Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

My only birds I am worried about are my roosters with those huge combs and wattles. So far so good, fingers crossed. It is 6'F here. I don't know what the wind chill factor is- well below zero I'm sure. My heated dog water bowls are working fine. The coop that's completely tarped up had a little over an inch of ice on their unheated water. The others had quite a bit more. Got five eggs so far today. Two of those were froze and cracked.

 

[Triple Willow]

Bee, I have a feeling that this GMO stuff is going to cause a lot of problems, and not only in animals - people too. Some of the problems we may not see for years to come.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I have a feeling that this GMO stuff is going to cause a lot of problems, and not only in animals - people too. Some of the problems we may not see for years to come.

Yep. I was hoping the bacillus in the FF might override the Bt in the GMO grains...it's a slim hope and I can't find any research on it, but I like to think it will be better than nothing at all. I know my flocks were laying much better before the feed store I was using started getting in crops from local guys of GMO sourced grains. Suddenly, my chickens didn't want to eat cracked corn any more and before they would gobble it like it were the last food on Earth.

Now the GMO is inescapable unless you pay more than you ever would for feed to go organic. I can't justify the cost of it just for eggs.

 

[LindaB220]

If you think you have it bad right now, just take a look at this little montage of events that happened around the world this past year due to severe weather occurrences. It can give you a different perspective altogether about how things are going at your house compared to elsewhere....

Now tell me that there's no global warming.

 

[Beekissed]

Now tell me that there's no global warming.

Yep...it's getting warmer, but not due to the reason they say it is~pollution and carbon emissions. It's warmer because the Earth is transitioning, poles have shifted and the axis is tilted more towards the sun.... and it's supposed to happen right now and all this was predicted and described very well, thousands of years ago.

 

[armorfirelady]

Went & got the girls another bale of hay. My hoop coop like yours Bee still has lots of ventilation even with the board insulation and plastic I put up yesterday. Snow was sneaking in on the sides still this morning. So I figured another layer of hay would be best. I still have the front window open about 6 inches tho. I hate to close it. I might just close it tonight when I get home from work since the wind chills will be worse then. And then reopen in the morning.

The girls seem ok with my decision

(that plastic hanging down is to make their roosting area smaller and give them a little more protection against the winds when they are roosted)

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bee, my chickens were raised by someone else and now are on Layena pellets unfermented. I like dry pellets for my hens because I scatter their food around their pen and they run and dig for it. So for me it is not the FF. My meat chickens get FF, right now the egg layers only get it as a snack. They also get scratch with no soy.
One of my Black Australorps is laying properly... One of by BAs has been developing white on her feather tips for some reason. She may be moulting.

I have no idea what's going on with the chickens! I am hoping the light and warm will help!

All the chickens are in the garage except for the two remaining CXs. They are in the chicken coop. Both meaties were showing some significant frostbite but they will be in the freezer tomorrow. The hens are pretty good looking but there are some white tips. I am glad they are indoors now. They are in a pen the size of their coop, but they are squabbling over the scratch I gave to them. Their litter is almost as deep and fluffy as they are! My garage is now very noisy but pretty warm! The bunnies are all tucked away too. Glad I am done and everything is squared away!

 

[TexasLisa]

Whew!!! Time for either coffee or hot chocolate with marshmallows!!

Lisa

 

[Beekissed]

It's dusk here and Jake was going crazy, barking towards the woods and looking down at the house...that's his signal that something big is out there. The local black bears are not out in this cold, so I know it's the 'yote pack taking advantage of this cold to hunt down some bedded down prey. I took the shotgun up and made my presence known and checked on the coop...minus 2 in there and the birds were shuffling for position on the roosts.

My coop is pretty open air in some ways, so no real insulation going on there. I decided to turn on the heat lamp for just this night, thinking to give the gals a better night's rest. It won't be enough to warm them up but might take off the chill in the coop. As I was leaving the coop I noticed all the fresh chicken tracks in the snow...those silly birds were out in this today!!!

It hasn't got above 7 degrees for most of the day, with windchill factors in the negative teens and has been howling snow, and those silly things were out in it. Tough birds.

 

[Triple Willow]

Whew!!!  Time for either coffee or hot chocolate with marshmallows!!

Lisa

I'm not a big coffee drinker but I have to say, it has been rather good lately. Hot chocolate sounds good! I sure feel sorry for all the critters living out in this mess. I guess they are built for it or they would all be long gone. No doubt, their Maker knows what He is doing.