Thanks both of you. (And Kass-)![]()
This is the best thing I've done in a long time, this is an answer to everything that's concerned me about feeding the birds. I've got about 130 adults and 30 or so chicks so I have to do it somewhat in bulk.The chicks have their own batch in a bucket, but I got a 32 gal plastic trash can for the adults.
I've mixed up equal amounts of:
Pigeon feed (milo, wheat, popcorn, canadian peas, maple peas, austrian winter peas, buckwheat)
Game Cock feed (Corn, Popcorn, soybean meal, milo, wheat, Canadiadan trapper peas, sunflower meal, wheat midds, alfalfa meal, oats, rice hulls rice bran, yeast culture, along with tons of different fermentaion extracts-huh?)
Corn chops
Oats
My plan is to put a cup or 2 (depending on # of birds in that yard) of layer pellets on the bottom of their feed pans and slop this fermented mixture over top it.
Do you think that will be ok doing it that way instead of fermenting the layer pellets along with the other stuff? I don't care for the mush that wet pellets make, I think dealing with individual fermented grains will be easier. Plus much better for my rooster-only yards. I'm going to make my mixture a bit thick so I don't have to strain it, any excess liquid can soak the pellets underneath in the feed pan. However-if the benefits would be considerably better for them to ferment *all of it, I will.
If I make it thicker and just dump back in the amount I feed every day along with water, will it still stay fermented once it's fermented? Or does it have to have the sloshy liquid in order to stay fermented? I was feeding about 30-35 lbs of pellets a day before this so I'll probably have to add the needed amount back in every day or my barrel will run out in less than a week.
Also-I was reading on this thread that it makes pea shells hard to ferment them? My mixture has only soaked 24 hrs and the peas and popcorn are soft. So I didn't quite understand the posts about not being able to ferment peas.
One last question-are those 4 bags of grains too much variation? I'm wondering if it'd be easier to just use a different kind every week? All Game Cock feed one week, Corn the next, etc.
Sorry for all the questions. Back to reading.....