Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Windy Bay Farm]

YW!  I'm so glad you are trying this in your run...you'll have to let us know the differences you see as time goes along.  No more muddy feet in the nests, for one..hurray!  No more water standing in stinky pools after a rain, yay!!

 

I'll for sure keep ya'll updated on how things go and what I can tweak as time goes along !

I love this thread, all of you people and chicken keeping is the best !

 

[Triple Willow]

I've almost done it a time or three and many people have encouraged it, but for some reason I cannot do it...hit a wall of "NO" each time I try.  I take that as a leading from God and gave up my desire to write it all down for posterity and sell it for money..and that's something because I love to write and have always done well in that area. 

As for money..no, I do not need it, though many would look at my circumstances in life and say that I am a pauper.    I look at my circumstances in life and claim that I am rich beyond compare and have need of nothing..and that would be the true statement, as all my needs are provided for on a daily basis.  All I own can be fit into a few duffel bags and the back of a small SUV and they are nothing but rags, but I am the wealthiest woman on Earth. 

I have no desire to leave a legacy or tribute to me or my mothers, as I pay tribute to them each and every day by telling their stories and honoring what they taught me.  A legacy created by man will be dust and a forgotten puff of air one day soon, so I have no desire for that either.  I guess you could say I'm very content to pass along tidbits here and there in a spontaneous manner and meet you wonderful people along the way.  That is much, much more satisfying than mere money, useless legacies or tributes to ancestors, I'm thinking.  Everything here will turn to dust and pass away, but the fellowship I have with some of you folks will live on in my heart for eternity! 

Well I'm sure you know as well as I do that with God there can be three answers: yes, no and wait. And there are times that our answer depends on something we do - for example, God has the perfect mate for us but us meeting them depends on us moving to another city. If we refuse to take God's leading to move we miss out on what God has in store for us or delay it beyond what is necessary. I hope there comes a time that God will lead you to put your knowledge in book form.

I know exactly what you mean about money. Most people in this world don't get it, but I know exactly what you mean.

I suppose I am a very nostalgic kind of person. My ancestors and even the old folks that use to live down the road that I never really knew, I wonder about them and the details of their life. I especially wonder about ancestors I never met or didn't know long. I wish they had all left a book behind so I could know them. But I'm just a little crazy like that. lol

I do hope you will write a book one day, and do with the money whatever it is God wants you to do with it.

 

[RoseMarie1]

@Bee... Ya know, I think it would be a real waste if you let the knowledge that you have gained over your lifetime from your mom, grandma and other farmers just disappear. Of course you spread a lot of knowledge here BUT if you were to write it down in a book it would never be lost and it would spread even further. That would be one nice tribute to your mom, grandma and the rest. I know you are like me, just a pilgrim passing through, but you could leave a legacy and do it your way, putting in it any and everything you want without having to be "politically correct". You could teach people a lot more than just chicken keeping. Think about it.

...And you would make money! If you don't need/want the money just send it to me and I will do away with it for you. LOL

LOL @ Triple and I sure would be buying a copy that's for sure!!! Yep I would be!!!

 

[Triple Willow]

The pine nuggets that I put in my run sure have helped. They are big, most at least 2 inch chunky pieces and some bigger. I know the birds sure do appreciate it. They are digging in it like they are searching for gold! lol I'm going to add more tomorrow. I got it at Lowe's, around $3.60 a big bag. It's a lot cheaper than pine shavings and they were just sinking in the mud and disappearing!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Mine free range in all weathers, even in the rain. Actually, if it's going to rain all day they will forage out in it, if it's only going to be a few showers, they take shelter. Their feathers should protect the rain from ever really reaching their skin, although some birds in molt may be a little less waterproof. They apply oil to their feathers from an oil gland at the base of their tail for this very reason..weatherproofing.

When I feed in the morning, during the winter months, all the feed is usually gone by around late afternoon around 2-3 pm. They still free range in the winter time and forage on the greens, even in the snow. When I fed dry feeds, there would still be just a skiff of feed in the trough the next morning...just some powder and a few grains. Now that I feed FF, there is never really much left over at the end of the day...they practically lick it clean.

I have found my birds just naturally eat less in the winter months as they don't move around nearly as much as they do when forage is good. I also cut the rations with whole grains in the winter to lower the proteins but add a little fats and fiber. So they actually consume even less calories in the winter, though almost the same amount of food...when everyone else is adding proteins to "keep them warm", I'm cutting them to keep them healthier and to save me money.

Chickens are opportunistic eaters, so if the easiest opportunity is in the trough, they will hang close to the coop for constant snacking, but if it isn't, they will range out and forage for foods elsewhere. My birds move out over about 2 acres of land when they forage, the CX birds went all over 3 acres.

I use a standard feed scoop like one you would find in pet stores and such, and I fed a flock of 30 chickens and whatever chicks were present around 4-5 scoops of dry feed in the winter months. In the warm months, it was 3-4 scoops. I have half that number now and I feed 2 level scoops of FF each evening and no more..even that is probably too much as they aren't as slim as they need to be. In the winter that may go up to three level scoops.

From what I can tell, the scoop I use is a 2 cup scoop...so my birds get 4 cups of FF each day for 14 birds and 6 cups of feed in the winter months. Now, the levelness of the scoop measure can go up or down as I am constantly tweaking just a bit, so that is not absolute and it varies a little with the seasons and the general condition of the birds. Sometimes I'll use heaping scoops and sometimes level scoops to regulate the amounts, when they are showing too much weight.

It's something you have to play with as you get to know your flock and what is "good condition" for them, but not too good of condition, if you know what I mean. The birds should always be hungry enough to clean their plate for the day...if not, then tweak it down until they get enough but are not leaving left overs.

ok thanx! Will have to work on this because I sure don't want them having too much fat in their body and causing problems for the hens laying.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I've almost done it a time or three and many people have encouraged it, but for some reason I cannot do it...hit a wall of "NO" each time I try. I take that as a leading from God and gave up my desire to write it all down for posterity and sell it for money..and that's something because I love to write and have always done well in that area.

As for money..no, I do not need it, though many would look at my circumstances in life and say that I am a pauper.

I look at my circumstances in life and claim that I am rich beyond compare and have need of nothing..and that would be the true statement, as all my needs are provided for on a daily basis. All I own can be fit into a few duffel bags and the back of a small SUV and they are nothing but rags, but I am the wealthiest woman on Earth.

I have no desire to leave a legacy or tribute to me or my mothers, as I pay tribute to them each and every day by telling their stories and honoring what they taught me. A legacy created by man will be dust and a forgotten puff of air one day soon, so I have no desire for that either. I guess you could say I'm very content to pass along tidbits here and there in a spontaneous manner and meet you wonderful people along the way. That is much, much more satisfying than mere money, useless legacies or tributes to ancestors, I'm thinking. Everything here will turn to dust and pass away, but the fellowship I have with some of you folks will live on in my heart for eternity!

oh now I see your point clearly. VERY well put to by the way! You ever heard that song Charley Pride sings, I'm just me? I love that song because I AM just me. I am who I was made to be and am very content in that so I see clearly what you mean. OH well so I guess I don't get to pay you for that book. ;-) I'm making one of my own from all your knowledge you are sharing so I can refer back to it. lol cuz like I said before I just can't trust my memory these days.
Thanx yet again Bee, you are so unique and wonderful!

 

[RoseMarie1]

YW! I'm so glad you are trying this in your run...you'll have to let us know the differences you see as time goes along. No more muddy feet in the nests, for one..hurray! No more water standing in stinky pools after a rain, yay!!

and no more walking outta there with poop stuck to your shoes or not as much of it anyway. Plus no more walking in it for them when it is getting deep.

 

[Triple Willow]

LOL @ Triple and I sure would be buying a copy that's for sure!!! Yep I would be!!! 

Yep

 

[Triple Willow]

One of my pullets that just started laying 3 weeks ago (at 19 weeks) layed an extra-large double yolker today! The yolks were big too, full sized. Not sure who it was, there are Australorps, Columbian Rocks and Speckled Sussex. Don't think it was the Sussex. I sure would like to get a bunch of eggs like that one every day!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

My chickens have a pen about 25' on one end and 7' on the other and 40' long (ordinance restrictions making for a strange shaped pen). I have a foot or two of wood chips in there. I was ordering dirt for my garden beds anyhow, and they would deliver the wood chips (mix of fresh and aged and some garden debris) to my house $1/yard and $20 delivery.... Heck yeah! I got 8 yards. They're still working their way on breaking it all down but some of it is starting to look like really nice soil. A lot of it is gritty and sandy around the trees and they dust bathe there. I throw in fresh grass and weeds every day, and my sisters grass clippings and weeds too! Sometimes I build dust baths for them special out of D.E. and wood ash and a bit of sand. They go nuts. I still need to work on the "multiple levels" thing for them. Their coop is up high and there's some branches in there but the branches keep getting eaten by the earth! Sucked in and added to the litter. Still, the ladies do well! I'm going to put in some log perches eventually that won't be sucked in, and a cinder block so they can wear down nails and beaks naturally.

Now, where I got my Golden Comets from did NOT have deep litter. The chickens were kept in a big 6X8 coop, but the outside pen was only about 10X10 for some 20+ odd chickens. It was nothing but poop soup and the lady could barely even walk through her pen with shoe covers on. I've seen cleaner pig wallows! I will NEVER EVER let my chickens end up in a situation like that. Got my hens home and they smelled like everyone who's ever complained about chicken smell's worst nightmare. Three days later they were clean as a whistle! I'll be sticking to deep litter. This year I'm going to be doing sprouting grains for them and then next spring, forage frames to get some grass/weed/forage growth. They do have some shrubby weeds that they just don't like eating growing in there, and two trees right there, but that's it at the moment, since we put in the wood chips and smothered everything.

They're also below my rabbit cages. So they have a ball cleaning up after them! Healthy hens are worth every effort!