag or streamers on it and that discourages the hawks, too. Lots of people run fishing line or clothes line in a grid over their runs and the hawks won't try to fly through the lines.

 

[mlowen]

Rosemarie1...I grew up in New Albany, northeast MS, 20 min. from Tupelo and 35 min. from Oxford. My daddy lives in Oxford,now.