Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Love all the feeder ideas!!  I have to tell you that I have learned so much from this one thread and yes, I have read all of the 460 posts.
A million thanks to everyone from a newby (to the meaties world) who learns something new on here every day.

Welcome to the FF world, beckyjo!!! FF is AWESOME!! :yiipchick

 

[kelpieschick]

Hello everyone! My chicks have arrived and are on day 4 of their FF experiment. Things I have observed:

1. They LOVE it!
2. They don't drink as much water as I was warned they would at the feed store.
3.Most of them have normal bird poops.. there are two that still have loose stool and one with a poopy butt (but he's okay otherwise)
4. Chicks + wet food = MESS! ha ha. They get on their heads, their feet, their bedding, the walls. I'm okay with that though lol.. they are healthy and happy and having fun.


I don't know what other peoples chicks are like but mine are not stupid at all! They spend the day in the brooder scratching and pretending to forage, pecking the walls, eating, drinking and sleeping. They are also super musical. I had no idea that they could make those beautiful trilling sounds. It's like having canaries. Some are friendly and some pretty much just peck me when I put my hand in to adjust their paper towel. The paper towel needs to be changed about 4 times a day so today we are weaning off of it. I have gone through two full rolls so far. They have a really high prey drive and if I move a paper towel by dragging it I'll have a herd of little pit bulls running after it trying to grab the ends. They are really fun to watch! They are using baby feeders right now but my boyfriend made me the PVC piping feeders too for when they are bigger. I will have to show him the pictures of the the hanging ones though... they are perfect and will fit right in with our decor! (see attached picture).

I have moved to a two-bucket system for my FF. I ferment in the big bucket and pour it through a strainer into a smaller bucket, wait ten minutes for it to drain and then just scrape it out of the sieve into their feeders and then repour it all back into the original bucket. I like this system better than doing it all in one bucket as I can keep it submerged in water. I'm using non-medicated chick starter and ACV. It smells great so far!

Thanks so much for all the great information and ideas!

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

What a cool room! Now all you need is a disco ball and they can P A R T Y party!!!!

BTW...is that your coop?

 

[kelpieschick]

Thanks! That IS the coop ha ha. I am having a friend paint some pictures to hang on the wall. I can't decide on chickens, forks and plates (sick but would look sooo cool) or another theme. Something minimalist and arty. The tiles wont be visible once the birds are older because of the shavings but when their babies it will look pretty cool. I'm also building some thick and low-set roosts for them too for when they are older.

That building was the most disgusting, musty old storage shack on the property and we just spent a week, cleaning, scrubbing, de-molding, painting, laying tiles, putting in doors and setting up shelving and heaters and the broody box. We worked our butts off ha ha. The tiles were free (left behind by last farm owners), the paint was leftovers in the garage that we mixed together to make a nice off-white (although we did pay for the layer of Killz (demolder) that we used as a primer underneath.) The doors were scrap, and we're making the larger feeders from PVC that we found laying around.

So it wasn't totally free but we did some good scavenging!

 

[jrsckn]

OMG, I thought it was a spare bedroom lol Very nice!

 

[griffinkid02]

Not sure exactly why but mine gets to smelling pretty dang rank after a while. I dump the nasty smelling sewage on the compost heap and start over when that happens. Funny thing though, when it gets like that my girls still eat the food like it's the best thing ever. I can't stand the smell though, it's like something died in there a couple weeks ago
I don't know as much as Bee for sure, but I know she says the white mold is fine. I get that mold but it's only after it starts smelling like old sewage from a slaughter house that I dump it.

I think the problem was with the way I drained the scoop. Because flies, gnats, and even wasps drown in 5g bucket all the time, no problem. But the small scoop strainer I had only holds about 1/2cup of feed, and I let it drain about 5 minutes before feeding. It takes 2 scoops to feed the kids. Their really is very little water draining out of it, just enough for flies and gnats to drowned in. I think that's why I the bad mold was able to get a start in the drain bucket. Just nit enough good bacteria to fight of the invasive junk. And the main reasons that I decided it was bad was the fact that a) the chicks quit eating it, for no obvious teason. And b) I actually like the smell of the FF feed, so when this other stuff induced involuntary gag reflex. Something wasn't right. It doesn't even smeel like fermentation now. It's just foul. Anyway, I have a new batch been cooking since last night, and wilk start them on it tonight. And I'm being more careful with where I let the stuff drain. I don't expect any further problems.

 

[BunsNChicks]

Ok so I butchered some of my 9 week old meat chickens today...they were on the organic layer pellet since 2 weeks old and fermented organic wheat (and sprouted wheat) I am dismayed that they are only dressing out at 2lbs or less! Did they give me the wrong kind of meat chickens perchance or was I not feeding enough? They were fed twice daily since 2 weeks old before that they were free choice.

 

[beckyjo]

Where did you buy them from?

 

[nmantime]

How much did they weigh before you processed them? And these really could not be meat birds at 9 weeks and dressing out at 2lbs. I would check with whom you bought them from.

 

[Zootopia]

Wow, my 12 wk old Am X Black Giant weighed more than that, got pics? that doesn't sound like "Meaties" to me. Have you ever done meaties before? They should be like picking up bowling balls by that time!