Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

I've done that!  Put the eggs in a coat pocket, forgot they were there, and had an accident...all in the learning curve!    Please let us see pics of the solar water heater and such and keep us apprised of it's performance.  Ya never know when something like that will come in real, real handy! 

Whew! Yesterday we had to take the big tarp off the coop to put the new roof up next to it... well I just got it back on and a much needed downpour came. It was nice! I sat under the tarp with the chicken and one of the dogs and watched it come down.

Oh yeah, I hope I can figure out something on the waterer. Breaking much ice gets to be a pain. I wish I had known about the passive solar heaters they have for large animals several years ago when I had them. That would save a lot of time, work and worry. (There has got to be a way to adapt one for small animals.)

Check these out:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/SteveTank/SteveTank.htm

 

[Lacy Blues]

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?

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

Oh my!

Ditto! And I'm going to invent that small animal passive solar heated waterer! I've got to drag out the power tools! LOL

Ok, I need a link for this one.

Whew! Yesterday we had to take the big tarp off the coop to put the new roof up next to it... well I just got it back on and a much needed downpour came. It was nice!

I sat under the tarp with the chicken and one of the dogs and watched it come down.

Oh yeah, I hope I can figure out something on the waterer. Breaking much ice gets to be a pain. I wish I had known about the passive solar heaters they have for large animals several years ago when I had them. That would save a lot of time, work and worry. (There has got to be a way to adapt one for small animals.)

Check these out:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/SteveTank/SteveTank.htm

I remember seeing this one before. I have no large livestock (yet) but that is a really cool project!

 

[Triple Willow]

Ok, I need a link for this one.
I remember seeing this one before.  I have no large livestock (yet) but that is a really cool project!

Yeah, it might not work where it is REALLY cold for extended periods of time but I think it would work in a lot of places. I have searched and searched but I can't find anything for small animals. There has got to be a way to build one.

Have any of you used those "cup" waterers that you install on a pvc line or bucket? Are they very dependable?

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah, it might not work where it is REALLY cold for extended periods of time but I think it would work in a lot of places. I have searched and searched but I can't find anything for small animals. There has got to be a way to build one.

Have any of you used those "cup" waterers that you install on a pvc line or bucket? Are they very dependable?

I've got one...can't get the chickens to use it. I've confined them to it for several days, pecked it for them, etc. They drink the water out of the cup without triggering the nipple and then, no more incentive to put their beak in there. I've even placed BOSS in the cup to get them to trigger the nipple...nothing. Old chickens, no new tricks. I've used the straight nipples with them...coated them with peanut butter, coated them with suet cake that had BOSS and other seeds, pecked and triggered them for them....nothing. They wouldn't access them at all. Let them out and they ran to the dog's water and drank like a sailor.

Now, young chicks? They learn the little red nipples in two seconds flat, no need to do any baiting or showing them much of anything. I'm sure they would also learn the cup watering system just as quickly.

 

[Triple Willow]

I've got one...can't get the chickens to use it.  I've confined them to it for several days, pecked it for them, etc.  They drink the water out of the cup without triggering the nipple and then, no more incentive to put their beak in there.  I've even placed BOSS in the cup to get them to trigger the nipple...nothing.  Old chickens, no new tricks.  I've used the straight nipples with them...coated them with peanut butter, coated them with suet cake that had BOSS and other seeds, pecked and triggered them for them....nothing.  They wouldn't access them at all.  Let them out and they ran to the dog's water and drank like a sailor. 

Now, young chicks?  They learn the little red nipples in two seconds flat, no need to do any baiting or showing them much of anything. I'm sure they would also learn the cup watering system just as quickly. 

I figured that. Sounds about like a dog I tried to get use an automatic feeder one time. I think that dog would have starved to death!

Hmmm... I'm thinking. Got to figure this out.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I wonder if you could make a little mini pop can heater on a plywood box to store your water in? Then run a pipe down to the water bowl below or something?

This I think will be my project for the fall! Five gallon solar pop can water heater!

 

[OHhappychicks]

Hi everyone! It's been a few months since I've been on this site, so I've missed so much!! And I may not have this totally correct, but from reading back a few pages, it seems you all ff your meat chickens. Do any of you ff your layers?

 

[Triple Willow]

I wonder if you could make a little mini pop can heater on a plywood box to store your water in? Then run a pipe down to the water bowl below or something?

This I think will be my project for the fall! Five gallon solar pop can water heater!

Great, me too! Maybe we can figure it out I'm trying to figure out how to have the water bucket in the box and also have a water supply attached to the bucket (like a cup). Also a solar heated doghouse would be cool! That would be good for older dogs with sore joints.

 

[Triple Willow]

Hi everyone! It's been a few months since I've been on this site, so I've missed so much!! And I may not have this totally correct, but from reading back a few pages, it seems you all ff your meat chickens.  Do any of you ff your layers?

Welcome back! Yes I do feed ff to my layers.

 

[armorfirelady]

Hi everyone! It's been a few months since I've been on this site, so I've missed so much!! And I may not have this totally correct, but from reading back a few pages, it seems you all ff your meat chickens. Do any of you ff your layers?

I also feed my layers FF