Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[crazyhatlady]

If you keep them in a pen and run situation, just feed them only what they can clean up in a day's time.  If they leave any behind, feed less the next day.  If the feeder looks licked clean by noon, then add more to their daily ration.  You'll soon be able to gauge how much they can consume of it as they grow, as seasons and needs change, etc. 

I always tell folks it's just like feeding your own kids when they were toddlers....how much do you dish out on their plates?  What they will eat and no more and that changes as they grow, so make changes accordingly.  If they are leaving food behind, you give them less next time.  Finishing too early, add a little extra. 

Thank you.

 

[jennyf]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who posts here regarding FF for meat birds. I had wanted to try meat birds for awhile but had been discouraged by the stories of the piles of horrible smelly squirty reeking poop they produce. Mine are 2.5 weeks now and I've been so pleased with them on FF. I know obviously as they grow they'll produce more, but so far, so good. Totally solid poop in pic (and the guilty pooper).

 

[cree57i]

I'm brand new to meat birds, but have a little group of American Breese and a steady supplier of Breese eggs. I am really interested in how to raise these pretty little ones to get the most from them. Apparently they are really good layers as well as meat, but they are slower than some of the other breeds. (16 wks). Currently I have them on 24% chick starter. I make kumbucha and wonder if that would work for fermentation. Also got some raw milk for them today as I heard that would be good.

I am here to learn, but have not had time yet to sit down to read the entire thread. Could I get some immediate feedback on whether to keep them on the 24% game bird starter or drop them back to regular 20% chick starter? Currently, the age range is 1 and 3 week olds with more due to hatch next week. (and 2 weeks after that and so on). I have pasture for them, but they are all still in the brooder right now. I solemnly promise to read the thread before I ask more redundant questions!

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I think it largely depends on how much your birds end up utilizing the proteins. Since fermentation makes the protein more absorpable by the animals, you'd (in theory) want to drop down to the 20% protein feed if your goal were to get the equivalent of 24% protein. If your goal is to feed out closer to 28% protein you'd wanna stick with the game bird feed, but I'm pretty sure most chickens can't utilize that much protein in their feed. On the other hand, if you are also free ranging the birds for a large chunk of their diet and they eat a lot of plant matter, the plants probably have very little protein in them and so a higher protein feed in lower quantities would help balance that out and could be cheaper in the long run.

So it really depends on your situation and goals. But as a rule of thumb going with the 20% starter/grower/flockraiser/whatever is standard and typical.

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

I'm brand new to meat birds, but have a little group of American Breese and a steady supplier of Breese eggs. I am really interested in how to raise these pretty little ones to get the most from them. Apparently they are really good layers as well as meat, but they are slower than some of the other breeds. (16 wks). Currently I have them on 24% chick starter. I make kumbucha and wonder if that would work for fermentation. Also got some raw milk for them today as I heard that would be good.

I am here to learn, but have not had time yet to sit down to read the entire thread. Could I get some immediate feedback on whether to keep them on the 24% game bird starter or drop them back to regular 20% chick starter? Currently, the age range is 1 and 3 week olds with more due to hatch next week. (and 2 weeks after that and so on). I have pasture for them, but they are all still in the brooder right now. I solemnly promise to read the thread before I ask more redundant questions!

Thanks in advance!

The fact that you want to use them for eating is imporant.
I would leave them on the 24% chick starter.
Having raised broilers, my self.
They are basically there to lay in the feeder and eat.
As they are not expected to live past 6-8weeks old.
Now I am speaking of the cornish-rock breed.
your breed may last longer.
As Cornish-Rock breed, will not be able to walk past 6-8weeks old.
the put on total weight very fast and are not able to walk.
They are strictly used for broiler butchering.
I hope this helps
Glenda Heywood

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

I'm brand new to meat birds, but have a little group of American Breese and a steady supplier of Breese eggs. I am really interested in how to raise these pretty little ones to get the most from them. Apparently they are really good layers as well as meat, but they are slower than some of the other breeds. (16 wks). Currently I have them on 24% chick starter. I make kumbucha and wonder if that would work for fermentation. Also got some raw milk for them today as I heard that would be good.

I am here to learn, but have not had time yet to sit down to read the entire thread. Could I get some immediate feedback on whether to keep them on the 24% game bird starter or drop them back to regular 20% chick starter? Currently, the age range is 1 and 3 week olds with more due to hatch next week. (and 2 weeks after that and so on). I have pasture for them, but they are all still in the brooder right now. I solemnly promise to read the thread before I ask more redundant questions!

Thanks in advance!

Since you are raising a breed American Breese, I am not familiar with I looked up the Breed.

Bresse Chicken: This Large Chicken Breed has a 500 Year History​

BREED NAME: Bresse Chicken
Greenfire Farms; where Bresse and several other unique and classic breeds are being preserved and strengthened for sale and future generations.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Available in White, Black, Blue or Grey, this large chicken breed has a 500 year history originating from the eastern French Province of Bresse (similar to “bless”). The breed is prized and famous for its quality meat. Some have said it’s the best tasting in the world.
French purists insist that the only true Bresse is raised on French soil. With respect to that tradition, the American Bresse has been hatched on US soil by Greenfire Farms. The American Bresse decends from this ancient French breed, genetically unaltered.
During the 1980’s in Canada, French Bleu Bresse blood lines were used in the development of the “Blue Foot”. The breed was established and became popular in Canada, in spite of export bans in France, and eventually spread to California. There fanciers renamed the breed again, the “California Blue Foot”, where it remains a popular gourmet meat breed.
The Facts: Bresse Chicken
Class: Large
Comb, Wattles & Earlobes: Red comb, wattles. Rooster lobes contain white.
Color: Solid Black, White, Blue, or Grey
Place of Origin: France
Conservation Status: over 1.5 million raised in France each year


Special Qualities: No matter which feather color, steel blue-grey legs help identify this breed. They’ve been developed with a unique metabolism allowing for optimal response to a specialized feeding regime.
This process and resulting meat quality makes the Bresse highly prized in French cuisine.
In the Bresse’s 500 year history, its origin from various French country chicken breeds has been forgotten, but not its value to the gourmet food market. During the winter holiday seasons a single whole French Bresse chicken can sell at market for well over $100. A dressed average capon is about 7lbs.
Free ranging & supplemented with high quality feed is always the best recipe for the healthiest and high quality chicken meat. Traditionally Bresse cockerels headed for the meat market are caponized to ensure the tenderest possible flesh. The Bresse is a light boned large breed with thin skin.
Traditionally the French Bresse is removed from pasture life and confined for their last weeks of life. Male and female, they are super-fed on milk and grains to help infuse their meat with tasty fat for market. Purists insist on the entire regime of raising and feeding this chicken to obtain true Bresse quality meat.
Their few short months of life leave us with little written of the character and temperament of the breed. In fact most references found for the Bresse include recipes. Purists claim to be able to tell the difference in meat quality between the different color varieties of Bresse. White is the most common.

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

Since you are raising a breed American Breese, I am not familiar with I looked up the Breed.

Bresse Chicken: This Large Chicken Breed has a 500 Year History​

BREED NAME: Bresse Chicken
Greenfire Farms; where Bresse and several other unique and classic breeds are being preserved and strengthened for sale and future generations.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Available in White, Black, Blue or Grey, this large chicken breed has a 500 year history originating from the eastern French Province of Bresse (similar to “bless”). The breed is prized and famous for its quality meat. Some have said it’s the best tasting in the world.
French purists insist that the only true Bresse is raised on French soil. With respect to that tradition, the American Bresse has been hatched on US soil by Greenfire Farms. The American Bresse decends from this ancient French breed, genetically unaltered.
During the 1980’s in Canada, French Bleu Bresse blood lines were used in the development of the “Blue Foot”. The breed was established and became popular in Canada, in spite of export bans in France, and eventually spread to California. There fanciers renamed the breed again, the “California Blue Foot”, where it remains a popular gourmet meat breed.
The Facts: Bresse Chicken
Class: Large
Comb, Wattles & Earlobes: Red comb, wattles. Rooster lobes contain white.
Color: Solid Black, White, Blue, or Grey
Place of Origin: France
Conservation Status: over 1.5 million raised in France each year


Special Qualities: No matter which feather color, steel blue-grey legs help identify this breed. They’ve been developed with a unique metabolism allowing for optimal response to a specialized feeding regime.
This process and resulting meat quality makes the Bresse highly prized in French cuisine.
In the Bresse’s 500 year history, its origin from various French country chicken breeds has been forgotten, but not its value to the gourmet food market. During the winter holiday seasons a single whole French Bresse chicken can sell at market for well over $100. A dressed average capon is about 7lbs.
Free ranging & supplemented with high quality feed is always the best recipe for the healthiest and high quality chicken meat. Traditionally Bresse cockerels headed for the meat market are caponized to ensure the tenderest possible flesh.

The Bresse is a light boned large breed with thin skin.
Traditionally the French Bresse is removed from pasture life and confined for their last weeks of life. Male and female, they are super-fed on milk and grains to help infuse their meat with tasty fat for market. Purists insist on the entire regime of raising and feeding this chicken to obtain true Bresse quality meat.
Their few short months of life leave us with little written of the character and temperament of the breed. In fact most references found for the Bresse include recipes. Purists claim to be able to tell the difference in meat quality between the different color varieties of Bresse. White is the most common.

With this information, I find the information to be accurate as to my own experience with CORNISH ROCK BROILERS

So I would keep them on the high protein feed, as they are to be butchered as soon as they weigh in for butchering.

 

[cree57i]

With this information, I find the information to be accurate as to my own experience with CORNISH ROCK BROILERS

So I would keep them on the high protein feed, as they are to be butchered as soon as they weigh in for butchering.

Thank you! You found more information on them than I have been able to in my searches. They are docile little birds and lay down to eat, like LGD's do when they are growing pups. The person I got them from said they lay about 250 large egg/yr. and they are able to forage. Time will tell. I plan to start them on the fermented feed this weekend. I appreciate all the help.

 

[lazy gardener]

Given that it is a light boned large breed, it's going to be important to manage them well. Recommendation would be to give them access to free range, and top off their feed later in the day with the FF. How old are your birds? Do you intend to free range them? As soon as they are an appropriate age to free range, based on your conditions, I'd let them start the day on range, and finish the day with FF. Chicks that are not yet on free range should have access to food throughout the day.

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

The poulet de Bresse (
French pronu


White Bresse de Bény chickens
nciation:
[pu.lɛ d(ə) bʁɛs]) or volaille de Bresse is a French chicken product which has appellation d'origine contrôlée status. It may be produced only from white chickens of the Bresse breed raised within a legally defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France.
History[edit]

The chickens of the Bresse region have long enjoyed a high reputation. The lawyer, politician, epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), who was born at Belley in the Ain, is supposed to have described the Bresse chicken as "the queen of poultry, the poultry of kings".[1] The name Volaille de Bresse, used for both chicken products and for the dinde de Bresse, the turkey of the area, received legal protection on 22 December 1936;[2] this became an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) in 1957.[1] Today the poulet de Bresse has the reputation of being the best quality table chicken in the world.[3] The chef Georges Blanc, who is from Bourg-en-Bresse, has been president of the Comité Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse, the association which oversees the product, since 1986.[4] Alan Davidson described the poulet de Bresse as the "aristocrat of modern table poultry",[5] and Heston Blumenthal selected it for one of the dishes in his book In Search of Perfection.[6]
Production[edit]

Poulet de Bresse may be produced only from white chickens (the Bresse de Bény variety) of the Bresse breed, raised within a legally defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France. The area is roughly rectangular, approximately 100 km by 40 km, and includes parts of the départements of Ain, Jura and Saône-et-Loire, in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Franche-Comté and Bourgogne respectively. It lies mainly between the towns of Mâcon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Dole and Lons-le-Saunier; Bourg-en-Bresse is within the area. Lyon is not far to the south, and Dijon not far to the north.
Approximately 1.2 million poulet de Bresse birds are produced each year, about 0.1% of the total annual production of chickens in France; about 10% are exported.[1] The chickens are raised under strict controls. There are about 200 breeders; each must have a minimum of 0.5 ha of pasture in the area of production, and allow a minimum of 10 m2 per bird. Each bird must pass inspection by the Centre de Sélection de la Volaille de Bresse, the only breeding centre for the Bresse chicken.[2]
The birds are kept free range for at least four months. From about 35 days they are fed cereals and dairy products; the diet is intentionally kept low in protein so that the birds will forage for insects. They are then "finished" in an épinette, a cage in a darkened fattening shed, where they are intensively fed on maize and milk.[1] Poulets or pullets are fattened for two weeks, and slaughtered at a minimum age of four months and a minimum weight of 1.2 kg; poulardes or large hens are fattened for four weeks and slaughtered at five months, when they weigh at least 1.8 kg; chapons or capons are also fattened for four weeks, and are slaughtered at eight months or more, at a minimum weight of 3 kg.[2]