Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Latestarter]

You actually have time to buy a day old right now and it should be ready for processing for Thanksgiving... By then it might be too big for your oven. They grow pretty danged fast. Why wait? If not Thanksgiving, it'll be ready for Christmas dinner

 

[curious chickee]

I might have to find some turkeys.

 

[shortgrass]

You actually have time to buy a day old right now and it should be ready for processing for Thanksgiving... By then it might be too big for your oven. They grow pretty danged fast. Why wait? If not Thanksgiving, it'll be ready for Christmas dinner

Actually, its too late in the year for me to do broilers.... I don't outsource any of my feed, so I have to do broilers in spring when i have silage and my grain supplies are high enough before first cutting hay is ready.... I have a gap in feed in early spring. An issue I'm working on, lol... It costs money out of my pocket to buy feed.

Turkeys are possible... There are some wild ones that can kinda "free range" out here.... But we go shoot those by the river lol...they're free.

 

[Latestarter]

I'm sorry @shortgrass... My comment about getting a day old was aimed at @curious chickee... She said she told DH she wanted a turkey for Thanksgiving next year... I was explaining that she still had time to do it this year of she wanted. Many hatcheries will do turkey poults until August... Hey Chickee, you'd have to buy several, they don't sell them singularly, but maybe you have friends/neighbors who might like fresh turkey for Thanksgiving with you?

 

[Gentry1350]

Good point... I watch what they're eating ( mostly free range) and I let them have oyster she'll at will and f they want it... They get into it when the field peas die down in spring, and then again about August when grasses are going to seed. Otherwise they seem to know when they need extra..

I spend way too much time researching forage cover crops lol, but I figure what goes in THEM will go in ME... I crave calcium too; as long as they have a source they can get it from, they will "self medicate" ha-ha

They wiped out 100 sq feet of spinach and about 100# worth of seedling potatoes getting hilled...so I would say right now they are looking for iron and potassium and didn't notice the vetch is blooming for them instead.... Argh haha

What forage blends are you using?

 

[shortgrass]

What forage blends are you using?

Well the pasture flock gets free dibs on organic hay, and native grasses and bugs... Plus the wheat is almost ready for harvest, so they are itching for fences to get moved so they can forage there too...

The laying flock gets (somewhat limited) reign of my garden and flowerbed, and an acre of my experiments lol.. Winter peas are a real winner for winter... I'm in zone 5, so options are limited to winter rye, spring wheat, and winter peas. The kochia keeps them busy until the purslane comes up, and I have clovers and vetch for summer. I interseed pod radishes with spring wheat, and the winter peas with winter rye.

Side note, the forages I select are for soil improvement and to house beneficials, so the chickens get the insects in their seasons too Helps with bug control too; we just hit hopper season

 

[The Hawk]

Three weeks old and they love FF out of new feeder.

 

[Robert M]

Three weeks old and they love FF out of new feeder.

Nice feeder, but the bar needs to go. They'll sit there and "poop" in their food.

 

[Beekissed]

Three weeks old and they love FF out of new feeder.

Now THAT'S a beautiful picture!!! A wonderful feeder and good looking, clean birds in a clean place....can't get any better than that.

Quote:
Actually, that bar is perfect...it keeps them from walking in the feed and crowding one another out of place. They might poop in it, that is true, but CX could care less if they have poop in their food. I've got a bar like that on my current feeder and wonder why I didn't do it years ago....and not one bird has pooped in the feeder yet. And that's with youngsters and adults alike...not one bird has perched on that long enough to drop a bomb.

 

[Jacqdiva]

It shouldn't have mould. It should always be submerged in the water.