Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[BCMaraniac]

Happy New Year to all my fellow FFer's/BYCer's from NS, Canada !! May God bless you all in 2014 and beyond !

Happy New Year WBF!!

Thanks Windy, and the same to all from NW Louisiana. Stay safe tonight everybody.

Happy New Year Linda and to everyone out there on BYC from NE TN. May your feeds be bubbly, your hens broody, your roosters randy, and your chicks happy and healthy!! Here's to 2014!!

 

[Triple Willow]

Hey all you peeps! Happy New Year! Hope you're blessed in 2014!

 

[Triple Willow]

I read on another thread yesterday that there are 9 kinds of cocci and the latest vaccine only covers 3 or so.  So it's a crap shoot.  By the way, I love your ducks  uh  I mean chickens.  

Well that's a pretty weak vaccine huh? Thanks! LOL

 

[Triple Willow]

Got to buy a camera first.  I'm sure they would be great. The roo passes color to daughter, hen to son.  I'm not sure about sex link on these. But others:  Black Star is   RIR or New hamp.  roo x   Barred hen.
Red Star/ Red sex link is RIR roo x White leghorn hen or pullet
Cherry Eggers is RIR X New hampshire hen   200-280 eggs yr
Cinnamon Queen is  New Hampshire roo X Silver Laced Wyandotte hen 200-280
Golden Comet is New Hamp roo X White Rock hen  250-320   (wow)
another Red sex link is RIR rooX RIwhite OR  Production Red roo X Delaware hen
Ambers is RIR roo X White rock hen
Hybrid used for meat is White Rock roo X Cornish hen (not CX)
Another Delaware X Hampshire (Indian River Cross) is Delaware roo X New Hamp hen 200-280 you can switch it up with New Ham roo X Delaware hen but it won't be a sex-link but good eating.
RIR roo seems to be the best.  Red Sex link with a Delaware, Black SL  with a Barred Rock,  Red Star with a white leghorn. But New hamp can be subbed.
Are your eyes glazed yet? 

What about...
Black Australorp X White Leghorn OR Ancona

Delaware X Buckeye

What good stuff could I get with Delaware, Buckeye, Black Australorp, Columbian Rock, Speckled Sussex, Whiite Leghorn, Ancona, Dominique...??? What for meat & what for good layers?

 

[zinia8]

 

[Angelicisi]

Did you get a special or something?  I checked purely poultry and they charge $20 for 15-100 ordered.  And the prices are way higher than hoover.  Maybe they weren't making enough money doing it free and went up.   You are the one that's making a plucker, right?  Is it finished yet?  Tried it?   Inquiring minds and all that.  

Uh oh...was $44 for 25 few months ago and like 74 for 50 last month...We did pullets. I have to check Hoover, didn't know. Other places charged shipping so they worked out to be more on our end. Our pullets weigh more this time around than our roosters lol hubby is checking now, thanks for the heads up we need the cheapest ...he just quoted both for us (Louisiana shipping) 79.80 from Hoover and 77.50 from purely. We order 50 at a time and Hoover has a $5 fee for less than 100. But they're on our list of good prices. 100 from purely works out $4 cheaper too.

 

[Angelicisi]

We made a hand drill plucker. Works awesome but our quantity is growing so we bit the bullet and bought an ez plucker151. Santa got it for us lol

 

[LindaB220]

Uh oh...was $44 for 25 few months ago and like 74 for 50 last month...We did pullets. I have to check Hoover, didn't know. Other places charged shipping so they worked out to be more on our end. Our pullets weigh more this time around than our roosters lol hubby is checking now, thanks for the heads up we need the cheapest ...he just quoted both for us (Louisiana shipping) 79.80 from Hoover and 77.50 from purely. We order 50 at a time and Hoover has a $5 fee for less than 100. But they're on our list of good prices. 100 from purely works out $4 cheaper too.

I've really heard good things about Schlecht Hatchery also. Their roo $1.22 and hen $1.05 with $21 shipping. for 50 I think SR is $1.10. They are highly rated on the hatchery thread I think. Either way, price is close so if you're happy with last time results try them again.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Well, now that the holidays are over my CXs stay of execution is too! And it is a good thing too as my FF is messing up pretty bad at this point.
The CXs look much better. Feathering is still awful but like Bee said I may never see an improvement in that regard. Their combs and wattles are red, not grey. They went from the saddest looking most lazy birds I have seen to chickens that run and jump for their meals. They are full of vin and vigor! I will be fasting them for a day and processing probably tomorrow.

As for my FF something about it is quite off and I want your thoughts on it. Over the summer I had no problems with it and I stopped using it in the fall when it got cold as I put my meat birds in the freezers. I started adding alfalfa cubes toward the end in he fall and my FF has suffered due to this addition. I now get TONS of mold on the top of my fermented mash. I get a little if I don't stir every day and a lot if I miss stirring more than one day. After afew days the whole surface turns blue and white and green. Also I am no longer submerging my feed all the way or feeding it all out in 1-2 days like I used too... But the mold develops so quickly! I am not really sure what to do about it....

 

[armorfirelady]

I add alfalfa pellets as well. I used to get a grey covering as well. With the help of a friend we decided maybe salt content was to low? Regardless I started adding the fish meal to the FF when I added new stuff instead of waiting till I served out food, & it solved the problem.