Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

Our first broody hen hatched out at least one chick so far today. My 2 yr old and I were so excited to see it when we went to check on her this morning. She quickly pulled the chick back out of view though.

I have had some whole grains fermenting for the chicks when they hatch so this morning I mixed up the feed with the dry mix and sprouts and put it in the food processor with a little yogurt. So, these chicks will get fermented whole grains from day 1.

I bet that was cute. I remember old broody hens tearing me up for messing with their chicks when I was a kid. I remember when I was about 4 one flew about 10 feet across the fenced yard we had them in and hit me in the chest! She nearly knocked me down! LOL I didn't even see her coming until it was too late! Scared me to death! LOL I have hatched out eggs this year and bought chicks but I look forward to letting a hen do the hatching and raising. It is so cute to watch.

 

[Beekissed]

Y'all are scarin' me with the big ol' bug heads!!! I have a thing about big, shiny bugs...be they beetles or bees..the shiny ones freak me out. I had a really, really bad nightmare when I was little that went on and on, even when my eyes were open...maybe I was trippin' on Raid, who knows, but it stuck with me.

 

[Triple Willow]

OH GOSH! I'm already bug tramatized today, that picture wasn't necessary! LOL I scrolled down and "aahhhh!" LOL That was just pure mean Miss Foreverlearning! LOL Fire ants, hmmm...? Maaybe I'll keep these cute little ticks. lol

 

[Beekissed]

OH GOSH! I'm already bug tramatized today, that picture wasn't necessary! LOL I scrolled down and "aahhhh!" LOL That was just pure mean Miss Foreverlearning! LOL

Fire ants, hmmm...? Maaybe I'll keep these cute little ticks. lol

Yeth, yeth! Keepths the cutesy little ticksies, she does! They are her preciousssssss....

 

[foreverlearning]

I will take fire ants and ticks over the crazy ants any day. They kill electronics and have 8-20 queens in a hill. They spread like crazy and from what I can see, they can't seem to walk in a straight line. It's like the psycho's of the ant world. Fire ants are scared of them and when they come in you can kiss all the others away. At least I could treat and prevent fire ants from the most important parts of the property, but these crazy ants don't take bait and are attracted to electronics. Kinda sad they seem to like to kill the a/c the best and you can't go without a/c here.

 

[foreverlearning]

Yeth, yeth! Keepths the cutesy little ticksies, she does! They are her preciousssssss....

 

[Beekissed]

What do they eat? Some ants can be eliminated with just sitting out some corn meal and the corn is corrosive to their digestive systems and they take it back to the nest, store it, feed it to the youngsters and everyone partakes and they die. That helps with simple black ants here. I realize your ants are another breed of cat..but if you can find what they like to eat and poison it?

Dawn dishwashing liquid sprayed on the nests and bugs can kill them as well...it's what they finally used to kill the Killer Bee swarms that were making their way up from SA. From what I'm reading, they didn't get them all and now they are here in the US. Eek!!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Long term? Well...I have a couple favorites because I also like to eat my retired layers so I lean towards dual purpose layers that still lay at an excellent rate. My fave is the White Rock for laying and meat. There really are no down sides to that breed...none at all.

For laying long term, I really like Black Australorps and New Hampshires. Both are excellent laying breeds but don't seem to have laying issues like the hatchery RIRs run into after a year or so, though if you can get your hands on any heritage breeder line stock of RIRs, they are a great investment.

I love it that you are seeing the results of the garlic so quickly so I'd just let that sink in a bit and in a couple of weeks you might try it again to get any stragglers that may have hatched. Other than that, I don't recommend ongoing dewormers as you can grow worms that build a resistance to just about anything you use if you give it long enough. The last thing you need are worms that are hardier than your livestock.

OK now I got another question this matter of worms. Some say the ACV also gets rid of worms and then they also say not to do the ACV everyday that it would effect their laying and I can't remember the WHY on the laying part. Anyway was just wondering if the ACV does give them an acidic intestant sp?cso the worms wont get to an infestation stage.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Yeth, yeth! Keepths the cutesy little ticksies, she does! They are her preciousssssss....

LOL LOL LOL

 

[foreverlearning]

From http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2013/06/30/crazy-ants-south/2446941/

Rasberry says he has been able to ward them off and, on two occasions, eliminate an entire colony with the insecticide Termidor (fipronil), a poisonous chemical. Initially used for termites, it was approved for emergency use only in Texas by the EPA. If used incorrectly, it can be deadly for bees, birds and aquatic animals, including fish.

In Colombia, they have replaced all other ant species, killing small animals by asphyxiation. They've attacked the eyes, noses and hooves of larger animals such as cattle, and dried out entire grasslands.

From http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/rasberry.html

Food and feeding behavior:

• Tawny crazy ants eat almost anything; they are omnivorous.
• Worker ants commonly "tend" sucking hemipterous insects such as aphids, scale insects, whiteflies, mealy bugs, and others that excrete a sugary (carbohydrate) liquid called "honeydew" when stimulated by the ants.
• Workers are attracted to sweet parts of plants including nectaries, damaged, and over-ripe fruit.
• Worker ants also consume other insects and other small vertebrates for protein.

They have found no food bait that works because they eat such a wide variety of things. They have done studies watching them go around bait and find another food source.

• Click here to view a video by Bart Drees titled "Rasberry crazy ant feeding on oak aphid honeydew"