Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[aoxa]

Guys, it went down to -11 overnight and FF was NOT frozen this morning. I repeat NOT FROZEN!



My water was though :/

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh my gosh they LOVE it. They like it more than the chickens, but not as much as the chicks.

This is just my distributing bucket. They were impatient.

Coming in the spring this is all mine will get., so hopefully they'll eat it or be very hungry LOL

 

[aoxa]

Coming in the spring this is all mine will get., so hopefully they'll eat it or be very hungry     LOL 

They really don't need to eat much of it. I'm afraid my geese are eating too much. I may have to build them a separate pen. I'm afraid they will be too fat to breed.

Also, I wouldn't really want to feed FF to goslings. I'd assume it would cause angel wing due to the higher % of protein being available.

Maybe it's all just a balance. I may even mix my own FF with less protein for the goslings.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They really don't need to eat much of it. I'm afraid my geese are eating too much. I may have to build them a separate pen. I'm afraid they will be too fat to breed.
Also, I wouldn't really want to feed FF to goslings. I'd assume it would cause angel wing due to the higher % of protein being available.
Maybe it's all just a balance. I may even mix my own FF with less protein for the goslings.

Good idea, right now I'm just trying to get my stuck in the rut ducks and gander to ever try it. The chickens and a few of the ducks took right to it, and my goose who is young. Looks like the older ones who stick their noses up to it. In the spring I will be giving it to them once a day when they can do more foraging, things are getting pretty scarce for foraging right now and through out winter.

 

[DaniellePage]

Well I think it just may expand to more. 1 bag made a lot more in the garbage bin than crumble did. Anyone else care to weigh in?

I would think, If the ingredients were the same, that it would not matter by weight. ie... 40lb crumble would make the same as 40lb pellet if it is the same stuff but just different form.

 

[aoxa]

I would think, If the ingredients were the same, that it would not matter by weight. ie... 40lb crumble would make the same as 40lb pellet if it is the same stuff but just different form.

Yes but the crumbles are compressed.

I may just be blowing hot air here. It just seemed that way to me.

 

[aoxa]

Good idea, right now I'm just trying to get my stuck in the rut ducks and gander to ever try it. The chickens and a few of the ducks took right to it, and my goose who is young. Looks like the older ones who stick their noses up to it. In the spring I will be giving it to them once a day when they can do more foraging, things are getting pretty scarce for foraging right now and through out winter. 

My ducks love it. Macy does as well. Have you added scratch to your FF? I did to break down some of the %'s - and anything with scratch in it is a hit

 

[Tivona]

They really don't need to eat much of it. I'm afraid my geese are eating too much. I may have to build them a separate pen. I'm afraid they will be too fat to breed.
Also, I wouldn't really want to feed FF to goslings. I'd assume it would cause angel wing due to the higher % of protein being available.
Maybe it's all just a balance. I may even mix my own FF with less protein for the goslings.

I fed ff to a batch of ducklings and kept a very close eye on them because of the high protein in the feed (20% and yeah I know its high, but its what is available for waterfowl here) and it also having the protein more available. I saw no problems at all. 5 ducklings and they are all adults now and never even a hint of angle wing for any of them. Once they got big enough to really follow their mom I did allow them the free range out in the yard so perhaps they ate enough low protein food such as grass, berries and whatnot to balance. Would your goslings eat only the ff or do they get to range for some of their feed? It might make a difference.

 

[aoxa]

I fed ff to a batch of ducklings and kept a very close eye on them because of the high protein in the feed (20% and yeah I know its high, but its what is available for waterfowl here) and it also having the protein more available. I saw no problems at all. 5 ducklings and they are all adults now and never even a hint of angle wing for any of them. Once they got big enough to really follow their mom I did allow them the free range out in the yard so perhaps they ate enough low protein food such as grass, berries and whatnot to balance. Would your goslings eat only the ff or do they get to range for some of their feed? It might make a difference. 

My goslings free ranged from 2 weeks onward. One still developed angel wing. I corrected it.

I think some birds may be genetically predispositioned to developing angel wing. It may be a combination of both. My girls had free access to feed though, and ate a lot of it.

I do think geese get angel wing more often than ducks. Not a single one of my calls had it. I raised 12 of them on high protein feed.

 

[Lacy Blues]

My goslings free ranged from 2 weeks onward. One still developed angel wing. I corrected it.
I think some birds may be genetically predispositioned to developing angel wing. It may be a combination of both. My girls had free access to feed though, and ate a lot of it.
I do think geese get angel wing more often than ducks. Not a single one of my calls had it. I raised 12 of them on high protein feed.

Ok, would you mind sharing how you did this? I don't have ducks or geese but I like to know how to fix things.