Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[shadowmane]

Mine attracts earwigs. They fall in, drown, and add to the protein.

 

[nmantime]

I have been following this thread for awhile as I have been waiting for my birds. This method of feeding was very interesting to me. My chicks showed up Friday (25 Freedom Rangers and 25 Cornish X's). And after settling in with ACV water I placed their FF before them. They ignored it for a few hours then as meaties do they went to town on it. I am fermenting grower pellets and non medicated starter crumbles.
The double bucket setup works great as I have a chain to hold the upper bucket up to drain, so far looks like 15 minutes to drain completely. In the three days I have had these guys you can see the size gain in the CX vrs the rangers.
I used the Braggs to kick start my batch and it took just overnight to get the bubbles going.
Thought I would share my start in this FF method with you all as you have shared your experiences with the readers of this thread.
Will update progress as time allows.

Norm in n.ca​

 

[Beekissed]

Great! Another person contributing to the delinquency of their chickens!

I can't wait to see the results that everyone has with their flocks and see if we can all report less money used on feed but with the same or even better conditioning in our birds.

Feel free to add some pics of your birds and how great they look....it really helps us see the results in action. Also, maybe a report on any feed cost savings that you may note along the way?

 

[griffinkid02]

Ok! Finally got caught up. I am REALLY interested in trying this. I took a plastic coffee container that had been washed really well and did some of my grower crumbles, rolled oats, and corn meal (I don't know, just felt like I wanted a third ingredient); soaked the mix in warm water and set it outside uncovered. I will bring it in tomorrow morning and cover it with cheese cloth and a string and set it in a dark corner. I will also be going by the grocery store tomorrow to pick up a packet of activated yeast spore (my local grocery actually still carries it! Have trouble finding it other places) to add in. Right now I'm raising some Nankin Bantams that are 5 weeks, we'll see how they take to it and then I'll look to expanding to my layers.

Also Beekissed. I can partially confirm your comments regarding the health of the CX's. I have a friend who will rescue the chicken truck escapees off of the side of the road. I have seen her bring home birds that were so nutrient poor their legs were flexible, like rubber. She has a doghouse coup in her back yard which they have the run of. It usually takes about 2 weeks of monitoring and care to get a new bird built and fed up enough to go in the yard, but once out there they do awesome. She does not butcher them (claims that if they escaped once, and in their health, they've earned a commuted sentence) and has been known to get 7 or 8 years of companionship out of them with no heart or leg problems. Sunshine, fresh air, and REAL food is the key. Living in a metal box, in your own doo, would make anyone sickly.

 

[Beekissed]

Wow! Seven to eight years??? That gives me hope...I'm planning on keeping a few of this batch of CX, the most avid, die-hard foragers and adding them to my layer flock genetics and just see what happens. Will it breed more meat on the layers or make meaties that still can't lay but are less meaty? Only time will tell.

I know these birds aren't formed properly for hardy lives but I'm always one to root for the underdog and these CX have been handed a raw deal. I want to see them be more than everyone says they are and I've seen some of their potential...I only hope they can live normally enough so that I can see more. I won't continue the experiment if I think their life quality is poor just so I can prove they will live longer than expected, but if they are thriving, active, hardy and bright? I want to give them a chance to live out a season or a chicken life to see what they can do.

 

[hannahransom]

I am going to start doing this. Can I just use 1 bucket and use a scoop with holes? Will it be a problem if it just stays in there? I think what I want to do is do a 2 bucket system, ferment one and then when it's half gone start up the next with a bit of the first, use up the first and then start over when the second one is half full. Would that be ok? Also, has anyone tried using whey as a starting liquid (with water)? I would like to get as much goodness in there as I can. I feed the chickens fermented stuff and they seem to love it, so I assume they would love their feed fermented, too. ALSO, right now I would be fermenting scratch and layer together. Would they just eat out the scratch because they like it more?

 

[Beekissed]

I am going to start doing this. Can I just use 1 bucket and use a scoop with holes? Will it be a problem if it just stays in there? I think what I want to do is do a 2 bucket system, ferment one and then when it's half gone start up the next with a bit of the first, use up the first and then start over when the second one is half full. Would that be ok? Also, has anyone tried using whey as a starting liquid (with water)? I would like to get as much goodness in there as I can. I feed the chickens fermented stuff and they seem to love it, so I assume they would love their feed fermented, too. ALSO, right now I would be fermenting scratch and layer together. Would they just eat out the scratch because they like it more?

You can use just a scoop with holes but you may be standing a while draining each scoop, which is a time waster. It's no problem for the scoop to stay in the bucket...mine is always in there and it also has holes drilled in it.

You really don't have to have two sets of buckets to keep a rotating fermentation going...you can just add more water and feed to your same buckets each evening and the fermented fluid in the bottom of the bottom bucket just rises above into the new feed and speeds the fermentation process and by morning you have a good fermented feed bucket.

Using whey would be a good way to start some cultures and it's good nutrition for the birds.

There is no problem feeding scratch and layer together and they won't pick out what they like and leave the rest...even if they do, leave it there until they clean their plate. They will eventually eat it all.

 

[shadowmane]

Red Rangers are in the brooder. We just picked them up about a half hour ago. 13 Red Rangers and 5 Golden Comets to supplement the layers we already have. Here's pictures.



Brooder V2.0. We'll be putting a top on this one so they don't fly all around the sun room like the layers did.



Here's the fuzzybutts in their new home. I don't have any scales, so I can't give you any starting weights. They're pretty little birds, though. The feed in the troughs is fermented feed. Kind of watery, but I think they'll figure it out.

 

[Beekissed]

And so it begins! You'll have to keep us all posted about the progress....they are nice looking chicks!

I simply love it that so many are willing to try this method of feeding...I'm so used to the dyed in the wool old boy network that know everything already so they can't learn anything more. That kind of thinking makes my butt so tired...there is always more to be learned if one is searching.

I'm always searching for cheaper, more simple, better, smarter ways to do this raising of food~both animal and vegetable. I don't believe that guys that spend most of their time in a lab or in an office know everything there is to know about backyard flocks, although I glean a lot of info from their controlled experiments and will try them on my birds to see if it applies to a small scale flock without a controlled environment.

I don't see the commercial methods of raising broiler birds crossing over into the backyard very well....one has only to read how many people find broiler breeds gross, lazy, stinky and prone to sudden death to know that those methods are just not working in the backyard where you can't afford to just throw up your hands and say, "Well, you are expected to have a 15% mortality because the experts say that is normal for these birds." If you get a 15% mortality in the backyard working on limited funds, the government won't swoop in and give you a relief check or allow you to deduct if from your taxes.

Something has to change and the breed won't~so the farmer must.

I applaud all the people on this thread that are seeking a better way...let's hope we never stop trying to improve our methods.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

I just weighed in one of my larger CX females and she weighed a whopping 1lb 9oz at 3 weeks of age!! Definitely not a slowdown in growth as that is the average for males on Welp at 21 days. The females are feathering in nicely but some of the boys are a little slow and naked.

As of today I have had a total consumption of 50# of chick starter and 50# of flock raiser feed for 35 CX and 12 pullet chicks and a single cockerel chick plus I'm feeding the flock raiser to my RIR rooster. They have also been on grain for the last few days but I would say that is less than 10# plus I'm feeding it to my big girls. I'm really impressed!! I put fresh cut grass in the brooder last night and this morning....IT WAS GONE on the meaties side and the new little girls used it to dust bathe (silly girls)!!!

BTW...they have been on FF since day one.