Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

Try it now! It's not too late to infuse some herbage into those birds and see if it comes through into the meat. Next time I'm going to feed some garlic, rosemary and thyme...see if I can get a bird that just needs the bread stuffing to make a great meal!

 

[colburg]

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone giving so much great info. I found this thread yesterday and have made it to page 24 of 140. Holy Moly that's a lot of info to digest.

I mentioned this to my wife yesterday, figuring she'd snub her nose at the idea, but I had enough good info and points to make that she's completely on board. That, and we saw one of our CX's squirt poop on on some bell pepper scraps then turn around and eat it.

I told her the FF should clear that up and wallah, my job of selling her on FF was done.

Now I just have to prove it works.

Thanks everyone.

If there are any good ideas between pages 24 and 140 that I should know about pronto, I would like to hear them before I get started this weekend. Otherwise, I'll finish reading this thread in a few weeks and know/forget everything posted.

Thanks again.

 

[MJFarm12]

I've been using kefir as the culture to ferment my turkey feed for 9 white turkeys. I'm up to week 7. I lost one yesterday to what I guess was hexamitiasis judging from the symptoms. I caught it kind of late, I think. Maybe I could have saved her if I had seen her weight loss earlier. Anyhow, I've noticed what folks are saying about the absence of bad odor when on fermented feed. I have noticed the turkey pen (it gets moved to fresh grass daily) does smell bad pretty quickly, and I wondered if I have other turkeys with the disease. The remaining eight appear to be growing fine, eating and drinking fine, and don't appear to have the symptoms the sick one had--except maybe some brown poop.
I'm going to try adding some cider vinegar to the water for a few days and see if there is any improvement and may try fermenting with the vinegar next time I fill the bucket with feed.

Or are turkeys just stinkier, generally?

Also, I noticed the dead turkey had probably died of a heart attack--the heart was soft and loose. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Just joined this thread. Should I start at the very beginning and work my way through.........I am such a slowww reader!

 

[Missa Chickabee]

If I only have layers, am I in the wrong thread
??

 

[Beekissed]

Just joined this thread. Should I start at the very beginning and work my way through.........I am such a slowww reader!

Yes... if you don't you'll miss something vital..

If I only have layers, am I in the wrong thread
??

...and no. You are in the right thread...it just sort of morphed from a meaty thread into an all poultry, game and waterfowl thread.

 

[galanie]

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone giving so much great info.  I found this thread yesterday and have made it to page 24 of 140.  Holy Moly that's a lot of info to digest.

I mentioned this to my wife yesterday, figuring she'd snub her nose at the idea, but I had enough good info and points to make that she's completely on board.  That, and we saw one of our CX's squirt poop on on some bell pepper scraps then turn around and eat it.    I told her the FF should clear that up and wallah, my job of selling her on FF was done.

Too funny!

 

[Taniamax]

If I only have layers, am I in the wrong thread
??

I don't think so. You can do this on a small scale.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Unless of course you have 100+ birds like me... then you can do it on a large scale too!

 

[Beekissed]

I still do mine in a 5 gal. bucket whether I have 50 birds are just over a dozen....fermenting in larger batches insures that all grains have been percolating all that time it took you to use up most of the batch.