Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

I'm gonna have to check into those things more. I imagined one disolving into a big pile with all the rain we have. LOL Thanks much for the info. You are just full of it! hehehehe

Yesh, I am....and that is why my eyes are brown.

 

[LindaB220]

Wise! The time to start developing a good system is before you need it....long before you need it.

Back in the 70s the economy was going into decline and my folks decided to sell their current place and use the money to purchase acreage outright for the cash. They bought 110 acres in the back of nowhere a mile back from the hard road, no utilities were available. You often couldn't get a 4WD back there and we didn't have one. They bought the land, a chainsaw, some hand tools, a Troy Bilt tiller and some rough cut, seconds, lumber enough to frame out windows and put on a roof. That took all their money from the sale of the other home. Then we built a small cabin and homesteaded.

It's often a bad economy that drives people back to the land and the skills of their ancestors because even when the Depression years were going on, the small farmer could still eat, have shelter and warmth, if not luxuries like good clothing and shoes, sugar, coffee, etc.

Because of that background of homesteading, I've always tried to keep my animal husbandry and management geared towards the "what if" theory. Things learned while homesteading:

1. Coop and run situations are extremely limiting when it comes to keeping a flock because all their food must be imported.
2. Breeds that do not forage or survive well on free range due to docile natures must be protected more and have more feed imported in to keep them in condition.
3. Breeds that cannot reproduce their own efficiently and require an incubator are of little use if one has to go without electricity for any length of time.
4. Birds that have to have heat to keep from getting frostbite are of little use in areas that get below freezing temps for any length of time in the winter~if they self dub, that's fine, but if keeping them it's even better to only breed the ones that seem resistant to developing frostbite issues.
5. Birds or breeds that require high pro feeds and complicated mixes to keep in good condition are useless when those cannot be obtained.
6. Birds that have to have light in the winter to produce are also a liability and one should breed or buy for those that do not require it to still produce an egg or three a week during the cold.
7. Birds that require medicine to keep healthy, stay above their parasite loads, to heal from wounds are all pretty useless when you cannot get meds for them.
8. Feed paradigms that rely solely on imported feeds are useless when the chips are down, be it personally, locally or nationally.
9. Flock management methods that rely on medicines that have to be bought are inefficient and won't hold up when meds cannot be obtained.
10. Flock management methods that rely heavily on electricity and a highly controlled setting are hard to maintain for any length of time when the grid goes down, so are pretty useless without a back up plan...one that doesn't require gassing up a generator.

Scary situation. What if......

 

[Triple Willow]

  Yesh, I am....and that is why my eyes are brown. 

hehe

 

[Beekissed]

Scary situation. What if......

That is the realm of farming/homesteading. When other creatures depend on you for food and water, no matter the weather or economy, it's a serious responsibility. What always amazes me on these forums are the number of folks who post "Help!" threads when they come up against the elements, illness in the flock, injury to the bird, or other situations that require preparation and planning to handle and they've never given a thought to the situation until it happened. Bad time to be scrambling for help, advice, information, materials, equipment or skill....

It's like not using the seat belt when it's there waiting to be used in the event of a wreck...and then trying to put it on after your face has hit the windshield.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bee, today I will be dealing with and attempting to educate just such a person who will be diving into chicken keeping. She wants chickens that lay double yolkers and is not prepared to deal with a prolapse or egg bound in one of her "babies!". She also wants a hatchery-stock single comb white leghorn... That'll turn out well when we get sub-zero temperatures and she has nowhere indoors to put them. :| Then when the combs and wattles start rotting off and getting infected she will be sore to find there are NO chicken vets in the area and will come crying to me... Wish me luck on at least convincing her to get some hardier breeds!

 

[Arielle]

@Arielle... I have also been wondering about Wyandottes because of their comb/wattles. I really like Anconas too and there is a line of rose comb Anconas. Or we could consider dubbing, but I'd rather not.

"What frostbite???"

RIR also has a rose comb, too

I dont' know much about the hardiness of the Mediteranean breeds but I would need to carefully eval each breed for cold tolerance in this region. Really for heat tolerance too. Lots of super highs last summer to match the lotsof super lows this winter. Very extreme weather temps here.

I sure hope you are right, Bee! When I shook my FF bin, the white film gathered up all together in one spot... I'll stir it in later. I'll give it a few more days and if it doesn't get worse... I'll start adding the hay! Crossed fingers it works properly!

Lisa, I certainly am trying! The best part is my dogs are northern breeds... They come outside with my in sub-freezing weather and are not phased. They do work like moving wood and pulling wagons for me sometimes. My sisters both have dogs too... The biggest one is a 23lb beagle mix with short fur! One of the dogs is hairless... There a Pomeranian and a Cavalier KCS too, both with fur maintainance needs that are crazy! I can't imagine what will happen to all these tiny, light-furred dogs that can't eat real meat and bones if SHTF. Only the most sturdy and useful animals for me here on the farm... Even in regards to my pets! Even my snake is a sturdy critter!

No lap dogs here!! Only working dogs.

Quote: After 5 days of no electricity due to THe hurricane, I have been rethinking how dependent each of us has become on a sytem driven by egos, self interest,and profit. Community is slipping away. Self sufficiency is slipping away. And while the last two contractict each other, they actually go hand-in hand.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Bee I am going to take this one step furthuer--- they are not knowledgeable enough to know they need to plan again for these issues. ANd given the less than 2.3% in the farming industry now, the knowledge has not been passed down to the last 2 generations IMO so the knowledge is completely missing. Unfortunately.

Chickens has become an interesting and cheap( relatively) segway to many valueable life lessons. ( Pardon my spelling-- it flew south for the winter)

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, today I will be dealing with and attempting to educate just such a person who will be diving into chicken keeping. She wants chickens that lay double yolkers and is not prepared to deal with a prolapse or egg bound in one of her "babies!". She also wants a hatchery-stock single comb white leghorn... That'll turn out well when we get sub-zero temperatures and she has nowhere indoors to put them. :| Then when the combs and wattles start rotting off and getting infected she will be sore to find there are NO chicken vets in the area and will come crying to me... Wish me luck on at least convincing her to get some hardier breeds!

Oh, boy. I don't envy you that task.

Sometimes people who will not listen can only learn if they get exactly what they are kicking and screaming for in life and it turns out badly. If they are smart, they won't do it again...if they are not, they will repeat it over and over. I have a sister like that and animals die in droves at her place. I can't even bear to hear the stories any longer as they make me sick to my stomach. Sometimes I feel like those people secretly hate animals and tell all and sundry how much they love them only to disguise their cruelty.

Maybe you could show her some pics from this forum where people have had to dub rotten combs and wattles. Or those threads where they lopped off the chicken's legs...those are always hideously gruesome and bereft of any human reasoning~any sane person would run screaming in the other direction after looking at that chicken's foot that fell off!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee I am going to take this one step furthuer--- they are not knowledgeable enough to know they need to plan again for these issues. ANd given the less than 2.3% in the farming industry now, the knowledge has not been passed down to the last 2 generations IMO so the knowledge is completely missing. Unfortunately.

Chickens has become an interesting and cheap( relatively) segway to many valueable life lessons. ( Pardon my spelling-- it flew south for the winter)

But how do they plan for going to work the next day, remember to charge the cell phone, take driving lessons before getting a license, or plan for the arrival of a baby? Do they just fling themselves into each day without preparing for it at all? It's like living in a world full of lemmings!

You'd think this would just be a run of the mill thought process whenever you obtain a creature with which you are unfamiliar....you try to prepare yourself by garnering knowledge so you can best take care of them, right? Or am I just lost in time on that one?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bee, this is precisely that sort of woman and I would allow her to crash and burn were she not my best friend's mother! She will heap her woes and troubles upon my friend, acting selfish and childish all the way... And then she will heap those woes upon me any chance she gets. She has given sad lives to more animals than I care to recount and she hasn't even HAD that many. She often speaks proudly of her anole that she fed solely spiders off of her walls and how lamentful she was that it died so fast. And she couldn't understand why her fish were attacked when she dropped a turtle in the tank. Crazy.