Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

Personally? None. On here? I've heard of maybe half dozen people. I figured it was more because they didn't want to be bothered and used bad feed as an excuse

I am curious why you asked?

 

[galanie]

I remember having mine outside during summer and I did quit for a while because of the smell. It wasn't a pickle smell or a yeasty smell or a ferment smell of any sort I've ever been exposed to. It smelled like garbage! It was awful! But now I do it indoors and it's fine. Doesn't ferment as long as I'd like it to overall but everyone is healthy and it smells good.

 

[hogster160]

I don't know of anyone who FF locally. But I do know of some on BYC and none of those have quit to my knowledge.

 

[LOVEIGEE]

Hey ya'll!..The only time I stopped feeding FF was when I got a batch of feed that had a lot of fish meal in it......talk about stinking....

A 50 lb bag when I ferment lasts 2 weeks and when I stopped and fed them dry, it only lasted 1 week....needless to say, I went straight back to FF....just made smaller batches......

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Question for ya'll... I have about a weeks worth of grower pellets left that I am fermenting; my chickens are almost 18 weeks old and I was thinking that I wouldn't buy another bag of the grower once this one runs out, but that I should start buying the layer feed. Is it ok to start them on layer feed at 18 or so weeks ?

 

[Beekissed]

Hey ya'll!..The only time I stopped feeding FF was when I got a batch of feed that had a lot of fish meal in it......talk about stinking....

A 50 lb bag when I ferment lasts 2 weeks and when I stopped and fed them dry, it only lasted 1 week....needless to say, I went straight back to FF....just made smaller batches......

Loveigee is back!!!! Praise God!!!!

 

[colburg]

I don't use one for various reasons and I don't know it warrants the expense of one just for home processing needs. They do expedite things quickly but they also damage the carcasses a good bit along the way...at least the ones I've seen do. Plucking these CX is liking wiping the feathers off, that's how easy they come off..just takes time but not much overall effort.

I built one of the pluckers and they work great. We offered to raise chickens for them if they'de feed when we're gone and help butcher. They declined because of the plucking. But once they saw the plucker, they went in whole hog. We split a batch of 50 CX and got em butchered in one weekend.

The plucker only bruised one of the CX because it got over scalded, and scalding is the key to easy plucking. Whether hand or machine plucking, just get the scalding done right, and it's easy.

 

[Triple Willow]

Nope, not Allan.  I saw that vid a while back and totally agree with this guy. He's doing some amazing stuff out there in Africa.

No, my local place is the Great Basin Growers Coop, or something like that.  There's a scientist that works there and I need to go pick his brain.

I agree, that Savory guy strikes me as very smart. Hopefully the scientist that works for your coop will know something about what Savory has been teaching and is not just a university educated ...ding dong. It seems like to me that a whole lot of university educated people just keep doing the same things (that don't work) over and over. It's like they have used the same book with the wrong information in it for 100 years! One example is the field of nutrition- "eggs are bad for you, margarine is good for you, don't eat any fat, drink skim milk, etc., etc., etc." All bolony but they still teach it!

You might could try following Savory's teaching on your place and teach them all something. I know it must be trying at times to live in that type climate. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes.

 

[LOVEIGEE]

Loveigee is back!!!! Praise God!!!!

I'm so excited! I'm at work, so I'll pop in and out when I get a chance........You are making me blush BF!

 

[Beekissed]

Personally? None. On here? I've heard of maybe half dozen people. I figured it was more because they didn't want to be bothered and used bad feed as an excuse

I am curious why you asked?

On another forum some people just started out using it this year and were really loving what it was doing for their flocks but a couple just stated they stopped using it because when the ferment got strong this summer the smell made them gag and get nauseous, so they stopped using it. I couldn't believe it!!! No more time than one stays with their nose over the bucket to feed or replenish, I couldn't believe that one would throw away all that good benefit for their flocks and their pocket book just because of a SMELL. A smell, mind you. A smell!

I've gagged silently(hiding it all the while) when I was cleaning the drainage from a man's face, where cancer had eaten the whole lower half of his face...completely..and there was putrid white drainage pouring down constantly and pieces of his face falling off, literally, in our hands. I've gagged silently while packing a wound that smelled like a bad sinus infection and my hand was inserted almost entirely into the flesh of someone's body in order to pack the wound.

But gag over a bucket of feed that smells a little like beer vomit? Not once. Not even. Some folks need to get out in the real world and do real dirty work so they don't get so easily offended over smells, because that's just a little bordering on ridiculous...who in the world changed their baby's diapers?

Question for ya'll... I have about a weeks worth of grower pellets left that I am fermenting; my chickens are almost 18 weeks old and I was thinking that I wouldn't buy another bag of the grower once this one runs out, but that I should start buying the layer feed. Is it ok to start them on layer feed at 18 or so weeks ?

It sure is! Won't hurt them a bit.