Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RedRidge]

We have now passed the 50" mark for rain fall this year... WOW!
This has been the ultimate test for how high and dry my coop pens are... can't say the same for some other areas on the farm, but the chickens have remained in the dry.
I thought at one point my sheep and maremma were going to mildew.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

We have now passed the 50" mark for rain fall this year... WOW! This has been the ultimate test for how high and dry my coop pens are... can't say the same for some other areas on the farm, but the chickens have remained in the dry. I thought at one point my sheep and maremma were going to mildew.

Hi RedRidge, With that much rain, what is your secret to keeping everything dry ?

 

[aquarose]

Hi. I just signed in to become a member. I just want to thank you for sharing with us all you've learned and experienced. You are all very helpful. Now I want to do my part. I'm sharing with you a link which I've found. http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/.

 

[chubbiechicken]

:0

 

[Linlou]

Can't stand the smell of skunk! Makes me want to barf. But I still need to know what type of feed you soak to ferment and aprox. how much per bird do you feed? Really would appreciate help in this area.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Beekissed]

You can ferment any type of feed and there are all kinds being done on this thread...take your pick. Feed the same amount you always feed per bird.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: A raincoat?

Seriously though... We added gutters and rain collection to our barn last year and that has helped the barn lot area tremendously.
Note to self... overflow drains from collection tanks are a MUST! Doesn't matter how many thousands of gallons you have in tanks.
We overflow them into stock tanks way out in the pasture.
We didn't have overflows on the back tanks and flooded the barn earlier this year. THAT project jumped to highest on the priority list real quick.

Tanks are used to water livestock and water the garden... but... we haven't watered the garden this year.
Our norm is 48" for the entire year... we hit that halfway through the year, so this is really unusual.
We just got lucky that the barn is on higher ground than everything around it.

 

[RedRidge]

Can't stand the smell of skunk! Makes me want to barf. But I still need to know what type of feed you soak to ferment and aprox. how much per bird do you feed? Really would appreciate help in this area.
Thanks in advance.

Soaking premixed feeds is nasty in my opinion. It's sticky and smelly.
I soak only my grains and then add the other ingredients to the fermented grains.
As far as amount... if you feed by weight... then all other things being equal the fermented grains weigh about 2.25 what the dry grains do. However, they tend to eat a little less. So by weight I feed what I normally would dry under the same circumstances.

 

[fuzziecreatures]

As soon as I get my holes drilled in my bucket, I'm going to do 2 scoops hard white wheat, 1 scoop buckwheat, 1 scoop BOSS, 1 scoop scratch, 2 scoops start n grow. Cover with water, stir, add more water, couple glugs of acv (Heinz w/ mother).
I dunno, kinda winging it. My scoop is a quart soup container btw. May have to adjust quantity because of the small "scoop". It is a ridiculous 47 degrees outside. High of 73 today.. ugh

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

A raincoat?

Seriously though... We added gutters and rain collection to our barn last year and that has helped the barn lot area tremendously. Note to self... overflow drains from collection tanks are a MUST! Doesn't matter how many thousands of gallons you have in tanks. We overflow them into stock tanks way out in the pasture. We didn't have overflows on the back tanks and flooded the barn earlier this year. THAT project jumped to highest on the priority list real quick.

Tanks are used to water livestock and water the garden... but... we haven't watered the garden this year. Our norm is 48" for the entire year... we hit that halfway through the year, so this is really unusual. We just got lucky that the barn is on higher ground than everything around it.

Sounds like a great setup ! The last month here has been pretty good weather wise but prior to that it was a wet Spring/Summer. I've managed to keep things fairly dry around the coop by using the deep litter method inside and utilizing fresh grass clippings and other grubbings to keep the run dry. My girls and 2 boys free range for a portion of the day so that helps as well.