Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[ChocolateMouse]

I find that straining is really easy if you just have somewhere to put your bucket to strain, such as over the other bucket. My FF bins are rectangles and the holes are in the middle so I can just set one on top of the other sideways. Then I leave it. It gets dryer throughout the day as I feed it out keeping the poos a little more solid, then I refill at night and it's puffy and wet and full of air and bubbles in the morning. Then drain by lifting it out and ignoring it, feed, fill repeat.

The finest sediment goes through the holes and once every couple of weeks I scoop that back into the feed bin on top of all the other feed.

 

[Triple Willow]

Or it could mean you have nerve and cardio encroachment in your cervical spine....like me.  Turn my head to the left or upwards for very long~dizziness, nausea and an instant and lasting migraine.  Which might feel a little rough but nowhere as bad as hell. 

I hardly ever get a head ache but sometimes it does turn my stomach a little bit. It just happens out of the blue. Thank God it's not a constant problem.

 

[Kassaundra]

It usually is! Doctors....phhft!

Hey! I didn't know you were having poor feather quality...wonder why that is? Lower fats in the whole grains, maybe? I hadn't heard anyone else report rough feathering and that didn't happen with my flock by any means. They have the most lush feathering they had ever had in their lives and for the first time I had trouble finding vents in all that fluff! I still do and I notice it causes them to have more mess back there than they used to because of sheer feather volume!

I think it is my choice of grain, oat. I mix oat, wheat and corn, but I think the oat is known for poor feather quality if I remember the research correctly. I would love to switch to barley but it is just not available in my area. I have even considered switching off oat and going straight wheat and corn, but I don't think it is as nutrient diverse or rounded. Maybe if I tried 1/2 part oat to full parts wheat and corn????


I really would like the pretty feathers back on my girls

 

[Triple Willow]

I think it is my choice of grain, oat.  I mix oat, wheat and corn, but I think the oat is known for poor feather quality if I remember the research correctly.  I would love to switch to barley but it is just not available in my area.  I have even considered switching off oat and going straight wheat and corn, but I don't think it is as nutrient diverse or rounded.  Maybe if I tried 1/2 part oat to full parts wheat and corn????


I really would like the pretty feathers back on my girls

If you could get ahold of some flax seeds. A little bit ought to make a big difference. At 25% protein, it goes a long way.

 

[Triple Willow]

SAME here! I just thought it was my thyroids since they're acting up. In fact last year I got up one morning and the whole room was spinning. I couldn't open my eyes because it was soooo bad. I had to have help to walk and everything. Wound up at the Dr. office and he gave me something to stop it and thank goodness that one was the only really bad time. But yep this is also happening to me. I can't even squat down anymore without falling over backwards or swaying back and forth trying to keep my balance! Some really weird stuff.

If my blood pressure gets too low I do that. Like a drunk person! LOL

 

[DaveMorey]

Nice looking birds Dave.

Thank you. These birds are a first for me so I am stumbling along a bit. Thank goodness for many guiding lights on here.

 

[Beekissed]

I had never heard that about oats. My layer mash seems to have plenty of oats in the mix, though, and I used to cut rations in the winter with crimped oats and didn't see any of that. I'll have to look into that..now I'm intrigued!

I know when I see other people's meat birds their feathers look really ragged and of poor quality but both batches of my meat birds had really soft, thick feathering the closer they got to processing. The first batch were not fed FF, so the only common denominator was the layer mash for both sets of birds.

This is a few pics of CX off the net...don't know whose but it looks like they are free ranged..





First pic shows birds raised on the same feed as the second batch, but not fermented feeds...look at how smoothly feathered this bird is:



Now look at this one, same feeds but fermented:

 

[Triple Willow]

Thank you. These birds are a first for me so I am stumbling along a bit. Thank goodness for many guiding lights on here.

Oh yeah I agree. Without the things I have found on this weebsite, especially this one thread, I be pretty lost. I'd be depending on the "Storey Guide"! lol

 

[Beekissed]

Heaven forbid!

 

[B J Hopkins]

Oh I got it all along. The reason I got these dinosaur creatures is for bug control and eggs - about equal. But I think MORE people should have them for bug control EVERYWHERE! The government should give incintives for chicken ownership! They've dun mo stupider thangs! LOL

It is really really strange, I never ever had a fear of heights until maybe 5 years ago. I didn't even know I had it until I went into a big open building. Actually maybe it's not a fear of heights. It is kind of a fear of BIG open spaces. I went in this big fancy building where concerts and that sort of thing are held. When you walk in the door it is BIG and open like 50 feet high ceiling. I got freakishly dizzy from that, not to mention going up then looking down! I get dizzy and feel like I'm going to fall for real. I feel like everything is moving and I'm going to fall! Okay, like the bed spinning after a bender (waaay back in the day). LOL It feels exactly like that. "What's wrong with me doctor!!???!!" lol

Oh yeah, I sure do agree! Eggs & bug controll.