Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

I grew up with pressure cookers.  My Dad tells this tale.  He once invited a homeless man home to eat and had to leave to get one more thing for their dinner, telling the man not to touch the pressure cooker.  Of course being exceptionally hungry he did not obey my father and had to open the cooker.  My father returned home to find his stew on the ceiling and every place else and the poor man cowering in a corner saying "The **** thing blew up on me!"

That's funny! hehe

 

[Triple Willow]

My mother has a pressure cooker that she had used for as many years as I can remember.  She would let me monitor it when we got older because I would watch over it like a hawk as she did, but she emphatically insisted that no one ever use it after she was gone for fear of it exploding. on someone not familiar with it.  She made my brother promise that he would take a hammer to the gauge on the pressure cooker and smash it and the lid to render it unusable for any one else EVER.  So after she died in 2008, he did as she requested.

Those things are a little bit scary. We had one blow once. The safety valve thingy blew out and steam and whatever hit the ceiling. Kinda funny but kinda not considering the mess! It was like a shooting volcano. lol

 

[beverly evans]

Quote:
I have a Copper Maran and four different kinds of hens and all his offspring are black. Mind you, they are only 1-2 weeks old. Who knows what the end result will be.

 

[hellbender]

Hellbender, I am sorry for the loss of your eye. Thank you for your service for our great nation.

Lisa

I appreciate everyone's thanks but there were many who lost much more than I in that conflict and I don't rest or sleep well now, with our folks in distant troubled lands.

I grew up with pressure cookers. My Dad tells this tale. He once invited a homeless man home to eat and had to leave to get one more thing for their dinner, telling the man not to touch the pressure cooker. Of course being exceptionally hungry he did not obey my father and had to open the cooker. My father returned home to find his stew on the ceiling and every place else and the poor man cowering in a corner saying "The **** thing blew up on me!"

The guest was lucky he didn't get some very serious burns!

My mother has a pressure cooker that she had used for as many years as I can remember. She would let me monitor it when we got older because I would watch over it like a hawk as she did, but she emphatically insisted that no one ever use it after she was gone for fear of it exploding. on someone not familiar with it. She made my brother promise that he would take a hammer to the gauge on the pressure cooker and smash it and the lid to render it unusable for any one else EVER. So after she died in 2008, he did as she requested.

Pressure cookers are great work and time savers but if certain precautions aren't adhered to, they can actually be deadly

Jes and TW, Try the lazy lady's way. I save all pickle and olive leftover vinegar and put boiled eggs in the jars. Also eat the jarred or canned pickled beets and put eggs in that leftover juice as well. Not enough liquid? Add water and vinegar and taste. Add salt and sugar to taste. The manufacturers put cloves in theirs so add some too if you like. Just what I do and the longer you leave them the better they taste! : )

My mom used to get the juice, jars and all from 'beer joints' that held hot sausages. She used that juice with more vinegar and beet juice to make pickled eggs. I was never crazy about them but they didn't last long. My dad and Pap loved them and friends would actually show up and request sample. I do remember they were HOT as well as pickled!

Edited to add...the brand of sausages was PENROSE if anyone would like hot sour stuff.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

So, only posting here because I can't seem to find a relevant thread elsewhere, and I don't want my heiny handed to me by the Heritage group 'cause I'm thinking to do something obnoxious. By pure chance, have a silver Birchen Marans cockerel (feety tufts, hate em. Love the color) and a Lavendar Orp pullet. And some research shows that if I push it, I could end up with silver Birchen Orpingtons. No feety tufts; both nice meat birds. Not that I need a project. But I can't find anyone who wants either or both birds. So been toying with the idea, and eating them next year after a couple of generations thru. Am I insane? There's one guy in WA state that MIGHT not hand me my keister for just asking, and will PM him also... Heh.
-Aleta G.

I might be interested.... probably because I'm too new to chicken keeping to know any better...

 

[Lacy Blues]

There are a few Patterdale breeders in Texas!

QUESTiON: Breeders/owners. Do any of you 'eliminate' cocks/cockerels that show human aggression? I do not. I don't encourage it but I don't dispatch a bird for it.

Case in point...In this batch of new birds, I have two 'special' cockerels...Both are excellent examples of the breed (Turken) in my opinion, for my purposes and for those who like color, they are both very attractively adorned.

One is a pussy cat and virtually a pet, the other is very dominant in every way EXCEPT, he's not aggressive to other cockerels that stay out of his way and he is acting very mature for his age of 6+ months. He also challenges me at every opportunity. This is not a problem for me because I simply ignore him, let him do his job and go on about my business and allow him to do his. He is the kind of bird I want to keep an eye on the gals...If all goes well, he will end up in a cock station.

Opinions Please.

I do not keep roosters who do not quickly grow out of that phase where they attack me. Generally, I can see it coming and my birds are pretty easy to dissuade from attacking me. If I see it coming, I will extend an open hand over their heads. I think it has the same effect as a bird flying over and we all know how they handle this situation. They don't run away but they watch that "hawk" over their heads and think twice about coming at me. If its not enough to do that, I'll do it again, and if needed I step toward them quickly afterward and clap my hands and shout. That is usually sufficient to dissuade an attack. Then I never turn my back on that bird. If they attack hens, they are gone immediately, no second chances. I really like my birds and want to give them every chance to be gentlemen.

My buckeye roos are getting along a little too well! They have started double-teaming the pullets. If one catches a pullet to breed the other comes running and takes his turn too or they both chase down one pullet. They did seem to have the pullets divided up between them, now this. I believe one is going to have to go back to the roo pen!

I had a couple of roosters do that a few years back. Drove me crazy! When it got to the point where they were both on top of one hen at the same time, they were gone! Can you imagine your buckeyes (big boys that they are) stacked on top of one pullet? Pullet on the bottom, rooster on top, another rooster on top of that! Hilarious to see but I don't believe any pullet could take the weight of two buckeye roosters if it was to happen often. I made sure it didn't!

 

[beverly evans]

Quote:
The vinegar makes them rubbery, but that's not a bad thing, just a change in texture. The longer they soak, the chewier they get. I make two kinds; some like the Atomic Eggs only I add garlic. And the sweet ones have the sugar, beet juice, cloves and a cinnamon stick. My kids call them "bar eggs" because that's where they first saw them. (My kids are 50 and 51.)

 

[Triple Willow]

The vinegar makes them rubbery, but that's not a bad thing, just a change in texture.  The longer they soak, the chewier they get.  I make two kinds; some like the Atomic Eggs only I add garlic.   And the sweet ones have the sugar, beet juice, cloves and a cinnamon stick.  My kids call them "bar eggs"  because that's where they first saw them.  (My kids are 50 and 51.)

The ones I made were TOUGH! Almost impossible to cut through them with a fork. LOL

 

[colburg]

I don't mean to high jack this thread but I need some advice... I have 13 - 6 month old girls and up until about 3 weeks ago I was getting 4-6 eggs per day, now I'm lucky if I get one every other day. I added a rooster to the flock about the same time they quit laying and I attributed it to the stress of adding a new flock member. However, now that the rooster has been integrated into the flock and all seem to be getting along just fine, I can't understand what is causing these girls to quit laying cold turkey. I understand that the days are shorter and cooler but these chickens are only 6 months old and I figured they would lay fairly steady in their first year.

Is this normal or am I just not having very good luck ?

I've had the same issues (55 layers, half 1.25 yrs old and half 8 months old, getting at most 13 eggs/day, mostly 7-8) and checked for several issues Bee mentioned a while back.

Rats - Nope
Lice/Mites - found some bugs around a few vents, not all, dusted them with charcoal/wood ash. We'll see how it goes. Need to check them again soon.
Moult - They had a bad molt in late August, it appears another one October that lasted till early Novemeber. Hopefully they're done with that now.
Feed - still FF. changed ratio from 1/3 wheat, 1/3 corn, 1/3 layer mash to 1/4 corn, 1/4 wheat, 1/2 layer mash. Poured the Cayanne to them for 3-4 weeks with no change.

Now, I have a question about 1 recommendation
Palpating to find layers vs non-layers. I palpated most of them when I ashed them, and couldn't tell anything. I even pulled one that was trying to lay out of a nest box and palpated and never felt an egg. I thought it would be pretty straight forward, but maybe it's not....I found that when dusting for bugs, just looking at the vent is a better tell-tale than palpating. My .02.

I put a light on them about a week ago. I had originally never wanted to use lights, but these are production hatchery birds that I plan on replacing once my H White Rocks start laying, so why not go ahead and push them to lay.

colburg

 

[armorfirelady]

Cool burg look at their vents. Look at one that hasn't reached pol yet if you have one. It's vent is small and tight. Layers have larger vents and looser. That's how I check to see who was laying.