Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Chaneys Ranch]

holy cow I got to the end of this forum! (for about 90 nanoseconds I suspect

)
Just throwing in my 2 cents - have been on FF for about 4 weeks now. My raggedy skanky lethargic BCM hens and 1 roo that I 'rescued' 5 weeks ago have filled out, their feathers are getting glossier by the day (had a rare day of sunshine today and noticed how shiny

they were getting) and have started laying their lovely dark chocolate eggs (3 of the 6 hens so far). They all were having a hard moult, and looked terrible. 2 of them have such fluffy butts I am wondering if they are trying to mutate into Buff Orpingtons!
They all share the FF with 4 turkeys who need snorkels the way they dive into the bucket on the way to all the little trays I use. I spread them around so the turkeys don't hog it all.
The turkeys are also glossy and healthy looking (from my newbie experience

). The poos do seem to alternate from firm to yellow and very liquid and I think that is because I give them about 10 % dry turkey/ gamebird feed.
LOVE these forums, also looking into sprouting for the winter to save the little beasties eating my cabbages and other winter veg I have planted next to their enclosure.
Oh and I finally got 1 BCM hen to eat a slug today - keep reading that chickens eat slugs but not my little bantams. YAY! Hate slugs......

YAY!!! so glad to see you here!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

oh and welcome to BYC you will be so glad you joined!!!! awesome place and good people. i am so glad i found them too!

 

[aoxa]

Do pellets expand more in water than crumble? Would I get more of a mass out of a bag of pellets than a bag of crumbles?

If this sounds stupid I apologize. I am off coffee now.. Have been having an awful lot of PVCS because of it. I am not all that intelligent until I get used to the change.

 

[Tivona]

Do pellets expand more in water than crumble? Would I get more of a mass out of a bag of pellets than a bag of crumbles?
If this sounds stupid I apologize. I am off coffee now.. Have been having an awful lot of PVCS because of it. I am not all that intelligent until I get used to the change.

Not stupid. I have done both crumbles and pellets and saw no difference in the swelling. The only thing that seems to affect the swelling is the type of feed. The layers pellets and waterfowl I use seem about the same but the grass pellets swell like crazy. The grass seems to swell more then even alfalfa pellets. And BOSS seems to stay the same. I have been wondering how much whole grains swell...

 

[aoxa]

Not stupid. I have done both crumbles and pellets and saw no difference in the swelling. The only thing that seems to affect the swelling is the type of feed. The layers pellets and waterfowl I use seem about the same but the grass pellets swell like crazy. The grass seems to swell more then even alfalfa pellets. And BOSS seems to stay the same. I have been wondering how much whole grains swell...

I'm using turkey grower pellets. I found that my food had grown overnight. It had no water left at all, so I had to add more in. Just curious if it was just that I hadn't added enough water at first, or if it was the pellets expand more than crumbles.

 

[colburg]

Quote: This article is written for Canadians. A little colder than us. I'm not sure what the northern Nevada climate is like, but I live in Southeast NM and we still haven't had a freeze yet. A couple of nights in the upper 30's, but no freezes. I planted yellow clover, white clover, and alfalfa in the beginning of October. It's sprouted and about 1-2 inches tall. It needs some water, but I can't help that.

Everyone around here plants in the fall to get a head start and choke out the weeds in the spring.

Quote from the article "At temperatures above 15oC, most seed will germinate in less than a week, and in as few as 2 to 3 days in summer."

15C is 60F so in my part of the country I could still have a fall planting and get it up before the first freeze.

Just my .02.

 

[Beekissed]

I plant clover in the fall and in the late winter, right into the snow cover. By the time the snow melts those seeds are ready to go. The clover I planted in Oct. is up and being grazed by the flock every day. I germinated in less than 2 days time, as I seeded right before a rain.

 

[aoxa]

I plant clover in the fall and in the late winter, right into the snow cover. By the time the snow melts those seeds are ready to go. The clover I planted in Oct. is up and being grazed by the flock every day. I germinated in less than 2 days time, as I seeded right before a rain.

I don't plant clover, but it's there. In some parts of the yard more than others.

 

[galanie]

[COLOR=4B0082]
[COLOR=4B0082]Could you post pictures?  Since you have a before picture and now you could take a current one, I'd LOVE to see it.  I don't think I have a before picture of my hen that had very little lacing.[/COLOR]

I'll try to get a pic with my phone later. The real camera broke on me.

 

[DaniellePage]

Trying FF for my layers (in super small batch).

I have 2 cups dry pellets (5% is scratch grains) in with water to cover the mass. and 1 tbsp ACV (organic with mother) in the mix
This was about 48 hours ago.
Indoors temps 60-70 F no sunlight with lid cracked open on top (foodgrade professional plastic storage container).

Still smells sweet (like feed) - no bubbles.

Am I doing something wrong?