Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Angelicisi]

X2 lol

 

[Shellz]

Guess I have a love/hate relationship with winter. I felt like Kass as a child in the city. Blizzards & temps -45 C with windchill. Brrr! Hated it! Now that I'm older & live in the country on a beautiful property, I can appreciate the beauty of it. Besides, it doesn't normally get as cold where I live now.

 

[colburg]

Quote:
DUH!!! I have a dolly sittin in the shop. Picked it up from the scrap yard for about $.50. It only needed some $10 tires.

I'll use it when I have to, but my preferred method when available is... There's chicken feed and scraps in those buckets.

 

[colburg]

OK, I have a delima.

We have 55-60 chickens, only 2 are roosters. All hatchery stock.
1/2 are 14 months old, 1/2 are 7 months old.
Had major molt 1.5 months ago, they're over it now.
Before the molt, we got 20-25 eggs/day.
Now it's 5-10.

We feed 2.5 gals of FF/day in the evening.
Started adding cayenne pepper 2 weeks ago.
Complete free range on 2 acres sun-up to sun-down.

Inspected for bugs today. Nothing.

Butchered 6 of them a week ago, all had healthy insides.

Side note, I ordered a friend 12 hens at the same time I ordered my young uns. He gets 8-10 eggs everyday. Feeds dry feed.

What am I doing wrong here? These are egg cranking hatchery birds.

TIA,
colburg

 

[Beekissed]

Check for egg loss from rats..this is the time of year many report egg loss and are even finding empty shells in the coops. Mostly, though, you won't find evidence as they merely steal them and store them in their nests to be eaten at their leisure. They can steal an enormous amount of eggs, depending on the colony numbers.

The ages of your birds would seem to suggest they should be laying well, both groups. One way to know who is laying and who is not is to do a digital exam at night, taking the birds off the roost. You should be able to palpate the next day's egg in the oviduct, through the intestinal wall. This will let you know if they are actually laying but you are not receiving the benefit of it.

You could try an experiment....go back to feeding dry feeds for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference. Then, even if it does make a difference, switch to FF again for a few weeks and see if you note a decline. It would be interesting to know if the FF is slowing your egg production down, though no one else is reporting that...usually just the opposite.

I've noticed one thing through the posts on this thread....birds that normally come into lay at 4-6 mo. seem to be taking a little longer to come to sexual maturity and I'm wondering if that has something to do with the FF altering the soy proteins in the feed. Soy protein has the advantage~or disadvantage, depending on how one sees it~of stimulating more of the chicken's natural female reproductive hormones than would normally be produced if one was using a different source of protein. This has shown up in medical studies done on young girls who consume commercially sourced animal products and the relative ages they start menses compared to when girls used to start. It also has shown up in the young boys as causing more feminine characteristics due to the stimulation of the wrong kind of hormones, causing the boys to gain more weight in their breasts and hips where girls would normally gain and causing a general lower testosterone level.

It's a thought. Not a fully formulated one but it's still a thought.

 

[armorfirelady]

No snow for me yet but it's snowed around it, I am not a fan of the cold but I do love the seasons and snow. We tend to get a lot and the last few have been so mild I am guessing this year will be making up for the past.

I have 8 hens 7 which are laying. One BCM is 26 weeks and still not laying. The past 2 weeks if I get an egg a day that's good. To bad its on the BR who is laying every day lol once in awhile on of the big girls lay. Most of them are some point of a molt. But I sure do hope they start laying more soon. I've got egg customers wanting eggs and only getting a dozen a week maybe is not good for business lol

 

[Beekissed]

Winter is a natural slow down for birds in their second year of lay, so keep that in mind..they will take a break. Some add light to the coop to fool the hormones and stimulate laying to keep a steady production. This is not something I've ever done as I usually keep the flock to an all natural life and that includes allowing for natural ebbs and flows of laying, but that's just my preference. I've found my egg customers are all the more appreciative of the quality of my eggs when they've had to consume store bought for a few months.

I generally had enough profit from the eggs in the peak seasons to cover the feed in the slow times and with money to spare, so I just kept winter eggs for my own consumption and didn't put pressure on the girls. They deserve a break.

 

[armorfirelady]

Yeah I expected the big girls to slow down. They started laying last December and haven't had a real molt since I got them last August. One girl went broody, molted for almost 3 months and still doesn't have all her feather in yet. She must of needed a long vacation lol

I had just hoped my tots who started laying would still be laying. But the EE who laid faithfully everyday stopped over a month ago and the BCM/EE stopped shortly after her. They both have distinctive eggs so its easy to tell. Stella the BR is my youngest & newest layer who lays everyday. She is so happy she yells her egg song after she lays and I am sure the whole neighborhood hears her. She is also my largest bird.

I should of named her stinker since she loves to hop fences also

But my girls will get the break nature says they need. I told my egg customers they will get the a s the hens lay them and it will be awhile

 

[Triple Willow]

I did that with my first batch in the 35g trash can. I figured...meh, 1/2 a bag of pellets, 1/2 a bag of wheat, 1/2 a bag of corn, 15gals of water and it'll be good.

BANHNHNHNHNH wrong. It took a while to get that cleaned up.

When unsure, start small.

Ohhh I would be dangerous with a 35 gallon trash can! LOL

 

[Triple Willow]

I have one of those dollys. I love it. I used it several times to take my son to/from college. Its so easy to pack since it folds flat yet it hold a lot of stuff & weight !!

I believe I am about goofy tonight! I read your post as you literally "taking your son to/from college" on the dolly. LOL Maybe I need sleep. hehe I found a dolly for $10 a few years ago and I would be lost without it. I should have had it YEARS earlier but never really considered getting one. Mine has been used and abused and sits outside year around and it is just as good as the day I bought it. Probably the best $10 I ever spent!