Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

LOL @ you Bee, you so bad!

Thank you for all the details. I referred him to this post so he could see. He just got the birds and they were like this. Wanted to tell him what good luck you had with the castor oil!
I can't wait to see the pix of your soup roos. AND of your hillbilly pen.

Bee I bet standing in that water feels good to their old legs and feet is why they are doing that reacon? I know I put a shallow pan of water in mines pen when it's soooo hot and they will get n it and stand to cool off.

Well...it's not very hot here like it is where you are, so they would get quite a chill standing in their water.

I think they are just so busy pacing this pen that they just pace right through the pan like it's not even there. Like some kind of zombie chickens...they don't seem to know what grass is or what one should do with it.

 

[waltandlori]

Leave you guys alone and you fill pages lol. Bee it is great of you to share so much, all of you others as well. Y'all might be interested to know that wally world does carry the Heinz ACV. Here it is 3.98 a quart. I started putting it in the water for chickens, while trying to find buckets to make FF. I had a couple of 5 gal buckets but when I cleaned them up they smelled like 90 wt oil, I want to help them not kill them so I need to get something else. When I said these birds are are weird, I meant that in the most affectionate way lol. They just freak me out to watch them go for the feed trough. I put feed out for the hens and they go... yeah well we'll get to it in a minnit, meatys.... CHARGE! they beat the bejabers out of each other and my hands getting to it. Actually now that I think of it, Bee YOU are obie wan. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.


PS are you really up at 3 am? not time difference I'm bordering WV.

 

[Beekissed]

Leave you guys alone and you fill pages lol. Bee it is great of you to share so much, all of you others as well. Y'all might be interested to know that wally world does carry the Heinz ACV. Here it is 3.98 a quart. I started putting it in the water for chickens, while trying to find buckets to make FF. I had a couple of 5 gal buckets but when I cleaned them up they smelled like 90 wt oil, I want to help them not kill them so I need to get something else. When I said these birds are are weird, I meant that in the most affectionate way lol. They just freak me out to watch them go for the feed trough. I put feed out for the hens and they go... yeah well we'll get to it in a minnit, meatys.... CHARGE! they beat the bejabers out of each other and my hands getting to it. Actually now that I think of it, Bee YOU are obie wan. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.


PS are you really up at 3 am? not time difference I'm bordering WV.

Yes...sometimes I hurt, can't sleep.

I agree! The meaties are fierce food competitors! That's what makes them extraordinary foragers...it's like putting a velociraptor out on the grass and watching the hunting game. Because I make my own layer flock also hunt for their vittles, they are much like the meaties now when I feed this FF~I am surrounded and stalked every time I go out to do chores and it's like a signal goes out into the whole meadow, with chickens thundering from afar, Ol' fat Bertha and her saggy bottom bringing up the tail and panting like a steam engine, if I am pointed even vaguely towards the coop in my travels.

This FF does something to a common chicken and makes them act like meaties at the food trough, so be prepared for your layers to be jumping up into your feed bucket and pushing and shoving to the feeder when you get them addicted to this feed.

 

[foreverlearning]

Leave you guys alone and you fill pages lol. Bee it is great of you to share so much, all of you others as well. Y'all might be interested to know that wally world does carry the Heinz ACV. Here it is 3.98 a quart. I started putting it in the water for chickens, while trying to find buckets to make FF. I had a couple of 5 gal buckets but when I cleaned them up they smelled like 90 wt oil, I want to help them not kill them so I need to get something else. When I said these birds are are weird, I meant that in the most affectionate way lol. They just freak me out to watch them go for the feed trough. I put feed out for the hens and they go... yeah well we'll get to it in a minnit, meatys.... CHARGE! they beat the bejabers out of each other and my hands getting to it. Actually now that I think of it, Bee YOU are obie wan. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.


PS are you really up at 3 am? not time difference I'm bordering WV.

Walmart, TSC, Lowe's. and Home Depot all sell them somewhere close to the paint dept. They are all food grade (2 in the recycle symbol on bottom) and they sell the lids separate. Buckets depending on design range from $3-6 and lids are $1.28 at walmart without a rubber seal to $3.99 at other stores with a seal. Some places have them listed on Craig's List for free so keep an eye out. I wish I could find those free deals but everyone in this keeps them to store just about everything in because of the humidity.

 

[3 NH reds]

Yes...sometimes I hurt, can't sleep.

I agree! The meaties are fierce food competitors! That's what makes them extraordinary foragers...it's like putting a velociraptor out on the grass and watching the hunting game. Because I make my own layer flock also hunt for their vittles, they are much like the meaties now when I feed this FF~I am surrounded and stalked every time I go out to do chores and it's like a signal goes out into the whole meadow, with chickens thundering from afar, Ol' fat Bertha and her saggy bottom bringing up the tail and panting like a steam engine, if I am pointed even vaguely towards the coop in my travels.

This FF does something to a common chicken and makes them act like meaties at the food trough, so be prepared for your layers to be jumping up into your feed bucket and pushing and shoving to the feeder when you get them addicted to this feed.

Yep there are times I see them run over each other for the FF. Put out plain old scratch grains and they just look at it. Bee you have to get nipple waterers, end the dirty water stuff. You can use 5 gallon buckets, soda bottles or go all out and use a 50 gallon drum and pvc pipe. Mine feeds three coops and I have a gutter off the turkey coop to fill it , less work.

 

[colburg]

I can't remember who was asking, but about a month, month n a half ago, we were discussing how much FF layers eat. I had said I would take note and I'm finally remembering to put them up

It took 22 days to go through 3-50lb bags of feed. One bag of layer, one of wheat, one of scratch.

For about 55 layers + some roosters+ 2 turkeys, that's an average of 6-7lbs of dry food/day.

Since they've started molting(heavily) and egg production went to 1/day, I've upped their food to about 10-12 lbs/day and changed the ration so that it's a little heavier on the protein than before. Once the molt is done, I'll go back to the lower protein mix.

Hope that whoever wanted this info can find it.
Cheers,

 

[waltandlori]

Yes...sometimes I hurt, can't sleep.

I agree! The meaties are fierce food competitors! That's what makes them extraordinary foragers...it's like putting a velociraptor out on the grass and watching the hunting game. Because I make my own layer flock also hunt for their vittles, they are much like the meaties now when I feed this FF~I am surrounded and stalked every time I go out to do chores and it's like a signal goes out into the whole meadow, with chickens thundering from afar, Ol' fat Bertha and her saggy bottom bringing up the tail and panting like a steam engine, if I am pointed even vaguely towards the coop in my travels.

This FF does something to a common chicken and makes them act like meaties at the food trough, so be prepared for your layers to be jumping up into your feed bucket and pushing and shoving to the feeder when you get them addicted to this feed.

Sorry about the hurting, I know what that is... Velociraptors... yes I like that lol. I've started putting the ACV in the water, even put it in the salad dressing I made for wifey this AM. Goats got it in their water too. I saw on a site that you can take 2-3 tbs of ACV and 1 tsp of baking soda every day to help your insides as well (maybe this site not sure) so I figure if it's good enough for me it sure won't hurt anything else, mmmm wonder if the cockatoo and maccaw could stand it too. The too's poo can get a bit smelly sometimes, if I miss a cleaning day.

Walt

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Yes...sometimes I hurt, can't sleep.

I agree! The meaties are fierce food competitors! That's what makes them extraordinary foragers...it's like putting a velociraptor out on the grass and watching the hunting game. Because I make my own layer flock also hunt for their vittles, they are much like the meaties now when I feed this FF~I am surrounded and stalked every time I go out to do chores and it's like a signal goes out into the whole meadow, with chickens thundering from afar, Ol' fat Bertha and her saggy bottom bringing up the tail and panting like a steam engine, if I am pointed even vaguely towards the coop in my travels.

This FF does something to a common chicken and makes them act like meaties at the food trough, so be prepared for your layers to be jumping up into your feed bucket and pushing and shoving to the feeder when you get them addicted to this feed.

You said it, Bee ! My girls act like they haven't ate anything in a week when I even hint that heading for the coop.

Funny story... I've been keeping my FF bucket inside for the past few days because the weather has turned chilly and I want to keep good ferment going. The bucket is sitting in front of my patio doors and the girls have a bad habit of coming up on the patio these days and stalking me... They stand in front of the doors, peering into the windows and watching me like little creepers; one of my RIR girls noticed the feed bucket and when I walked towards the patio door she charged at it and ran smack right into the window thinking I was gonna bring the feed bucket out to feed them LOL

I wish you could have seen the look on her face when she relaized she couldn't go through that glass window !

 

[Triple Willow]

Yep there are times I see them run over each other for the FF. Put out plain old scratch grains and they just look at it. Bee you have to get nipple waterers, end the dirty water stuff. You can use 5 gallon buckets, soda bottles or go all out and use a 50 gallon drum and pvc pipe. Mine feeds three coops and I have a gutter off the turkey coop to fill it , less work.

Now there's another good idea... gutters ran to a barrel ran to pvc water line! Do you have a pic of your setup?

Thank you much!

 

[Triple Willow]

I almost had a FF FATALITY the other day! I was feeding the youngsters, had the bucket down raking out the ff into the feeder. As you all know it was a feeding frenzy, like great white sharks! I let the handle of the bucket (bail) down and was holding the bucket then I noticed a pullet acting even crazier than they always do. Well I didn't know it but I had her poor neck caught in the bucket like a guillotine choking her! I nearly killed the poor girl! I got her out of it and she just sat there on the ground looking at me all hurt like, "I can't believe you did that to me." I felt awful but she recovered and is fine now, thank goodness. I wanted to give them all a good mom speech - "Now see what happens when you all act like little idiots...somebody gets hurt!!!"