Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[OHhappychicks]

Good eye, Bee, she is from an egg I got from BYCer 202roosterlane (Pauletta) on one of my trips to visit my DD and her family in Arkansas. I believe Pauletta said she is from the Fogel line of Rhode Island Reds. She is the only RIR I have so I just enjoy her beauty and her contribution to breakfast!

I didn't name her until this weekend......her name is Bobbie.

As for the Icelandic, he is a third generation representative of my flock from BYCer The Sheriff that I got in 2010. They are my love and passion. They are a landrace, so no standard for them. They come in all colors and comb types. Their gene pool has never been "whittled down" to specifics so they contain a treasure trove of diversity. Don't get me started on them.......

I've not seen an Icelandic and he is BEAUTIFUL!! Love the colors! My list just keeps growing!!! "sigh"

 

[Beekissed]

The reason I asked was due to someone doing a presentation at school on FF and asked on another forum about pros and cons. Two people crawled out of the woodwork and listed only cons because they tried it a few weeks and didn't like it. Among the cons listed were equipment costs???...said not everyone has buckets, drill bits or scoops and they are apparently pretty expensive where this person lives or something.

Somehow I always imagined buckets to be a completely affordable thing in America but maybe that's just in my area? Is there a supply and demand sort of thing out there where buckets are costly in some areas of the US....more costly than saving almost half on feed costs? Another stopped because the smell made her gag. Another fella said it brought critters to his farm...rats, possums and coons. No one but me had any pros to mention!!!

Sometimes I feel like I've touched down on a strange planet and don't know the language or see objects the same as the inhabitants of this peculiar place..it's for all the world like walking through a B grade movie and the mouths are not moving with the sound of the speech. I feel like I'm walking in a dream scape. I want to gather all my spare buckets and send them out to all the unfortunates who cannot afford the cost of a new one at $3.59, who cannot find an old bucket, can or jar in which to place their FF, or who cannot find an appropriate cup or soup can to use as a scoop. I keep imagining households where there are no empty receptacles deep enough to throw some feed and water into and stir...maybe they don't even have a spoon with which to stir? Would it be reasonable to assume, at that point, that they couldn't afford to feed chickens anyway and therefore would not even need said bucket, scoop or spoon so my efforts would be a moot point?

I've been poor all my life and I've known people much more poor than I...hillbilly, chickens in the house(sans fancy diapers), outhouse livin', dirt bottom poor...but I've never met anyone who didn't have a bucket or a pot to pee in, even accounting for the fact that that particular expression of not having a pot to pee in is to indicate extreme poverty. Most folks still have a receptacle of some kind in which to pee and if they can pee in it, they can mix FF in it. But then...I AM on a strange planet and could be reading things all wrong.

 

[waltandlori]

Yep...that's a lot of feed, especially at that age. Could explain why they don't go 10 ft from the coop for free range. I'd cut back on the feed and use a little in the morning...just a tad..and reserve the main meal for the evening and you'll see some foraging like you wouldn't believe!

Absolutely beautiful birds!!! That Icelandic is stunning...never saw one before and those colors just bounce. Great looking RIR...that can't be a hatchery bird..can it? If so, I'd like to know which one!

Why can't you use the scoop you are currently using for the dry feed for the FF and just give them what you gave when you dished out dry feed, though I wouldn't be doing it 3 times a day. If you don't free range, I'd just feed twice a day, the same scoop measure you fed as dry and see how it all goes.

I do it that way for my layers...same scoops, same amount of feed~seemingly~but with the grains swollen with fluid, there is much less actual grains being fed as when fed dry. This seems to me to work out fantastically, because it all works out to nearly half the amount of feed than when feeding dry...which is just what they eat anyway. Same scoop, looks like the same amount, but in actuality it's not but it's souped up to superfeed mode so it really is the same amount..but better. If that makes any sense.

#1 it's too big and unruly for FF, I have cut it back to 2x per day and they are ravenous. With the dumb moves (not thinking it through I guess) this year I will chalk it up to the learning curve. Next year 2 weeks and outside you beasts. They are walking around more and standing up more and longer, they have to stand to eat. I fear they are not going to free range this year, I've seen to that. They really are nice quiet docile birds... and nosey. Done properly they will do better but that's for next years fleet. I'll change a bunch of stuff before spring birds get here, including hatcherys.

 

[NotAFarm]

Bee, I've thought the same thing so many times! I use two small buckets that I got at the Dollar Store for a dollar each....two bucks.....I saved more than that the first week.....with feed at $15-$18 bucks a bag and feeding a third to a half of what I used to, I could have bought that person two buckets, shipped them and still saved money. The only one around here not lovin' the FF is the feed dealer!

 

[waltandlori]

The reason I asked was due to someone doing a presentation at school on FF and asked on another forum about pros and cons. Two people crawled out of the woodwork and listed only cons because they tried it a few weeks and didn't like it. Among the cons listed were equipment costs???...said not everyone has buckets, drill bits or scoops and they are apparently pretty expensive where this person lives or something.

Somehow I always imagined buckets to be a completely affordable thing in America but maybe that's just in my area? Is there a supply and demand sort of thing out there where buckets are costly in some areas of the US....more costly than saving almost half on feed costs? Another stopped because the smell made her gag. Another fella said it brought critters to his farm...rats, possums and coons. No one but me had any pros to mention!!!

Sometimes I feel like I've touched down on a strange planet and don't know the language or see objects the same as the inhabitants of this peculiar place..it's for all the world like walking through a B grade movie and the mouths are not moving with the sound of the speech. I feel like I'm walking in a dream scape. I want to gather all my spare buckets and send them out to all the unfortunates who cannot afford the cost of a new one at $3.59, who cannot find an old bucket, can or jar in which to place their FF, or who cannot find an appropriate cup or soup can to use as a scoop. I keep imagining households where there are no empty receptacles deep enough to throw some feed and water into and stir...maybe they don't even have a spoon with which to stir? Would it be reasonable to assume, at that point, that they couldn't afford to feed chickens anyway and therefore would not even need said bucket, scoop or spoon so my efforts would be a moot point?

I've been poor all my life and I've known people much more poor than I...hillbilly, chickens in the house(sans fancy diapers), outhouse livin', dirt bottom poor...but I've never met anyone who didn't have a bucket or a pot to pee in, even accounting for the fact that that particular expression of not having a pot to pee in is to indicate extreme poverty. Most folks still have a receptacle of some kind in which to pee and if they can pee in it, they can mix FF in it. But then...I AM on a strange planet and could be reading things all wrong.

YOOO HHOOOO Bee over here..... here we are the

earthlings you know and love. Just a minority sweety just a minority. Probably wouldn't do it even if you did it for them...

Walt

 

[pipemum]

I will say that the last bag of layer feed I bought had fish meal in it and it stunk. Stunk even more fermented. Probably gag-worthy to one with a sensitive nose. This new bag, from the same mill, doesn't stink at all, and supposedly has fish meal in it as well. Anyway, I can kinda see why someone might say FF smelled too bad to continue. I considered stopping with the last bag because it was so very RANK.

And the critters thing is kind of werid, why would FF attract more varmits than regular feed? Though, I've been spilling a ton of FF lately. Slopping it over the feeding bowl, knocking the feed bowls over while at my little prep station. I'm sure I'm attracting every grain-eating critter within a 5-mile radius. This stuff is spilling under the pallets the buckets are resting on, and my chickens can't help clean up my mess. No bueno. This is a recent thing, I need to stop being so careless and clumsy.

I swear though, it wasn't me talking the cons of FF!! LOL!

 

[OHhappychicks]

Here's a question for you dedicated FF users and also those who tried and found it not to your liking....what do you find, if anything, that would/did deter you from using this method and why? I'm thinking of issues like time, money, smell, etc.

I have been ff for only about 2 weeks. I keep it in my utility room in a 5 gallon bucket, set in the utility sink, (just in case it ran over, which it didn't). I have my 4 little silkie chicks in a 50 gallon aquarium, turned on the side, in the utility room sitting on metal shelving. Everyone comes into my house thru that door and you have to walk right past the sink, so when I enter, I cannot smell the ff OR the chicks. Nor has anyone else said that they smelled it. and believe me, my DD would let me know!

If you sniff the ff, it smells sweet and not any worse than sourdough starter. Maybe not as bad! In the past, I have had to clean out the brooder about every other day because it smelled so bad. I cleaned it out this morning after letting it go since last thursday. I didn;t clean it because it smelled, but because the chicks had literally shredded the newspaper and kicked a lot of the shavings out. (We have a guard on the door to keep them from kicking it out on the floor.) The chicks don't stink and the ff doesn't either. My chicks love it! I don't find it messy at all. Mine is the consistancy of oatmeal. It has a little cloudy water in it but is not soupy. I'm thinking that when we have to go out of town, I may do as someone just stated, that they put it in containers in the correct measurement for feeding. I'm thinking that would work. Any thoughts on that? I'm not planning to go anywhere soon, but it is nice to have a plan!

 

[Kassaundra]

You guys are stirring your fermented feed twice a day

Guess mine gets kinda surface stirred when I scoop it out for the chickens but that is the extent of my "stirring" Every 2-3 weeks when I add more grain and water I stir as I am adding the water that is just about it.


Expensive FF "equipment"???????? A plastic bucket and some water, how do you afford chickens if you can't buy a $3 bucket, or find it for free.

As for any reason I would stop, no not that I can think of. They love it so much, it is so good for them, and so easy for me.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I went to the bakery at Walmart and asked if they had any buckets they didn't want. The lady was icing a cake and had some icing buckets on the counter behind her. I asked for buckets like those. She said just a minute and I'll check. 3 minutes later she came out with 3 of them with lids. FREE!! They were even rinsed out! I didn't add any holes in the bottom of my bucket. No drill bits!! Like I said in previous post I keep mine a little "dry". Not soupy. How hard can that be??!!

 

[Beekissed]

I will say that the last bag of layer feed I bought had fish meal in it and it stunk. Stunk even more fermented. Probably gag-worthy to one with a sensitive nose. This new bag, from the same mill, doesn't stink at all, and supposedly has fish meal in it as well. Anyway, I can kinda see why someone might say FF smelled too bad to continue. I considered stopping with the last bag because it was so very RANK.

And the critters thing is kind of werid, why would FF attract more varmits than regular feed? Though, I've been spilling a ton of FF lately. Slopping it over the feeding bowl, knocking the feed bowls over while at my little prep station. I'm sure I'm attracting every grain-eating critter within a 5-mile radius. This stuff is spilling under the pallets the buckets are resting on, and my chickens can't help clean up my mess. No bueno. This is a recent thing, I need to stop being so careless and clumsy.

I swear though, it wasn't me talking the cons of FF!! LOL!

I'm wanting to help you with this but I can't understand why your FF is so sloppy and why the transferring it this or that bowl? I'm just imagining my own setup and the only thing that is slopping is some of the fluid running out of the holes in my scoop...which runs right on the floor of the coop and into the litter, which seems to attract bugs like mad and the chickens love digging in that area.

I just bend over the bucket, scoop, turn around and put it in the trough. I've read about others having spills and slops too and I'm trying so hard to imagine how it's that messy. I kept the bucket in my bedroom last winter and didn't have one incident and I'm the clumsiest person on Earth, I can attest to that!

Maybe mix it thicker? Take a few steps out of your routine so that there are fewer things to spill? The whole of my equipment is bucket, scoop and a trough feeder...that's it. Nothing to spill, really...just scoop, deposit and go. Can you keep your bucket in your coop, next to your feeder? That way you aren't dipping out anything but the feed and placing it right in the feeder...no spills that aren't scooped up real quick and in a hurry by hungry chickens!