Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[OHhappychicks]

That's something else I wanted to ask. What temp does it have to be to keep fermentation?

 

[Kassaundra]

Same here my entire set up is a bucket (well a 30 gal trash barrel) a scoop (shovel) and a trough shaped feeder. I fill straight from the water hose, and bags of grain.

 

[Kassaundra]

That's something else I wanted to ask. What temp does it have to be to keep fermentation?

I live in OK so a little warmer then you mine stays outside all year in the sun in a black plastic bucket. I have the same ferment that I started with 2ish years ago. In the winter the edges get a little frozen but doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I live in OK so a little warmer then you mine stays outside all year in the sun in a black plastic bucket. I have the same ferment that I started with 2ish years ago. In the winter the edges get a little frozen but doesn't seem to hurt anything.

Thank you Kassaundra! Black buckets! Of course! We are going to set up a hoop coop/house soon. We are going to put in a partial brick floor and try adding milk jugs painted black to absorb some heat. Going to keep silkies in it for the winter. If we painted the buckets, at least the bottom 3/4, they would absorb some heat, therefore maybe not freeze.

 

[Beekissed]

That's something else I wanted to ask. What temp does it have to be to keep fermentation?

Kassaundra can tell you that better than I! She has been keeping hers outside all winter and even lets it get a little ice in it. Right now we have temps of 30-40 at night and 60s in the day and my ferment is bubbling right along out in the coop. It's actually bubbled more at these temps than it has all summer long!

Same here my entire set up is a bucket (well a 30 gal trash barrel) a scoop (shovel) and a trough shaped feeder. I fill straight from the water hose, and bags of grain.

Makes life easier, don't it?

I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I like life to be simple, cheap and easy, so I gear all the things I do around that concept...if it ain't simple, cheap and easy, I'll usually give it a pass.

 

[Kassaundra]

Thank you Kassaundra! Black buckets! Of course! We are going to set up a hoop coop/house soon. We are going to put in a partial brick floor and try adding milk jugs painted black to absorb some heat. Going to keep silkies in it for the winter. If we painted the buckets, at least the bottom 3/4, they would absorb some heat, therefore maybe not freeze.

I also place in full sun (south side of coop) I move it to the east side the rest of the year.

 

[Kassaundra]

Kassaundra can tell you that better than I! She has been keeping hers outside all winter and even lets it get a little ice in it. Right now we have temps of 30-40 at night and 60s in the day and my ferment is bubbling right along out in the coop. It's actually bubbled more at these temps than it has all summer long!

Makes life easier, don't it?

I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I like life to be simple, cheap and easy, so I gear all the things I do around that concept...if it ain't simple, cheap and easy, I'll usually give it a pass.

 

[pipemum]

I'm wanting to help you with this but I can't understand why your FF is so sloppy and why the transferring it this or that bowl? I'm just imagining my own setup and the only thing that is slopping is some of the fluid running out of the holes in my scoop...which runs right on the floor of the coop and into the litter, which seems to attract bugs like mad and the chickens love digging in that area.

I just bend over the bucket, scoop, turn around and put it in the trough. I've read about others having spills and slops too and I'm trying so hard to imagine how it's that messy. I kept the bucket in my bedroom last winter and didn't have one incident and I'm the clumsiest person on Earth, I can attest to that!

Maybe mix it thicker? Take a few steps out of your routine so that there are fewer things to spill? The whole of my equipment is bucket, scoop and a trough feeder...that's it. Nothing to spill, really...just scoop, deposit and go. Can you keep your bucket in your coop, next to your feeder? That way you aren't dipping out anything but the feed and placing it right in the feeder...no spills that aren't scooped up real quick and in a hurry by hungry chickens!

The chick FF, until 2 days ago, was like thin oatmeal. Not super runny, but runny enough to get slopped. I made it thicker this weekend, so now it's at thick oatmeal consistency. I STILL slopped some this morning but I had a good reason. A barred rock pecked the back of my leg and I turned around smacked her with the dang spoon. Full of feed. So, it happens. Also poor placement of the FF bucket, which is behind the big metal garbage can full of all the dry feed. I'm reaching up, over, and behind the can into the 5-gal bucket to bring the slotted spoon to the dang feeder container. With the thin feed, and the obstacle course, spills were to be had. Ha, okay, so that can be changed tonight. It'll be a million times better when I maneuver that big can to the back and the FF bucket to the front. Brilliant.

Oh yeah, i've been fiddling with bowls because I'm trying out different things with these little meaties. This is of course my first time with these guys, and they do..have a different eating style than DP chicks! The first type of chick feeder I was using didn't work out too well, so then I tried a small loaf pan, which worked out better but now they've outgrown it, and finally I have been using a trough thingy which is perfect. But it takes me forever to make a decision, and there were times when I started dishing out into one feeder, than change my mind and dish into one of the other ones...life has gotten simpler with the trough! Forgetting KISS at times.

Oh, lately, spillage with my layer FF--new bag of feed and this stuff expands way more than the last stuff (same brand, but this bag is much more powdery)! So twice now the FF has kind of exploded out of the top, but I've got the ratio figured out. Still, messes everywhere.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, hon...I just wanna give you a big ol' hug!

No wonder yer havin' spills!!! Made me LOL and I needed that after learning about the bucket shortage in America, which came as a huge shock to me. NOW I understand!

 

[Beekissed]

Good eye, Bee, she is from an egg I got from BYCer 202roosterlane (Pauletta) on one of my trips to visit my DD and her family in Arkansas. I believe Pauletta said she is from the Fogel line of Rhode Island Reds. She is the only RIR I have so I just enjoy her beauty and her contribution to breakfast!

I didn't name her until this weekend......her name is Bobbie.

As for the Icelandic, he is a third generation representative of my flock from BYCer The Sheriff that I got in 2010. They are my love and passion. They are a landrace, so no standard for them. They come in all colors and comb types. Their gene pool has never been "whittled down" to specifics so they contain a treasure trove of diversity. Don't get me started on them.......

Now, you know you don't even like that ugly ol' red hen! You can box her right up and send her to me and I'll take the poor, ugly little gal off your hands. Why, I'll even trade you BUD, the unchicken, for her! And that's bein' generous and all because he is a true anomaly in the poultry world and your hen is just a little scrubby RIR.

(Where's the evil, rubbing the hands together smiley when ya need it?)