Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LindaB220]

I assume you'll be getting your CornishX as chicks? This the feeder I'm using for my chicks. The wire is from an old role of fencing I found. I'm not sure of the size of the pattern, but you get the idea. So far it works great and drastically reduces the amount of standing/stepping in their feed. I tried a bigger pattern at first but this smaller wire pattern definitely works better. Obviously this feeder will only work while they're little, and soon I'm going to need to modify the wire to make it bigger for theire heads. I'll use this until they out grow it then I'll need to find a different type of feeder. This picture isn't that recent and the the chicks have grown a bit so I've actually set the feeder up on small blocks so there's less littler being thrown into the feed. Hope this helps!



Also I'm feeding twice a day and I feed enough that it probably sits out for a few hours before they finally clean it up. They eat when I first put the feed out then they graze on it throughout the day until it's gone. It doesn't ever dry out which. This is just what I do and not sure if it's right but the chicks are always hungry morning and night and clean up every last bit of feed.

Cutest picture ever. What kind of chick is that?

 

[Herdsman01]

Cutest picture ever.  What kind of chick is that?  

Thanks! They're all Colombian Rocks!

 

[enola]

Thanks! I will give that a try.  I assume I should remove the dry feed then?  Hopefully if they get hungry enough they will start to eat the FF.

Your fermented feed is not soupy is it? Even my layers that are used to eating FF do not care for soupy/mudhy FF.

 

[WIchickens]

   I say welcome even though you've been a member a while.  Jump in and start talking.   Lovely to have you.  Your CX are gonna love the FF.    Put out enough that they can eat it in 10 min or so.  Add more or less if needed.  I feed twice a day.    Buy a white rain gutter and cut it in half.   Put caps on each end and it will give your 2 five foot long troughs. I had a handyman make me a 6' long trough with 2" x 6" and it was a mistake.   Too heavy to move and I'm an older person.  1" x 6" would have been much easier.  They last longer.   You can put 2" x 4" wire across the top to keep birds out.      or not.  I didn't.

Here is a thread I want you to read.  It will simplify your life.   It's done in the coop itself.  

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

Good luck Sweetie.

Thanks for the info! The rain gutter idea is great. Will read that thread tonight!

If you are feeding say twice a day, how much do you put out per bird to start?

 

[WIchickens]

I assume you'll be getting your CornishX as chicks? This the feeder I'm using for my chicks. The wire is from an old role of fencing I found. I'm not sure of the size of the pattern, but you get the idea. So far it works great and drastically reduces the amount of standing/stepping in their feed. I tried a bigger pattern at first but this smaller wire pattern definitely works better. Obviously this feeder will only work while they're little, and soon I'm going to need to modify the wire to make it bigger for theire heads. I'll use this until they out grow it then I'll need to find a different type of feeder. This picture isn't that recent and the the chicks have grown a bit so I've actually set the feeder up on small blocks so there's less littler being thrown into the feed. Hope this helps!

Also I'm feeding twice a day and I feed enough that it probably sits out for a few hours before they finally clean it up. They eat when I first put the feed out then they graze on it throughout the day until it's gone. It doesn't ever dry out which. This is just what I do and not sure if it's right but the chicks are always hungry morning and night and clean up every last bit of feed.

Yes, this does help! It's always nice to see how other people are setting up....

 

[lazy gardener]

You'll get the hang of how much to give them. Feed them the first batch, and see how long it lasts. Then, you'll have an idea how much to give them at the next feeding. The nice thing is, if you make it in a fairly large sized batch, you'll have plenty for that next feeding, and the one after that. I like to rotate 2 containers, so I always have one that I'm feeding from, and a fresh one just started. I like to use mine up before it's terribly ripe, while other folks like to let it ferment for longer. Mine goes any where from 18 hours to 3 - 4 days.

 

[RachelJG]

Great news on the temps to go outside!

New questions - what do you guys serve your fermented feed in? How long can it sit out for, or is it gone lickity-split? We are getting 25 Cornish x in a couple weeks and want to try this fermented feed thing. Any pictures you all have of your set up would be great! We just bought a farm over Christmas.....so it's like a blank slate

I serve my fermented feed in a modified chick feeder (I posted pictures in the thread on raising broilers CHEAPLY), and then in gutter as others have described. I use a strip of duct tape to make the holes on the chick feeder smaller for the first day or two so they can't get inside the feeder when they are tiny. I hot-glued a 4 inch wide strip of floppy plastic cutting board to the top of the feeder to prevent them from jumping over or roosting on the feeder which greatly reduces the bedding and poo that get in the feed. Most recently I've started putting the feeder on a piece of news paper, or, when they are a little older, laying out some grass clippings or weeds around the feeder instead of putting it directly on the sawdust bedding. That brings the contaminants down to almost zero . I leave my fermented feed sitting out for up to 24 hours because I raise my chickens on a friends property and only have time to visit once a day. If it is a mash it's no different in the feeder than in the bucket, and if it's whole grains, I pour in some of the juice to keep the stuff on the bottom from drying out. The chickens will drink the juice instead of water, and it's good for them too. But that's not what's recommended... it's just what I do and what has worked for me.

 

[RachelJG]

Doubtful anyone will see this in this out-of-control thread, but, just in case... Anyone have experience fermenting Scratch and Peck's Chick starter? I lost a bunch of cornish cross chicks and never suspected my whole-grain, organic feed until I'd eliminated tons of other variables, but now I'm wondering... Because it's soy-free and starter it's going to have more fish meal in it than other feeds, and animal proteins don't ferment well. My ferment smelled fine and looked fine, but I haven't lost a chick in the last 24 hours, since I pulled their fermented feed and replaced it with dry. I also realized that my last batch stopped dying at 2 weeks... which is about when I started mixing grower with the starter... so now I'm wondering... I've got it narrowed down to that or that the hatchery (efowl) just sent me some badly-stressed chicks!

 

[enola]

How old were these chicks?

 

[RachelJG]

How old were these chicks?

You asking me? Mine were hatched on a wed around 7:00am, arrived on friday morning and I think I found the first sick/dead ones saturday morning. They got sick and died by ones and twos. Some went fast, some slow. Some with diarrhea, some with spongy crops drooling mucus, some with convulsions, some just dead in the morning that were fine the night before. None with classic pneumonia though. And not a poopy butt to be seen either. They are all perfect little fuzzybutts... well... except the one who died of a prolapsed vent