Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

Most people fail because they 'go on a diet' The best way is to make lasting life style changes. When I stopped drinking soda (and I wasn't drinking more than one 16 oz one most days) I lost 5 pounds in a month. (diet soda is no better, the aspartame in it is not good stuff). When I quit putting sugar in my ice tea I lost another 5 pounds. Just piling on more veggies on your plate and skipping the pasta will also help and you will be healthier for it.

Over the past three years I have gradually changed things; I very rarely, like maybe every couple months, eat fast food and then I try to go for a decent salad. I don't drink soda of any kind ever. I rarely eat candy or sweets. I don't usually cook pasta at home; if I have a starchy side it's brown rice or potatoes. I eat a LOT of veggies and fruit, especially dark leafy greens like mixed baby lettuce, kale, collards ect, I have a huge salad once a day of these (as in two or three cup fuls) with a sliced apple or other fruit, some cheese, marinated olives, sometimes other additions. The marinated olives and cheese give a nice flavor and I use no other salad dressing. I dont' eat sandwiches, biscuits, bread or other wheat products more than twice a week. That right there helped me take off about 20 pounds without trying.

It's about little baby steps here and there. Also increasing your activity level. And that is also something you can do gradually; instead of parking close to the front door, park at the far end of the parking lot and walk to the store as fast as you can. If you don't have time to go for a walk or on your break at work stand and run in place for five or ten minutes. Every little bit helps.

TOTALLY agree with the "diet" mess. Hubby and I keep telling people that know us and having fits at the weight we've lost that this is a lifestyle for us from now on. The thing is we don't feel deprived and don't stay hungry either. None of us can get over how long we can go without eating although we don't since we would lose muscle mass if we don't get our protein. But we can go for a long time without starving now and you don't have hunger bangs like before. It's totally weird!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I am not a sweet eater and though I do like things that have bread I can live without them..... Its Fruit I have a hard time giving up thats why I thought Paleo would be good. I also LOVE Sushi. Not the rolls the Nigiri which has Rice but just enough to go with the bite of fish. I can do Sashimi Which is fish alone but its that rice/wasabi/soysauce/ for a dip flavor profile I love. Thank goodness its something that I cant fix for myself.

I am going to have to look up Wheat Belly to see what it entails.

deb

 

[elbertchick]

Can ACV with mother turn bad? I have lost a couple chicks who appeared healthy, die recently like 10 out of 25. I have never lost that many. They did arrive during our rains but just had another go today. I had moved her out of the group, given her fresh water with ACV in it , fresh crumbles. Freaked a little, over the FF because it was my first time trying it, went back to crumbles while I get myself back together. Symptoms were gasping for air, appeared bloated. Separated out any who began the gasping, hopefully the rest will be ok. Just fearing that I may have poisoned them .
Learning new ways always a bit scary for me. Just wanted to give them the best. I was wondering about the ACV because that is the thing I just gave this little one and she looked like she was coming out of it then.....she didn't.

 

[maryhysong]

TOTALLY agree with the "diet" mess. Hubby and I keep telling people that know us and having fits at the weight we've lost that this is a lifestyle for us from now on. The thing is we don't feel deprived and don't stay hungry either. None of us can get over how long we can go without eating although we don't since we would lose muscle mass if we don't get our protein. But we can go for a long time without starving now and you don't have hunger bangs like before. It's totally weird!

I have found that I may not eat anything made with wheat for weeks on end and as soon as I do I get soooo sleepy! It's like I can't keep my eyes open!

to bring this back to chicken feeding

I feed a certified organic feed, no corn, soy or canola. It has fish meal as part of the protein component. Since last summer I have butchered out a lot of young roos and a number of ducks. They were NOT fat! Even an 18 month old roo had almost no fat on him! The ducks as well had very little fat and were NOT greasy! In the past on regular feed with corn the birds had a fair amount of fat in the body cavity, especially over six months of age.

 

[RoseMarie1]

You were right! Castor oil it is!

Bee will it hurt raw spots because this person I just told about this has bought some chickens and their poor feet are horrible!

Their scales are falling off their legs and they have raw patches.

 

[foreverlearning]

Bee will it hurt raw spots because this person I just told about this has bought some chickens and their poor feet are horrible!

Their scales are falling off their legs and they have raw patches.

I used first press coconut oil because it was the only thing I had. My rooster came with them and yes, he lost some scales but fell asleep in my arms when I put the oil on him. I left the container in on the steps and as soon as I let him out the next morning he ran right to it so I applied some more and he again fell asleep. I think it just felt good after who knows how long he was like that. His feet were so bad that the ankles wouldn't bend and you couldn't tell he had scales, it just looked like he had a giant callous for legs and feet. It took him 2 weeks to start shedding scales and regrowing them. Everyday until he got better he would go right to it. I didn't see raw spots on him either.

 

[foreverlearning]

TOTALLY agree with the "diet" mess. Hubby and I keep telling people that know us and having fits at the weight we've lost that this is a lifestyle for us from now on. The thing is we don't feel deprived and don't stay hungry either. None of us can get over how long we can go without eating although we don't since we would lose muscle mass if we don't get our protein. But we can go for a long time without starving now and you don't have hunger bangs like before. It's totally weird!

My "diet" is having one unopened box of lil debbie swiss rolls in the freezer. As long as I have them I don't want anything bad, but you better bet if I opened them and ate them I would go on a binge and want more just because I didn't have any. It's funny how our brain works. My biggest downfall is wheat. I love german dark wheat bread but have to remind myself not to buy any on a regular basis. When I stopped eating it for a while I tried to have some and got sleepier than on thanksgiving meal for an entire day. I have too much to do to be out of commission for a whole day!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee will it hurt raw spots because this person I just told about this has bought some chickens and their poor feet are horrible!

Their scales are falling off their legs and they have raw patches.

It won't hurt them and will actually coat and soothe raw areas.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=...l&s_it=tb50-ff-customfirefox-chromesbox-en-us

Quote:

I was particularly impressed with the results of it on Toby's gnarly looking legs and also on his poor, chopped off spurs. After applying the castor oil for scale mites, it was a pretty amazing and speedy recovery from misshapen and dried scales to supple, golden and smooth legs and spurs that were stimulated to grow...and grow...and grow..until the old spur material was shoved to the very end of long, smooth spurs and could be snapped off like an old, dry twig.





You can see here that I had sort of treated his scale mites a couple of times with a thickened mixture of the Nustock, but it was too thick to get in under his scales and so, just when I thought he was doing well, the scales would get knobby and lifted up once again.

After the castor oil:



This pic above really shows the old spur material being moved to the end of the spur, as the new spur growth shoves it along...you can almost see the dry, old cap of the old spur on the end. The last time I looked at his leg, that old portion looked like little knobs on the end of this spurs and they snapped right off...leaving shiny, new spur growth only.






Just look at the supple, golden scales on this old rooster...like having new legs! And the birds actually seem to love having it massaged into their legs..the next day they almost seem to strut their stuff.



In this one below, taken early into the time after the initial castor oil treatment, you can see when the spurs had started to grow out and the old, dry and whiter portion was still showing on the end of the spurs.





Another thing to note...the new soup roos and old hen who got their castor oil treatment are looking 100% better than when they arrived a few days ago! I can't really even believe they are the same birds and I wish I had taken a before pic of their legs and body conditions because they hardly look like the same birds I brought home.

They almost even seem to have grown more feathering since they arrived! The hen, especially, as she was pretty heavily molting and the older rooster was looking pretty ragged around his rear and legs due to a heavy lice infestation....they look like different birds today. Clean smelling, clean feathering, clean legs and feet.

One annoying thing, though...these birds seem incapable of keeping their feet and poop out of the water pan! My free range birds have never stepped into a water pan, let alone poop in one!!!

It's a pretty deep pan and small enough that a bird isn't going to accidentally take a walk through it, so don't know what the difficulty is but they are the filthiest acting chickens I've ever known...even meaty birds don't act like this! Nasty!

I'll try to get some pics of the soup roos and their new deep litter,not to mention their make shift hillbilly rigged pen (that's worth a laugh or two!)tomorrow. Two of the younger roosters will not be processed with this group due to being too small, and will be free ranged with my crew until they are large enough for eating. The two large roosters and old hen will be processed...along with the bratty silkie, though I can't imagine it has one speck of meat on it. I'm only killing that one because it just has no purpose whatsoever in a chicken flock that I can see other than as toilet tissue for real chickens.

 

[RoseMarie1]

It won't hurt them and will actually coat and soothe raw areas.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=...l&s_it=tb50-ff-customfirefox-chromesbox-en-us



I was particularly impressed with the results of it on Toby's gnarly looking legs and also on his poor, chopped off spurs. After applying the castor oil for scale mites, it was a pretty amazing and speedy recovery from misshapen and dried scales to supple, golden and smooth legs and spurs that were stimulated to grow...and grow...and grow..until the old spur material was shoved to the very end of long, smooth spurs and could be snapped off like an old, dry twig.





You can see here that I had sort of treated his scale mites a couple of times with a thickened mixture of the Nustock, but it was too thick to get in under his scales and so, just when I thought he was doing well, the scales would get knobby and lifted up once again.

After the castor oil:



This pic above really shows the old spur material being moved to the end of the spur, as the new spur growth shoves it along...you can almost see the dry, old cap of the old spur on the end. The last time I looked at his leg, that old portion looked like little knobs on the end of this spurs and they snapped right off...leaving shiny, new spur growth only.






Just look at the supple, golden scales on this old rooster...like having new legs! And the birds actually seem to love having it massaged into their legs..the next day they almost seem to strut their stuff.



In this one below, taken early into the time after the initial castor oil treatment, you can see when the spurs had started to grow out and the old, dry and whiter portion was still showing on the end of the spurs.





Another thing to note...the new soup roos and old hen who got their castor oil treatment are looking 100% better than when they arrived a few days ago! I can't really even believe they are the same birds and I wish I had taken a before pic of their legs and body conditions because they hardly look like the same birds I brought home.

They almost even seem to have grown more feathering since they arrived! The hen, especially, as she was pretty heavily molting and the older rooster was looking pretty ragged around his rear and legs due to a heavy lice infestation....they look like different birds today. Clean smelling, clean feathering, clean legs and feet.

One annoying thing, though...these birds seem incapable of keeping their feet and poop out of the water pan! My free range birds have never stepped into a water pan, let alone poop in one!!!

It's a pretty deep pan and small enough that a bird isn't going to accidentally take a walk through it, so don't know what the difficulty is but they are the filthiest acting chickens I've ever known...even meaty birds don't act like this! Nasty!

I'll try to get some pics of the soup roos and their new deep litter,not to mention their make shift hillbilly rigged pen (that's worth a laugh or two!)tomorrow. Two of the younger roosters will not be processed with this group due to being too small, and will be free ranged with my crew until they are large enough for eating. The two large roosters and old hen will be processed...along with the bratty silkie, though I can't imagine it has one speck of meat on it. I'm only killing that one because it just has no purpose whatsoever in a chicken flock that I can see other than as toilet tissue for real chickens.

LOL @ you Bee, you so bad!

Thank you for all the details. I referred him to this post so he could see. He just got the birds and they were like this. Wanted to tell him what good luck you had with the castor oil!
I can't wait to see the pix of your soup roos. AND of your hillbilly pen.

Bee I bet standing in that water feels good to their old legs and feet is why they are doing that reacon? I know I put a shallow pan of water in mines pen when it's soooo hot and they will get n it and stand to cool off.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I used first press coconut oil because it was the only thing I had. My rooster came with them and yes, he lost some scales but fell asleep in my arms when I put the oil on him. I left the container in on the steps and as soon as I let him out the next morning he ran right to it so I applied some more and he again fell asleep. I think it just felt good after who knows how long he was like that. His feet were so bad that the ankles wouldn't bend and you couldn't tell he had scales, it just looked like he had a giant callous for legs and feet. It took him 2 weeks to start shedding scales and regrowing them. Everyday until he got better he would go right to it. I didn't see raw spots on him either.

oh I bet it DID feel good! funny how he fell asleep in your arms. No telling how much pain he was in and how much he'd suffered and that felt so good he just konked out.