Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LOVEIGEE]

Girls...I have a tender heart too. It really has nothing to do with a tender heart or not having a tender heart. My hands have nursed more people and even animals with extreme tenderness for many, many years now. I'm a good nurse and I couldn't be that way without having a tender heart and compassion towards others. Having a tender heart doesn't mean you cannot kill an animal for food, it has more to do with the mind than the heart. I'm practical and I've got a full measure of common sense that bolsters my fortitude and keeps me from imagining things that simply are not there...like animal's feelings and personalities that are not like our own.

It is because of my tender heart that I kill my own birds instead of eating chickens that were raised in horrible conditions and sent to be killed, packed like sardines in a truck going 70 mph down the highway, their feathers flying off them as they go. Handled roughly and thrown, sometimes kicked as they are jammed into crates, jerked roughly about and hung by their feet to have their heads cut off...some don't hit the machine properly and so they are dunked into the boiling water alive, there to die horribly.

I've been listening for years on these forums as people tell me they just have too tender of a heart to kill their own and that always puzzles me. Do they think I am some hard-hearted, blood thirsty woman out here in the woods with a cleaver? I'm not. I cry at just about every movie I've ever watched..even those starring robots, for pete's sake. I cry over reading a book, I even boo-hoo watching a commercial! I cry when I sing to the Lord. I don't know of anyone with a bigger, more mushy heart than mine..truly. All my patients can tell you how tenderly I care for their bodies, their wounds and their minds.

It has nothing to do with how gentle and tender one's heart is. It has to do with how strong one's mind is when it comes to reasoning out which is more cruel...eating meats from the store or eating meats raised by someone with a tender heart?

 

[LOVEIGEE]

You should have seen me squalling like a baby awhile back when I thought I was going to have to put Jake down...sobbed until I choked, begging God to heal him and take away his pain. And He did and the problem has not recurred and I thank God for his good health every single day. My heart has the full measure of tenderness and my sensibilities are all in the right place, I can assure all of that.

We both prayed for Jake!

 

[Beekissed]

We both prayed for Jake!

And He listened and fulfilled! Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Thank you, BF, for praying for my dog!

 

[Triple Willow]

Well I have a tender mind then! lol I have cried over so many critters it's not even funny.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Walt my starter was 22% and she told me to cut it with scratch grains which the chickens dearly LOVED! Now that they are on layer though I can't do that because it makes it much less in protein since it's only 16% now. Wondering IF there is some other kind of game bird something I could feed them and use the grains and not use layer but then I guess they wouldn't lay? I have no clue. Anyway she said cut it 1/2 and 1/2 with the grains to cut down on that mega high protein level.

I'm wondering about my layer feed, it's 22% protein and 3.8 or so calcium... Does this make sense ? It seems to me that that is rather high percentage of protein. I'm mixing it at about 70:30 layer to crushed barley and also mixing in some BOSS. Will it be ok to continue doing this with such a high % of protein ?

 

[waltandlori]

Girls...I have a tender heart too. It really has nothing to do with a tender heart or not having a tender heart. My hands have nursed more people and even animals with extreme tenderness for many, many years now. I'm a good nurse and I couldn't be that way without having a tender heart and compassion towards others. Having a tender heart doesn't mean you cannot kill an animal for food, it has more to do with the mind than the heart. I'm practical and I've got a full measure of common sense that bolsters my fortitude and keeps me from imagining things that simply are not there...like animal's feelings and personalities that are not like our own.

It is because of my tender heart that I kill my own birds instead of eating chickens that were raised in horrible conditions and sent to be killed, packed like sardines in a truck going 70 mph down the highway, their feathers flying off them as they go. Handled roughly and thrown, sometimes kicked as they are jammed into crates, jerked roughly about and hung by their feet to have their heads cut off...some don't hit the machine properly and so they are dunked into the boiling water alive, there to die horribly.

I've been listening for years on these forums as people tell me they just have too tender of a heart to kill their own and that always puzzles me. Do they think I am some hard-hearted, blood thirsty woman out here in the woods with a cleaver? I'm not. I cry at just about every movie I've ever watched..even those starring robots, for pete's sake. I cry over reading a book, I even boo-hoo watching a commercial! I cry when I sing to the Lord. I don't know of anyone with a bigger, more mushy heart than mine..truly. All my patients can tell you how tenderly I care for their bodies, their wounds and their minds.

It has nothing to do with how gentle and tender one's heart is. It has to do with how strong one's mind is when it comes to reasoning out which is more cruel...eating meats from the store or eating meats raised by someone with a tender heart?

I had written my usual long winded wandering expose', I decided to spare you all and canned it. Bee you sound like not only a soft hearted, but a soft soul, blessed with savvy and common sense. I've had my share of dealings with nurses ( they were dressed in white with a white "winged" cap charge had dark stripe) over the years and they mostly were like you. Bless....

Walt
PS if it was 5 alive, I like that one.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm wondering about my layer feed, it's 22% protein and 3.8 or so calcium... Does this make sense ? It seems to me that that is rather high percentage of protein. I'm mixing it at about 70:30 layer to crushed barley and also mixing in some BOSS. Will it be ok to continue doing this with such a high % of protein ?

Let's just put it this way...you could go lower on protein..much lower..and it would still be a healthy, balanced ration. Even more so. This saves you money as you can cut that layer ration with a cheaper whole grain by 50% and still have good nutrition. Especially when you ferment...that kicks the actual protein used and it's usability up to the nth degree.

I've noticed more and more people reporting the only layer rations they can get are 20% or higher and I'm wondering why the feed businesses are upping that protein all the sudden...possibly to justify a higher price? To satisfy an urban market of inexperienced flock owners who are thinking that more protein equals better nutrition?

The whole idea of this fermented feed is to increase usability of proteins so you can feed less total feed and also cut your ration with cheaper grains and still get the right amount of protein. But what I'm seeing is folks fermenting their feed and then throwing more and higher protein supplements in on top of the fermentation. That's not saving money, not feeding less feed nor is it keeping the nutrients at a balanced and safe level. It's just throwing a bunch of money in a bucket and fermenting it, then shortening the life of the chickens...which also hurts the pocketbook.

I'm having trouble understanding the rationale behind these methods.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Windybay, your feed seems too high in protein and too low in calcium. Calcium should be like 5%....


Ultimately, ladies (and gents), I think it's not about how tender you are. I think it's about how strong you are and how sensible.

I heard someone say once that if you find a dying rabbit that's been crushed by a car it's better to take the rabbit that can't survive to the emergency vet and have it put down "humanely" than to step on it's skull HARD and put it out of it's misery... Even in the vet is 20+ minutes away. That's having your sensibilities out of line... That will clearly cause extreme pain, fear and suffering to the rabbit in the 20 minutes while you try to get it to a vet that is just going to put it out of it's misery anyhow.

Being strong is being sad and scared and acting anyhow. Once my dog got bit badly by another dog. I immediately dropped everything and started giving first aid (iodine, wrapping the leg, etc.). Later we took her to the vet and get her staples and when they took my dog to go fix her up I just started shaking and crying all over as soon as she was out of my hands. I didn't have to be strong and do what was need anymore but if I wasn't strong I just would have cried and my pup would have had a worse time of it.

I think it's the same thing with chickens. If your chicken is badly hurt, or even just older, has a lower quality of life... The best thing for your chicken is to put it out of that suffering. Knowing that and that your chicken does not care about if it lives or dies (your bird only really knows that it's happy and safe in life) is being sensible. Being tender of any sort is crying over your chicken. Being strong is processing it anyhow because you know it's the right thing to do. These things are not at all mutually exclusive.

Some people just don't have the sense or strength to do it. If my dog, one of the closest creatures in my life, were dying in front of me and suffering I would pull the trigger myself and cry non-stop for months during and after. I'd still do it.

 

[Triple Willow]

Windybay, your feed seems too high in protein and too low in calcium. Calcium should be like 5%....


Ultimately, ladies (and gents), I think it's not about how tender you are. I think it's about how strong you are and how sensible.

I heard someone say once that if you find a dying rabbit that's been crushed by a car it's better to take the rabbit that can't survive to the emergency vet and have it put down "humanely" than to step on it's skull HARD and put it out of it's misery... Even in the vet is 20+ minutes away. That's having your sensibilities out of line... That will clearly cause extreme pain, fear and suffering to the rabbit in the 20 minutes while you try to get it to a vet that is just going to put it out of it's misery anyhow.

Being strong is being sad and scared and acting anyhow. Once my dog got bit badly by another dog. I immediately dropped everything and started giving first aid (iodine, wrapping the leg, etc.). Later we took her to the vet and get her staples and when they took my dog to go fix her up I just started shaking and crying all over as soon as she was out of my hands. I didn't have to be strong and do what was need anymore but if I wasn't strong I just would have cried and my pup would have had a worse time of it.

I think it's the same thing with chickens. If your chicken is badly hurt, or  even just older, has a lower quality of life... The best thing for your chicken is to put it out of that suffering. Knowing that and that your chicken does not care about if it lives or dies (your bird only really knows that it's happy and safe in life) is being sensible. Being tender of any sort is crying over your chicken. Being strong is processing it anyhow because you know it's the right thing to do. These things are not at all mutually exclusive.

Some people just don't have the sense or strength to do it. If my dog, one of the closest creatures in my life, were dying in front of me and suffering I would pull the trigger myself and cry non-stop for months during and after. I'd still do it.

Agreed.

 

[Beekissed]

X 100