Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

54 Here in Texas. Have enjoyed hearing everyone's age and about your flocks. Working on my second batch of meaties. Have had them 10 days now and have been doing FF from the start with this batch. Had to start a second bucket of feed today, as they are beginning to go through the first bucket awfully fast. Beekissed the thick peanut butter consistency definitely worked. It took them a couple of days to really figure it out, but now they gobble it down and go crazy looking for more if they run out. Did not feed them until after church this morning, (10 a.m. instead of 7-8) and you would have thought that they had not been fed in days! They had wood shavings all over the place! )

All of you in the storm's path are in our prayers.

That's good to hear! I get tickled to hear when the FF is really working for someone. Thanks for the prayers and I am praying for everyone along the coast as well. I don't think we will get more than rain and a quick, heavy snow that will soon melt off...but it may bring down electric lines. Not like the folks in the eye of the storm..I think they will have a hard time.

 

[Chucklecluck]

Is it me or is the adds for this site all foreign dating adds that or weight loss adds lol

 

[Beekissed]

You can turn off all the ads and never have to see them....I can't see them right now.

 

[Chucklecluck]

How? Please I'm mobile

 

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure how that works with mobile capabilities. There are just options and settings for your profile in which you can choose to not show ads on the page...been so long since I turned mine off that I can't remember how I did it.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Finally someone close to my age.

Now how do you get these new smilies over here?

So sorry. Ended up going to bed ahead of the crowd last night. (comes with the territory I guess).
Here is the link BK gave us for the new emoticons:

http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys_feelings.html

Ready for Sandy, Miss Lydia? Our prayers are with our friends in the the East.

 

[Ashdoes]

Reposting, since I was talking about where I keep my water in the wrong thread.
I tried keeping water in the coop and didn't like the mess the chickens were making.

So I usually keep the water and FF trough out in the run. Now that it's freezing over night I've put one of the water buckets and the FF in the barn stall.
Now I'm going to bed...obviously I need more sleep if the FF thread, and sicky chickens thread is getting mixed up. Have a nice night!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Look what I found in the workshop






For someone with a sore arm, every little bit counts.

WOW! I can't say THANK YOU enough! I have 2 of these, one just became chicken use only! I am having a lot of trouble stirring, I am no wimp, but am only 5 ft tall and about maybe 100lbs. I am a southpaw and my left shoulder has had several surgeries. (Tumors, long story) I have 49 birds. Geese, ducks, guinea and chickens... (23 meaties, 5 layers and my adorable RLW roo) and they are all starting on FF. 2 Pigs also, but the alpaca i am hesitant to do it...They eat mostly grass hay and a cup of all stock daily for both. This will sure save my poor arm its already pretty sore from moving the feed buckets.

 

[JNB]

Hello Again.. I thought I would post my results This was my first time raising meat birds. I used the info in this thread to feed my Cornish X. We processed them this last Wednesday. they were 9 weeks and 3 days old.
I had 36 birds and had only lost one when it was 3 days old.

I had NO health issues like I had been warned about. They were good looking birds. No leg problems.
When we processed them I was really pleased to see that their insides were healthy looking. Nice pink and healthy looking organs. No signs of parasites or other issues.

Since it was my first time, I asked the older guys that were helping me process them how they looked. They told me the birds were really healthy looking. They were bigger than they were used to processing. and they had quite a bit of fat.
They told me it was likely that I just fed them too well .. Too much grain they said ...
Like I said this was my first time so I figured it a learning process. I fed a 20% feed fermented mixed with a mix of Oats, Barley, and scratch (wheat, corn, milo), and a hand full of alfalfa cubes added to Ferment. Once the birds were old enough to free range I fed once a day at night.. they free ranged during the day and if they couldn't go out for some reason I added grass or loose alfalfa or grass hay to their run for the day. They also got a few scraps when I was canning this season.
I used 11 bags of feed at $19.00 a bag.. Then approx 100lbs of grain mix... about $45.00 so about $254.00. Also when they were babies I fed Game bird Chow at 30% protein for the first few weeks. I wasn't fermenting that food so I used 2 bags of that at about $25.00 per bag. I likely wont do that next time. Simply because they just pooped it out and it was just too fine a crumble for me to ferment. So I fed it dry. Next time I will feed the 20% feed and ferment from day one. Also since it was my first time I listened to lots of people and spent money I now know I didn't need to spend.. Buying water additives, food additives, vitamins, etc etc etc.

As far as my birds being fat.. Id love some feed back from some of you guys about that. I'm thinking that perhaps I just kept the birds too long... rather than fed them too well like I was told. I think they could have been processed at 7 week or 8.... to have gotten 5 or 6 lb birds.. Mine averaged 7 to 8 lbs.. With several 10 lb birds and one Chunky 12 lb Roo. I had been told that if I fermented the feed it would take the birds to 9 or 10 weeks to get to size... Also I admit because I'm new to this I knew the birds were big... but I wasn't sure what actual Butcher weight was... I was thinking alot of the bulk I was feeling was feather and legs...Now I know better

I will defiantly Ferment next batch feed rations. I may leave out the scratch since it was heavy on the corn. I may stick with Barley and Oats and add a bit of alfalfa. I will likely process them earlier... maybe at 8 weeks..

As far as health I was really proud and pleased with the birds. Also as far as care for them. The fermented feeding and free ranging was a great mix. My birds never smelled bad or created alot of litter. This was a HUGE PLUS for me. Over all I am really proud of my chunky birds. I had a great experience learning this process and will defiantly do it again.

 

[Wax Myrtle]

How do you all keep your feed dry outside and how do you keep other animals out of it?  Is there just no room in your coops for these items? 

 

My flock is about as close to totally free range as they can get without a coop. My coop is really just a bedroom for them. I have some nest boxes in there, also, but they seem to actually prefer the ones outside on the ground made of Rubbermaid totes with holes in the end, sitting upsidedown over Coke crates. My waterers are exposed to the air, but the feeders are under a lean-to against the coop. I know it's an open invite to wildlife, but we just don't seem to have much. Go figure. Biggest trouble I've had was my landlord's dog emptying and stealing my gravity feeder. Big pile o feed - no feeder! Gave me a big "hmmmm!" over that one, til my landlord returned it with a couple toothmarks in it. As far as disturbing the neighbors with free ranging, my one real neighbor is a Hatfield away. The flock does range over there occasionally, but she's said she loves to watch them (and the eggs I bring from time to time.)

ETA: silly phone. Can't tell a Hatfield from a hay field...