Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Life is Good!]

FF isn't just for chickens you know....

Our 3" green parrotlet, Holly, ADORES FF scratch!

She was 'helping' me drain the FF for the chickens this morning, and this little 3" green monster jumped into the feed bucket and started chowing down! When she slowed down to swallow, I pulled her out of the bucket, much to her dismay. Good thing it's got a lid on it, otherwise, I'd have a ROUND 3" green parrotlet!

Now, I'm anxious to see if her droppings 'improve' as well! LOL!

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

It puffs up because it absorbs the water. In the individual dish, it will look like the same amount but it is actually less because of the expansion. They will get to a point though where they don't clean it all up and that is because they are getting more nutrition out of less food.
Two day old chicks don't eat much at all. It's the 3rd day when you have to make sure they eat, because that's when their yolk supply runs out. Did you hatch them or receive them in the mail? If you received them in the mail then they were probably 2 days old (or more) when you got them. Anyway, they're pretty small and don't have a lot of appetite at that age so just watch them to make sure they're eating. If they stand under the light and cry, they're not and you need to take measures to get them to eat.

They hatched on Monday and I got them on Wednesday (mail).
They initially pecked at it when I put them in the brooder (after dipping beak in water etc)
Just hard to tell due to the small number, and they are stepping in/on the food I have put out.
I did put a bit in the red trough too. And of course will check on them when I get home!!
I spent time with them last night 'pecking' at the feed dish (tapping with my finger) to get their attention. One or two kind of ran over, but then weren't really interested in eating. I will repeat this tonight. I figure as long as I can get a bird or two eating, the rest will follow. And with 25 more birds coming, the chances of that are pretty high. Just haven't dealt with this small of numbers!!
Thanks for your help!

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

ORANGE POO!?!?!
As in Neon orange!
I have raised two batches of chicks in the past two years and never seen anything like this before!
A few chicks had a little pasty butt. But many poo tinged with neon orange. I do have some vitamins (but not enough to turn the water yellow) in the water with the ACV.
Anybody else have this experience? Is this 'normal' chick strangeness, or has to do with FF or ACV?

Below you can see more poo that is orange (looks baby-aspirin orange in photos but is actually quite bright.


I put down new pads, and fresh food, and checked them a few hours later. New poos seem better formed and less watery, can't really tell how much they have eaten but they all are acting normal, alert etc.

 

[Beekissed]

You don't need the vitamins if you are using the ACV and the FF. Try it without.. no, it's not something I've ever seen with ANY chicken, let alone with the ACV or FF. I've heard of folks using the vitamin solution in the water and it makes the water orange, so maybe even the little bit you are using is being expelled more because the body simply doesn't need it. The body is wonderful in that way and particularly with vitamins and minerals...what the body cannot use it will flush it out in the urine.

Ever take prenatal vitamins or just about any vitamin on a regular basis and your pee start smelling like that vitamin? That is the extra mineral and vitamin that is not being utilized coming out in your urine.

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

Could be! Sure is strange...I will change out there water and just have ACV in it..
I have never taken prenatal vitamins...cause I haven't ever been prenatal.

But I know what you mean. B vitamins are really good at that.

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

26 Rangers arrived today! One doesn't look too good; weak and not standing up.

But all the rest active, drank water immediately (no vitamins added!) and were pecking at the FF when I left for work!

My 5 little SLW girls all huddled in the corner while the rowdy Rangers checked out the brooder!

 

[Life is Good!]

FF comments, 1 week into it with layers only at this point....

I am FF scratch and meat-bird feed combined in a 1gal container, as that's the spare buckets I had around. I'm feeding our Black Java flock of 5 hens, 7 hatched out chicks (1mo) and 5 purchased chicks (3mo).

I've noticed my chicks LOVE FF. My layers eat the scratch portion of FF, but don't seem to 'crave' it like the chicks do. The chicks flock to the FF and consume as much, as fast as they can.

I have also seen my 3mo chicks hit a growth spurt - suddenly they are so much larger than I recall my hens doing. Even the pullet (5 purchased chicks, 4 are cockerals) has suddenly grown and is as big as her 'brothers'. My hens have some pretty serious rooster damage (rooster met cone two nights ago) and I'm anxious to see how fast they feather-in again. Thus far, no new feathers, although they are eating the FF.

Thanks to all who've posted on this thread. It's a fascinating experiment! And my laundry room smells so good with the FF in there! LOL!

 

[Zootopia]

I've done the FF a couple of months now. Started w/ Chick starter, went to Game bird starter when we added the guineas and turkeys and added scratch grains as they grew. Now my whole flock is getting FF. I have 3 different buckets, one just starter for the babies, one 50/50 for the bigger brooders and a layer/scratch for the hens. The hens still have dry available for the days I get in late from work and go straight to bed. They don't eat much of it tho. I haven't kept track of the actual consumption but I still have the same # of hens and am adding all these chicks but seem to be making less trips to the feed store. One of the girls there even commented that our bill was down and asked if we had been selling. Living in West Texas the fact that they have the extra water is a plus, I always worry that they are getting enough water. The babies brooder is in the spare bedroom and my daughter thought we moved it outside after we started feeding FF, she had always hated the smell. Now no worries.
I had started feeding the FF to the hens because I had an EE pen where the hens had alot of roo damage (Roo went to freezer camp) Wanted the hens to have a little help, I really think they started looking better pretty quick. DH thinks its comical the way he gets mobbed when he has the FF bucket, even tho they have plenty of dry in the feeder. You have to give the Free Rangers their share first in order to be able to walk to the pens or they will get up under foot and trip you tho. Everyone knows that bucket!!

 

[mammaducky1]

My son came by the farm yesterday and actually volunteered that the chickens no longer stunk!!!! He worked on a bird farm as a teenager and has absolutely hated chickens ever since. Apparently this was the one thing he just could never get over was the smell of the place. For him to admit that the birds did not stink was a really big deal. He was really impressed. Hurray for FF!!!!!

 

[jrsckn]

The only time mine smell is in the run after a really long rain and it's a really sweet/icky smell instead of nasty chicken poo. The coop never smells!