Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[DaveMorey]

I agree. I know a lot of the type of people you're talking about. The things they do and even worse the things they do to each other amazes me.

What breed of birds do you have? I had about half a dozen Australorp roos and had planned to kill them all because they were acting so bad. I had to seperate them because there was two that I thought were going to kill the others. One day those two just ran one off! It ran out in the field and hid from them and wouldn't come back. As time went on I figured it was dead because I hadn't seen it for a while. Rooster killing day came and we killed all of them and I was glad to see them go. A couple days later the long lost roo came up out of the bushes. He looked a little thin so I put him in a pen to his self so he couldn't run off again and I could feed him. Well he walked back and forth constantly in his pen wanting to go to the pen where the pullets were. I needed his pen for my dog so I put him in with the pullets. He has turned out to be a very good flock rooster. He shows the pullets where food is, let's them eat first, actually breaks up fights and he's not mean to his pullets. I'm really glad he was hid out and I didn't get to kill him! The rest of them might of made good roosters too, don't know. I think they all go through a stage where they act awful. I would advise you to keep a couple roos. If you have two that get along that would be good. You can always change your mind and put them in the freezer later but you can't bring them back if you kill them.

I am not really sure what breed they are. I bought them at TSC as production reds in a straight run. The hens have all turned out to be red stars. These guys were the dark chicks in the brooder when the lady picked them out. I have thought to keep one or two. All of the roos seem to get along for the most part. I have seen a few minor scraps between them but no bloodletting or anything drastic. My biggest issue is all of the abuse they put the hens through. Once one roo engages they all want a go at her. It's getting out of control to the point that the hens can't even get food unmolested. I am thinking that once they are all gone I could get some RIR straight run in the spring (not from TSC) and keep a roo or two from that batch as flock rooster (possible breeder?). Good egg producers that are cold hardy are my main requirements. I sell eggs on a small scale.
P.S. my avatar is one of my roosters. They are all like that one. Huge combs on them that I am afraid will freeze in our yearly sub zero winter temps

 

[Lacy Blues]

Oh, I'm all crippled up too but water changes the game...makes you weightless! Even a walrus like me looks like she can move in the water.

If you can heave your bod up on a board, you can do some manner of surfing..it may not be hanging ten or shooting a pipe but it sure is fun!

 

[Triple Willow]

I am not really sure what breed they are. I bought them at TSC as production reds in a straight run. The hens have all turned out to be red stars. These guys were the dark chicks in the brooder when the lady picked them out. I have thought to keep one or two. All of the roos seem to get along for the most part. I have seen a few minor scraps between them but no bloodletting or anything drastic. My biggest issue is all of the abuse they put the hens through. Once one roo engages they all want a go at her. It's getting out of control to the point that the hens can't even get food unmolested. I am thinking that once they are all gone I could get some RIR straight run in the spring (not from TSC) and keep a roo or two from that batch as flock rooster (possible breeder?). Good egg producers that are cold hardy are my main requirements. I sell eggs on a small scale.
P.S. my avatar is one of my roosters. They are all like that one. Huge combs on them that I am afraid will freeze in our yearly sub zero winter temps

Hmm... you could keep a couple until you get the RIR. Before I put this rooster back in with the pullets, the pullets were fighting quite a bit. Yesterday I saw this rooster jump in the middle of two pullets that were fighting. He broke it up quicker than my moma use to break up me and my sister! lol Or you may just want to go ahead and get them all in the freezer now? I have heard that a lot of RIR roosters are good flock leaders. Have you thought of going into "heritage" RIR's? RedRidge that is on this thread a lot has some. You could get hatching eggs or probably chicks from somebody that has them. I've never bought any from an individual on BYC.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I make a living working with these kinds of kids/adults every day. I work in a local county jail and sadly nothing really surprises me anymore. The depths of human depravity and stupidity no no bounds. Kind of makes you wonder what Sodom and Gomorrah looked like for God to destroy it all.
On a different note. I have set next weekend as the cull date for my roosters. They are creating their own Sodom and Gomorrah in the coop and run. Just too many of them. They are nice and fat now and I want to put them in the freezer before they get too tough. They are just five months now so hopefully flavor will be good and not too tough. The tough part is deciding whether to butcher all of them or leave 1 or 2. I have 27 hens and 12 roosters.

Bee had advised me to keep two RIR's roos. With as many hens as you have I don't think they'd be a problem with 2 roos. I have 15 pullets and I might wind up having to get rid of one of mine later but we'll see.
yes I agree with ya on Sodom and Go. was thinking about that just the other day wondering how much longer He was going to allow this mess to happen in our world. Must have been pretty pretty bad then.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I'm glad your hubby came around. If my man ever wanted to help me with them too much I would think something was up! lol

lol

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha funny ladies,

Let me know if you visit. Sorry I don't leave Hawai'i much. My wife is all over the world though.

Sharks? I have a deal with the sharks. I don't eat them, they don't eat me.

Surfing is like riding a skateboard. If you can ride a skateboard, you can learn to surf.

Body boarding is good for older ladies who can't ride a skateboard.

I do live in the best town on the best Island in the best state in the best country in the world. But then I grew up here.

take care funny ladies, Puhi

 

[Darkangael]

Well what do you know I finally hit the end of the thread you guys didn't help what with adding 10 to 20 pages a day while I was trying to read it all. I plan to do some fermenting once I can get chickens. Thank you all for the information I am sure I will be back with questions eventually though I think I have most of the idea in my head.

 

[TexasLisa]

Well what do you know I finally hit the end of the thread you guys didn't help what with adding 10 to 20 pages a day while I was trying to read it all. I plan to do some fermenting once I can get chickens. Thank you all for the information I am sure I will be back with questions eventually though I think I have most of the idea in my head.

Good Morning Darkangael!

We do type a lot, don't we? There are days that I sit here and laugh my head off at their antics.

What kind of chickens are you wanting to get? Don't go away. Stay on and ask your questions. We are always learning!

Lisa

 

[Darkangael]

I have decided I want Cream Legbars to start with /grin. Used to have some a barred breed not sure what they were really they were given to me. I haven't had any for awhile but will be getting some when my finances improve lol then I am going to make them pay for their keep. I also decided I want some meat chickens as we eat a lot of chicken here. I am not leaving just don't yet (again) have any birds but I am sure questions will come up once I start doing this I have learned a few things here that I think will help me get my land growing again since at the moment due to the drought we have had, it is little more than a sand pit.

I am going to be trying growing LAB and maybe doing some IMO to get the land working before I get chickens as I can do that with low funds.

 

[bbdal]

So I decided to start my day old that were hatched by broodies on ff. i ferment a variet of whole grains, add in sprouted lentils and then a dry mix of fertrell pnb, fish meal, and calcium. Since the babies can't have "whole grains", I put it all into a little food processor after I mixed it up. The babies are doing great. The oldest 3 are 2 weeks old and I also have 3 more that are just a dew days behind these so I am about to start cutting back on orocessing their feed. The youngest 2 which are just a few days old are out and about with their mom already. So far so good on feeding the babies ff!