Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[wesgef9]

Ok, thank you for your help

 

[armorfirelady]

Hello, I was wondering what grains or feed you use to ferment feed. Do you give them whole grains only or can you use pellets?

My hens get straight grains. Oats, wheat, cracked corn, canadian peas, flax seeds. I dont use feed at all.

 

[wesgef9]

Where do you get your grains from

 

[armorfirelady]

Where do you get your grains from

I have 2 local feed stores close to me.

 

[wesgef9]

Ok thanks

 

[Beekissed]

Was looking through old vids of mine and found this one on some meat chicks I had....thought I'd post it so folks could see how I keep chicks out of the FF. This is a little wooden trough I built for chicks and the wire on top is just 1x1 zip tied to the top of the feeder and the wire to create a hinge. Easy to load with feed and keeps the chicks reasonably clean while they eat their FF.

 

[tirnan]

tagging for the full read later

 

[Aprildeesunshin]

I have a huge problem. I raised about 40 cornish cross meat birds. Instead of using meat birds feed that was Fermented, I used pig feed. At 12 weeks they were not bighorn enough. I then switches over to the meat birds feed for 2 weeks. At the end of that time we were satisfied with their growthands and sent them to camp Frigid.

There is something wrong with these birds. They smell horrible (like death) when we are cooking them. I have covered up the smell with spices. The meat is good, but there is that hint of horrid stitch till in the meat.

What happened? I have done these for 3 years and they were all great until this year. Yes, they were 14-15 weeks old at "weigh in", but that shouldn't change the meat. I am at a loss. Does anyone here know what I am talking about? How do I fix this?

 

[Beekissed]

I have a huge problem. I raised about 40 cornish cross meat birds. Instead of using meat birds feed that was Fermented, I used pig feed. At 12 weeks they were not bighorn enough. I then switches over to the meat birds feed for 2 weeks. At the end of that time we were satisfied with their growthands and sent them to camp Frigid.

There is something wrong with these birds. They smell horrible (like death) when we are cooking them. I have covered up the smell with spices. The meat is good, but there is that hint of horrid stitch till in the meat.

What happened? I have done these for 3 years and they were all great until this year. Yes, they were 14-15 weeks old at "weigh in", but that shouldn't change the meat. I am at a loss. Does anyone here know what I am talking about? How do I fix this?

Have never experienced that with feeding fermented feed, be it with meat birds or otherwise. In fact, the FF usually takes the smell of the barnyard right out of home raised chickens, creating a wonderful aroma when they are cooked and a clarity of flavor when eaten.

Could be the meat proteins in the pig feed? Some report certain meat proteins giving the FF a rotten smell and maybe that transfers over to the taste of the meat? If it was the pig feed, 2 wks off of it wouldn't be long enough to get it out of their system.

I've tried to clean the systems of retired layers that I had gotten from someone who had been feeding regular feeds to them and it took a couple of months to get that nasty smell and taste out of their meat and to get their eggs to start tasting good enough to eat. Until then, all their eggs had to be fed to the dogs.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

It could be any number of factors... From the chickens being left alone too long after death before gutting or busting an organ or bad feed or anything.

If the meat isn't getting you sick and you still want to eat them, brine them. Soak them in water overnight and then in new water with a bit of ACV and salt for a few hours during the day. Did a roadkill deer this way once and it went from smelling like a sewer to just old beef in 18 hours.