Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

You can hang seeds on stalks from the rafters in bunches. That's how I store corn shucks with intact ears. This allows air flow, keeps the rodents from feeding on them and leaves the pods/ears within my reach for easy use.

 

[Island Roo]

Earlier in this thread people mentioned alfalfa (pellets / cubes) but I did not find any results from these experiments.

Has anyone had luck adding this to the ferment?

I'll give it a try - but I'm willing to learn from others experience

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have alfalfa pellets. I put about a handful into a 5 gal bucket batch. (I soak them overnight in water first to break them down) I have absolutely NO forage for my girls and these are the only greens they get. Before ff, I'd get them broken down and mixed into their dry food and they always managed to separate them and not eat the alfalfa. Now they can't and they're forced to eat it. Now their egg yolks are nice and dark yellow. Don't know why they don't like alfalfa but its good for them and so now I've found a way to get it into the little brats!

I absolutely ADORE my little brats!

 

[MonsterClucker]

I have alfalfa pellets.  I put about a handful into a 5 gal bucket batch. (I soak them overnight in water first to break them down)  I have absolutely NO forage for my girls and these are the only greens they get.  Before ff, I'd get them broken down and mixed into their dry food and they always managed to separate them and not eat the alfalfa.  Now they can't and they're forced to eat it.  Now their egg yolks are nice and dark yellow.  Don't know why they don't like alfalfa but its good for them and so now I've found a way to get it into the little brats!

I absolutely ADORE my little brats!

Where do they sell alfalfa pellets? I'm running low on green forage until I get their pasture secured. I was thinking of getting the bales of alfalfa. Would they scratch around in that and eat it? Probably just depends on the chickens huh?

 

[Island Roo]

This documents talks about ruinning alfalfa thru a cutting box. My wood chiipper does a half decent job.
https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s12.html

There are other tips about whole grains in there.

There is a disclaimer at the bottom: the info is based on practices from the 1940s. I'm thinking thats a good thing ;-)

 

[Lacy Blues]

I get my alfalfa pellets at my feed store. They have cubes but they also carry pellets. They''re about 1/4 wide by any length up to around an inch or so.

 

[Zootopia]

I picked up a bag of Pigeon Grains at the feed store, not inexpensive stuff $24.95 a 50# bag. Interesting tho, 14 % with the 3 different kind of peas and oat grouts, main ingredient is still the Pearl Milo I guess. The adults love the Milo but the chicks and juvies leave it all the time as it is also the main in my scratch. Some days I leave the juvies their leftovers and don't feed in the afternoon then they will eat most of it, still a waste.
I added some to the juvie and adult buckets, we'll see if they like it. Thinking the peas will need a little longer to ferment and get soft. What do you think? Who else is using pigeon grains?

 

[muckmuck]

I picked up a bag of Pigeon Grains at the feed store, not inexpensive stuff $24.95 a 50# bag. Interesting tho, 14 % with the 3 different kind of peas and oat grouts, main ingredient is still the Pearl Milo I guess. The adults love the Milo but the chicks and juvies leave it all the time as it is also the main in my scratch. Some days I leave the juvies their leftovers and don't feed in the afternoon then they will eat most of it, still a waste.
I added some to the juvie and adult buckets, we'll see if they like it. Thinking the peas will need a little longer to ferment and get soft. What do you think? Who else is using pigeon grains?

I have been using it for about a month now and my juveniles go straight to the peas, while the adults just go after it all. My brew soaks at least 24 hours but I use the continuous method feeding about half of my bucket and then topping off with grain daily. I did notice that the fermentation action got a lot more vigorous when I started using the pigeon food. At least once a week I use up the whole bucket so that I start with totally fresh grains, same liquid though.

Max

 

[LunaticCafe]

I picked up a bag of Pigeon Grains at the feed store, not inexpensive stuff $24.95 a 50# bag. Interesting tho, 14 % with the 3 different kind of peas and oat grouts, main ingredient is still the Pearl Milo I guess. The adults love the Milo but the chicks and juvies leave it all the time as it is also the main in my scratch. Some days I leave the juvies their leftovers and don't feed in the afternoon then they will eat most of it, still a waste.
I added some to the juvie and adult buckets, we'll see if they like it. Thinking the peas will need a little longer to ferment and get soft. What do you think? Who else is using pigeon grains?

I feed pigeon grains. I find a soak of 24 hours works fine. Chickens go for the peas first.

 

[mammaducky1]

Would someone please comment on the finished weights of their meat birds. I am talking about once the birds have been completely processed and ready to be cooked. Just finished culling a few of the roosters from my meat birds. One weighed 4-1/2 pounds and the other two weighed 3-1/2 pounds (at 9 weeks for rainbow reds). Is this about where they should be? They looked small to me, compared to how big they looked before butchering, but later when I pulled one out to cook, it looked like a pretty typical chicken I would buy from the store (But it tasted SO MUCH better!)