I went out this afternoon and took some pictures of my 2 setups.
First we have the layers and roosters that have yet to be eaten. They are coming up to 5 months old I think and I am eagerly hoping for an egg soon
This is the shed where all the goods are kept. All these guys are getting is fermented scratch. It is made up of corn, wheat, barley and oats. They free range during the day so this is just a bit of a supplement and something to keep them coming home. They don't much care for the wheat, which tells me they are getting enough to eat because when they are hungry, they eat everything. I'll probably start buying bulk grains soon and mixing my own so there is less waste.
The shed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140511.jpg
How I "hang" my 2 bucket system. It works awesome with the grains:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140513.jpg
What the wet grains look like:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140512.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140514.jpg
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Moving on to the meaties, I am feeding 207, 8 days old White Rocks. Don't they look delicious?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140531.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140529.jpg
Here is their 2 bucket system. It does not work at all. The water does not drain out the holes. I think it's because the wet crumbles have a consistency similar to cooked oatmeal. Instead I use some strange kitchen ladle thing with a lot of holes in it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140516.jpg
I'm not overly patient so the food comes out pretty wet. They love it just the same:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140518.jpg
In the small feeders:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140524.jpg
Since you can't use metal containers for water with ACV, I assume you can't use metal feeders with fermented food. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. So I built my own feeder. I had bought a 48" metal feeder with that fancy bar on the top that spins to keep the birds out of the food. It works great, no poop in the food. Here is what the modified feeder looks like:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140528.jpg
And another shot of them eating:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140527.jpg
I also feed them dirt. Yep, plain old dirt from outside. They've had it since day 2. I estimate that they have eaten half to an equal amount of dirt compared to their food by weight. I figure it's good for their gizzard, guts and poop.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140540.jpg
I'm also pretty sure that they think my shoes are "mom" and that my shoelaces are nice treats that mom brought for them. It makes it hard to walk in there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140522.jpg
Hopefully this post is helpful to somebody.
Oh yeah, I stir my feed whenever I add new feed, which is several times daily. I scoop out how much feed I need for that feeding, then I add that much dry food back into the wet bucket. Then I add enough water to cover it. I don't use a lid on my FF.
There is no need to keep adding ACV to your feed buckets. You only need it initially to inoculate your bucket with good bacteria (bacterium?). Once that bacteria has been added, as long as you keep feeding the bacteria they will remain alive in the feed. I would guess you could go a whole week without adding more feed before the bacteria would die and you would have to add more. The bacteria are eating the chicken feed, sort of predigesting it.
If you want to make your own ACV at home, I think all you need to do is crush an apple and make some apple cider and then let it sit out in the warmth until it tastes like vinegar.
I personally don't think you *need* to keep the fermented food wet. I know mine has risen above the water level many times and there hasn't been any casualties.
