Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[griffinkid02]

That. Is. Awesome. I love it.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Someone asked earlier about using 4" pvc pipe for a feeder. I ran with the idea and borrowed from a thread about feeders to come up with this FF feeder. They cost me about $13 each. I hang it from wire or chain so the height can be adjusted. Just un hook it and take it outside to clean with the hose. A couple things I did: - Cut a 10 foot pipe into 3 feeders - Drill a hole in the pipe before gluing the end caps to prevent air pressure in the pipe from pushing out before the glue dries - Used a rotary tool on high speed with a cutting wheel - it goes thru this pipe like a hot knife thru butter Breakfast outside:

Awesome!! Hubby built mine today using a 6" pvc pipe. He cut it in half and made two feeders. Our birds are outside in a Salatin style tractor so I needed a feeder that could be set up outside as that is where they are fed. I will add additional boards to the ends as they grow to keep the feeder up. My hubby works for an irrigation center so we got our piece of pipe from the waste pile for free. The lumber was scraps leftover from the contractors that just built hubby's new shop and we bought 2 end caps and cut them in half also. We got 2 feeders for the cost of the 2 end caps. Will put them into use tomorrow and will let you know how they work out. Here's a picture of one of mine....

 

[MyTDogs]

Love those PVC feeders! Really nice work.

I made my feeders last weekend...PVC gutter on scrap 2x4s. I feed outside too so I don't have a good place to hang feeders. So far they have been wonderful. Before I fed in a large, round steel puppy dish but the ducks would just bowl the chickens over to get to the food (ducks are piggies for sure). Now with 2 separate feeders everybody gets to eat their fill. What you see is what is left after an hour or two. Usually the chickens have picked it completely clean by the evening. I got 2 feeders (5 feet long) for about $14. I drilled 2 small holes at each end to allow for drainage of rainwater.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

That is an awesome feeder too, Cindy!!! Didn't even think about drilling some holes to allow for water drainage. I'm actually going to try and talk hubby into building me a little lean to to keep the birds dry while they eat if it is raining. Maybe I'll just try and build it myself, shouldn't be too horribly hard.

My CX are getting brave and venturing out into there enclosure a little more. They are grass eating little fools. Last year I had all of my meatbirds in the Salatin style tractor and just moved it every morning (PITA) and when they would get to clean grass they would pick at it but not eat it. So by my observation...if you're using a tractor so you can have pastured poultry, invest the money in an electric poultry net and let them run and you'll be able to see what it truly means when you say pastured!! I am beyond thrilled with this batch of CX chicks, they love to run around to catch bugs, eat grass and play with each other.

Here's a couple of pictures I took of them tonight. They will be 5 weeks tomorrow.

 

[Island Roo]

Yeah, nice feeders everyone - way to spend less money than me!

Just kidding

I've been thinking poultry netting for next year. What type is that in your pictures?

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

It's the 48" poultry net from Premier 1. It cost me about $330 for the 164' kit and for an energizer kit that I can use with a battery or plug it in. We're going to have our friend come up and beat some sagebrush and plant some drought resistant grass and raise CX out there so I'm sure I'll be buying more net. The energizer is good for 15 miles of fence or 60 acres.

 

[griffinkid02]

I think that my batch has gone bad

I use a cheap $1 strainer scoop from wally world to scoop my FF out of the bucket with, and I set it on top of of a 1 gallon ice cream bucket to drain, then dump the "juice" back into the 5 gallon bucket. I forgot and left the drainage in the ice cream bucker over night a few nights ago and when I got up the next day several gnats had drowned and were surrounded by an opaque jelly like growth. Without even thinking I dumped it back in, thinking it was just some of the "mother come to the top and sticking to an availible surface. Now my FF bucket is covered in that same film, but it's growing white fuzzy mold structures into the air. the Fuzzy stuff is growing out from little centers and looks just like windshield cracks. It doesn't smell quite the same either..... SO sad that I let a half second of thoughtlessness ruin my batch.....

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Those feeders are great. I'm just getting started, and wondering what I'm going to feed in, I have some left over PVC, so perfect. I have a gallon waterer of plastic so i added acv to that (so hot today) and brought that to the coop...one of my best hens came running over to drink from it before I could even find a level spot to set it down, and drink and drink and drink...they have a 5 gallon waterer outside and three gallons inside, and a spring fed puddle below the house...interesting, she really wanted that water. I can't wait to se how they act when they get their first taste of ff tomorrow. Hope they like it cause its a holiday and they have just a little of their regular stuff left now.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Dang...that sucks!! If it smells bad, it probably is.

I lovingly refer to those as my blond moments and yes, I'm a blond!!

 

[Zootopia]

Hey, don't throw it out till one of the one who really know chimes in. It may be fine, just need to be fed? Anyway, wait and see what they say. I had a batch going for several wks cause I only had a few babies eating the mash, but it never went bad.