Update here on my ff. We live in Texas, and it has been getting into the upper 30's here at night. I have the ff in an old cat food bucket. I use a colander to strain it. I'm using some very messy mash and Cascade organic grower to ferment. When I add in the mash, it smells bad. I don't have any more of the mash, so am not going to add it again. Just the Cascade food seems to have a much better smell. I think it is due to the vitamins and minerals that are in the mash.
This last batch has been for my 7 week old babies and my 17 week old pullets. The babies have been eating the feed since they were a couple of weeks old. They love it. They fly onto the container when I bring it in to their feeding area. They do leave some of the peas if I give them too much. I left it too sloppy last night, and they left some of that as well. Will have to get it less sloppy.
The older pullets do not like the FF as much. They wyandotte will eat anything, and she tends to eat more of it than the two australorps. They get fed in the morning. If it is nice, then I put them in the mobile coop and they hang out there during the day. They are fed again in the evening when they return. There are days when they eat everything I give them and days when they don't eat much. I can't figure out what makes a difference for them.
My next batch of chicks will be fed ff from the beginning. I have some that are incubating now and will have more at the end of December if all goes as planned.
I've been mixing food, water and ACV and they love it. I do it at night, and stir it in the morning before work.. Also note that this is not a good idea when you are wearing dress pants. I didn't notice that I was covered with specks of dried food from stirring this AM.
