Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

I have noticed since yesterday that my FF has a kind of yeasty beer type smell. About the same kind of odour you would have if you were making a home brew - sort of sweet/yeasty. Is this ok to feed the chickens or is there something going wrong with the FF ?

It's fine. You can feed them that with no concern.

For the person who asked if the hens will just keep eating till the trough is empty?
My hens do not. I give them a scoop in the morning and another at night. There is always ff left in the trough at night when they roost. They just finish it for breakfast. But my girls are out foraging everyday. They don't free range but have over 200 ft electric netting to forage in.

 

[BlueMouse]

Interesting! Can you get animal grade flax or do you buy it in the grocery store? I had bought a bag of flax and wheat germ and was mixing it in with my FF until I ran out. I fed the flax whole but have heard its hard for humans to digest and you should grind it. I wonder if that applies to birds or if they have their own internal grinders.

I use flax in my feed, because i feed soy free, and even with field peas it can be hard to get the protien high enough (more of a concern for my game birds than for the chickens) I buy it at the feed store by the 50lb bag. I have also read good studies that say that it increases the amount of useable omega 3 fatty acids in the eggs, so good for the humans eating the eggs. Don't know if my layers get enough of it during the summer to make a difference, since I basically don't feed them.... I don't grind it. I found that once it was fermented it is quite soft. I can cut a seed in half with my fingernail. Birds have very effecient internal grinding mechanisms anyhow, but I have read a couple different places that whether they can grind unfermented whole flax is somewhat questionable. Another great thing about fermenting I guess

Glad to report that my ferment bucket is somewhat back to normal this morning. It has one or two of the floating puffy islands of unknown growth, but theyr'e surrounded by the normal crystaline stuff, which I take as a good sign of returning balance. I stirred it all extra well when I fed out this morning. Still smells ok too. I can't say for 100% sure that the LAB kicked it back over into balance, but it seems like it. Handy stuff that LAB.

edited because evidently I can't spell/type/and hold a conversation with my two year old at the same time....

 

[Triple Willow]

Interesting! Can you get animal grade flax or do you buy it in the grocery store? I had bought a bag of flax and wheat germ and was mixing it in with my FF until I ran out. I fed the flax whole but have heard its hard for humans to digest and you should grind it. I wonder if that applies to birds or if they have their own internal grinders.

Well I don't know if there is much difference in it than what you buy in the store for humans but yes you can get it at the feed store much cheaper. The only difference I have seen is that it has just a little bit of trash in it. Maybe that is the difference. It is high for a 50ib bag but it will go a long long way so really to me it isn't high in the long run.

When I was first checking it out I found that it is best to not ever feed over 10% of your ration as flax. It can cause them to lose weight and it can cause a sticky feces even in adut birds. Sticky feces would be really bad in chicks so I would only give them a little if any and not until they are older.

Also, ground flax seed will not keep very long, it will spoil. It is best to buy it whole and grind it as you feed it (if you prefer it ground) but fermenting the whole seeds will work perfectly fine. I imagine if you feed the whole seeds without fermenting them you will get a lot of waste with the seeds passing on through the digestive tract without breaking down. That would be easy to overlook.

I really believe that flax is a hidden treasure. It would be really good for the birds and for those eating the bird or its eggs, not to mention you could then advertise your eggs as an Omega-3 source or something like that. A lot of people would pay extra for that. Folks who can truely free range their birds probably have the correct amout of 0mega-3's already but for the rest of us flax can make up the difference.

 

[Triple Willow]

@nab58... Not to mention that flax is just a good protein source at 35-37%.

 

[Triple Willow]

For the person who asked if the hens will just keep eating till the trough is empty?
My hens do not. I give them a scoop in the morning and another at night. There is always ff left in the trough at night when they roost. They just finish it for breakfast. But my girls are out foraging everyday. They don't free range but have over 200 ft electric netting to forage in.

Thanks for the info. I believe I may try this with my birds while I am home first just to see what they do. Ohh, you're going to have me wanting that netting again. lol

 

[3 NH reds]

I think the amount of food eaten can be affected by the breed.Cornish have a reputation for eating everything they can get, NH reds are good with their food and only eat what they need. We have 3 dogs, 2 labs and a Hound Lab mix. The Labs would never stop eating but the hound does. We left her in her 10 by 10 Kennel for 3 days with lots of food and water. We asked the person collecting eggs for us to walk by and make sure she was fine. We came home and she had food left in her bowl. our Labs would have had that food gone in 15 min

 

[armorfirelady]

For the person who asked if the hens will just keep eating till the trough is empty?
My hens do not. I give them a scoop in the morning and another at night. There is always ff left in the trough at night when they roost. They just finish it for breakfast. But my girls are out foraging everyday. They don't free range but have over 200 ft electric netting to forage in.

Thanks for the info. I believe I may try this with my birds while I am home first just to see what they do. Ohh, you're going to have me wanting that netting again. lol

It's the best investment I ever made. I can move it easily to mow and move them around the yard. And I have no fears of 4 legged predators getting to them. Heck there were chicken bones in the run from wings I gave the hens and they were still there this morning. The coyote and coons didn't get to them

 

[Triple Willow]

It's the best investment I ever made. I can move it easily to mow and move them around the yard. And I have no fears of 4 legged predators getting to them. Heck there were chicken bones in the run from wings I gave the hens and they were still there this morning. The coyote and coons didn't get to them

I'd really like to get some until I get my permanent fencing up. Still, like you said, it would be good to move around. I for sure have places around the yard that need the bugs taken care of. And I would loved to have gift wrapped those two stray dogs in it that paid me a visit the other day. (Oh that is so violent! LOL) Which brand fence do you have?

 

[Triple Willow]

I have an off the wall question for you guys. Do you or have you ever heard that running a couple of goats with your free range birds will help deter attacks from birds of prey? I have heard that and I can see how it might work, maybe not 100% but help.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Thanks for the info. I believe I may try this with my birds while I am home first just to see what they do. Ohh, you're going to have me wanting that netting again. lol

mine always have left overs at night time to and finish it for breakfast as well since I don't feed a heaping pile each day to them.


BEE someone asked me a question a couple days ago and I've been thinking about it ever since wondering IF I am doing right....... about the ff.......I put enough feed in my bucket to last probably 5 days or it may even last for 6 but I don't ever let it run out before I add fresh to it. I add fresh about every other day or every other second day. I feed out of it the very next evening that I have added fresh food to it. Is this right? I can feed from it the very next day after I added fresh food to the batch right? The probitics should still be there since I don't allow it to get too close to the bottom before I add more fresh food. But also wondering about this same approach in the wintertime and how that would work since it wont be AS warm in here because it would probably take it longer to really get to going so to speak on the new food that's put in there.


I've got several people asking me questions on the MS. facebook page we have for around here. I am telling them the good things it does for the chickens and how well mine love it etc. Also referring them to here because I just might miss something and just want them to read it for themselves to see just how they want to do theirs and just in case I miss something they will know just how to do it. Anyway several people are interested so I get a lot of questions.