Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

Why would you lift the top bucket out? It's really not necessary.

 

[Demosthine]

First, in response to the dual bucket method, I've done it this way for the last several months. For me, I use a pulley design. I attached the paracord to a large eye bolt in the rafters and run the thread through a small chain attached to the bucket handle. This allows the paracord to stay centered on the handle and not have the bucket fall sideways. After it runs through the chain, I have a small clasp that I pull upwards, pulling the bucket out. I attach that to a keyring tied on to the paracord farther up. It lifts and secures the bucket so that I can walk away while it drains. It's quick and easy. If you tie it to the bucket handle, run it through a pulley in the ceiling and back down, you can clip it to the bucket handle again and it lightens the load. A 50-pound bucket weighs half its weight, so you are only pulling down for 25-pounds.

Working three buckets, though, you could use a couple of pulleys and set up a real nice system that has a hand crank to spool the rope around it, like they have on the front of boats. Run the rope from the eye bolt to the bucket to a pulley, across to a double-pulley and down to the bucket, up to the pulley again, and over to the third bucket. It would be a little bit of expense initially, but if you get the inexpensive pulleys from Harbor Freight, you'd probably be under $20 for the whole setup and completely eliminate the effort of lifting them separately.

I pay $25 for a 50-pound bag of organic mash from Big Sky through our Phoenix Co-Op. It’s much nicer than the $35 for the same thing at the feed store. I wish I could get it even cheaper, but I just don’t go through enough to warrant a bulk purchase.


I'm with you on avoiding soy products and I have eliminated them as much as possible in my families diets. It's incredibly hard, though. Weston A. Price has some excellent information on it. I was fully planning on using their breastmilk recipe for my baby when my wife's supply started decreasing. She decided to demand solid foods at four months old, so we didn't have to go to formula feeding at all. It was such a relief to know I could use that recipe if I needed and completely avoid the horrible commercial formulas!


If you aren’t raising the CX or FRs, what breed are you raising? I lost my four broilers this year due to the heat, but it was an error on my part. I’m going to try again this fall, so I’m gathering more information. The CX are $1.99 at my local store and they were growing really well. Like you, though, I would like something a little more sustainable.

 

[RedRidge]

Why would you lift the top bucket out? It's really not necessary.

This is IF you use two nested buckets... like a double boiler type setup...
Some folks use nested buckets with the top bucket having small holes drilled in it so the liquid drains and remains in the bottom bucket when they lift the top bucket out.
If you aren't going to bother lifting the top bucket with the grains out, you wouldn't bother using a second bucket.
You'd simply scoop the grains out and have no need for the bottom bucket... which is what I do, but I know many who use two buckets.

I use single buckets... use a curd spoon to scoop out the grains... similar to this one, but mine is larger with a longer handle...
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/251-13-Stainless-Steel-Flat-Ladle.html

 

[RedRidge]

If you aren’t raising the CX or FRs, what breed are you raising? I lost my four broilers this year due to the heat, but it was an error on my part. I’m going to try again this fall, so I’m gathering more information. The CX are $1.99 at my local store and they were growing really well. Like you, though, I would like something a little more sustainable.

I now have Heritage RIR... big carcass, dual purpose birds...
So far I'm really thrilled with them... but haven't slaughtered any yet... verdict is still out.
I researched for a LONG time to find the line I wanted that laid well but had good size and great tasting carcasses...
We'll see...

 

[Demosthine]

I now have Heritage RIR... big carcass, dual purpose birds...
So far I'm really thrilled with them... but haven't slaughtered any yet... verdict is still out.
I researched for a LONG time to find the line I wanted that laid well but had good size and great tasting carcasses...
We'll see...

How long have they been growing? The RIRs take what, six months to reach a good size for slaughter? I almost guarantee my wife wouldn't let me keep a dozen extra pullets for that long, even knowing they would be for meat. I have Heritage hens and cockerels of New Hampshires and Black Copper Marans, so maybe I'll end up incubating those eggs once I know they are fertile. So far, I haven't seen any breeding behavior out of either of these cockerels. The New Hampshires have developed in to especially large and beautiful birds. They would be my preference if I go this route.

 

[Beekissed]

This is IF you use two nested buckets... like a double boiler type setup...
Some folks use nested buckets with the top bucket having small holes drilled in it so the liquid drains and remains in the bottom bucket when they lift the top bucket out.
If you aren't going to bother lifting the top bucket with the grains out, you wouldn't bother using a second bucket.
You'd simply scoop the grains out and have no need for the bottom bucket... which is what I do, but I know many who use two buckets.

I use single buckets... use a curd spoon to scoop out the grains... similar to this one, but mine is larger with a longer handle...
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/251-13-Stainless-Steel-Flat-Ladle.html

Yep...those somebodies would be me. I think I was the first to initiate that setup..far as I know.

Yes, I still bother to keep the two buckets and I'll tell you why....I like that rich reservoir of untouched cultured water in between the buckets that never really gets used up. It gives me a goodly measure of backslop liquid that doesn't have to be drained off and added back to the feed to get that good jump on the fermentation.

When I add water from the top it seeps down through the feed and raises the level of fermented water into that fresh feed and I can feed that entire bucket without worrying about not having enough to backslop with the next time I add fresh feed. It's all waiting for me in the bottom bucket...ready to seep UP through the top bucket and inoculate the whole mix when I add water.

No need to drain the liquid, save it, add it back to the bucket, etc. I just mix a thicker consistency feed that doesn't need to be drained in order to feed it and the buckets can stay in place....all the while cooking that good bacillus in the bottom reservoir that never fully gets used up.

 

[Kassaundra]

Yep...those somebodies would be me. I think I was the first to initiate that setup..far as I know.

Yes, I still bother to keep the two buckets and I'll tell you why....I like that rich reservoir of untouched cultured water in between the buckets that never really gets used up. It gives me a goodly measure of backslop liquid that doesn't have to be drained off and added back to the feed to get that good jump on the fermentation.

When I add water from the top it seeps down through the feed and raises the level of fermented water into that fresh feed and I can feed that entire bucket without worrying about not having enough to backslop with the next time I add fresh feed. It's all waiting for me in the bottom bucket...ready to seep UP through the top bucket and inoculate the whole mix when I add water.

No need to drain the liquid, save it, add it back to the bucket, etc. I just mix a thicker consistency feed that doesn't need to be drained in order to feed it and the buckets can stay in place....all the while cooking that good bacillus in the bottom reservoir that never fully gets used up.

This isn't a thread I regularly read, just pop on every once in a while, but still am fermenting my grains, but I noticed you had posted so thought I'd pop on and say

since I had not seen you posting recently.

 

[Beekissed]

Kassaundra! Good to see you! The OT of the FF experience!

 

[RoseMarie1]

UGH I woke up to a mess this morning! I used the largest cookie jar and only filled it with food to less than half full. Put water on it and it expanded like crazy. I then went back and stirred it several times yesterday. When I went to be it was 1" from the top of the jar. I had a flower pot holder sitting under it that was 3" deep and it over flowed and went into that and down on the floor and puddled up. What a mess! So now it's IN a food grade 5 gallon bucket. lol It's bubbling really well to and smelling good. I didn't put the ACV on it. Figured I would give them their first taste of it tomorrow.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Poultry feed will have protein from a few sources...soybean meal, fish meal or animal by product meal...meal is just the ground up version of each.

Cornish Rock Cross birds that are commonly grown as meat birds, broilers, etc.

High Protein percentages in the feed. Broiler, or meat birds, are commonly fed continuous offerings of high protein feeds to get them to pack on weight very quickly before processing time.

No. No more than one plastic cup stacked within another one is smaller than the other. Buckets can stack, or nest, within one another and still be the same size.








Yeah...sometimes they get in it. It doesn't matter...I only put out what they can eat in that meal, so it isn't getting dirty before they can eat it and the deep litter absorbs any mess that's created. You can prevent this by wrapping the feeder in wire fencing, tightly, that has squares big enough to allow heads and not feet...but I don't bother now that I feed wet feeds. Usually if they get inside they don't stay there long.

Thank you Bee for answering all my questions!!!