Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

He's a dilly! I lost a good one too a couple of years back and Jake hasn't got over her yet...I haven't either. When a good dog leaves this world they are surely missed...you really don't realize just how much you depend on their skill and what they do until they are gone. Some just cannot be replaced because it is rare to find their equal.

The eyes on Scary Sue was an idea I gleaned from NatGeo Wild, from over the years of reading, and from this forum...one lady had saddles she had bought on her chickens called ChickSavers or some such name...they were supposed to be hawk deterrents and she claimed they worked well. They had the scary "predator eyes" on them that many animals use in nature....some birds, some worms, some bugs have displays that look like two big eyes, usually yellow with dark rims and big pupils.

So..I thought...why not recreate that in a scare hawk figure? Give her those menacing eyes and see how much better she does....so far, so good. They've been out on the grass for two weeks and no losses and only time will tell if it works all the time. It was worth the effort anyway, as Sue took only a few moments to make and all the materials were on hand.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

All right, I need to make a Scary Sue for my yard. I'll be sure to give her the scary Predator Eyes. Today a hawk came down and grabbed a 4-week-old chick, I thought they had enough places to hide but apparently not...

 

[Beekissed]

They are just the right size at 4-6 wks....starting to get a little meat on them and still light enough to carry away. I'm sorry about your chick loss...that is always frustrating and makes one have a sick feeling at their savage death.

 

[shadowmane]

I have a guard boy. He's 6 years old, and homeschooled. His job is the flock shepherd, and he loves it. He even comes equipped with a pair of mud boots so that he don't track mud (or pooh) in the house.



He's pictured here at the beginning of my still unfinished chicken coop. The window was a false start, and was later taken back out.

 

[Beekissed]

He's is adorable!!!! And looks so eager for the job! I'd like to have one of those again....oh, how I miss those little boys and their mud boots.

I probably don't need to tell you this at all but cherish every single moment...don't rush through anything at all or wish the days would pass before he can do this or that for himself. You'll want those back and they will feel like pieces of your heart that have been lost.

I love your hawk deterrent the very best!

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Beekissed....how big are the holes in your top bucket and how many did you drill? Hubby's been working so much that I guess I'm going to have to do it myself! Eek! Not really, I can be quite resourceful when I have to be.

 

[Beekissed]

Do you have a 7/64 or 3/32 size Craftsman drill bit? I thought I had used the 3/32 but I am using a quick change attachment that has a drill bit on one end and a screw driver attachment on the other and the bit looks to be 7/64. I just sat down and rotated the bucket as I drilled and just did a spiral pattern on the bottom and the bottom half of the bucket. I later added more holes up further as I increased my total soaking of grains.

The more holes, the better, as you will see when you lower the bucket back into the liquid and it slowly seeps back into the grain left in the bucket....if you don't have enough holes, it can't keep up with the seeping as the weight of the bucket descends and it will slop out the top, losing all that culture rich fluid. I know this because I didn't have enough holes and had to add some further up on the bucket....

 

[galanie]

The holes around the bottom of the sides is the secret for me. I did as Bee said she did, and put a rope up to the rafters after putting 3/32 size holes in a bucket, and it works very well. Helps that I found a bucket at a dumpster that was already kinda chewed up anyway. Have another that I put big holes in and covered the holes with screening, doesn't work as well. No idea why, shoulda worked better, but it doesn't.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...a 5 gal. bucket full of wet grain is heavy, so it helps to have something else to bear the weight while the grain drains. I am working in a cattle panel coop, so I have many options for places to run a rope and keep a bucket suspended. All my buckets~feed and water~ have nylon ropes with metal clips like the ones found on the end of horse lead ropes or dog leashes for fastening the ropes off with the use of one hand. I just lift the bucket with one hand, pull my rope over and clip it down so it will hold the weight...you don't have to lift it very far to get it to drain off the fluid into the bottom bucket.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Thank you for the info!!! Babies will be here on Monday and I have to have everything ready. We just had a big shop built so I'm sure hubby could rig me up something in there to pull the bucket!