Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[aoxa]

Did not feed mash to the Turkey yesterday so this am nothing but fights over it. And  I found a mouse in the ff this morning, he dug down into it and died. Not sure what Turkey think of this but I will find out.

I've always wondered if the mice would risk the FF. Guess so! Serves him right for being a free loader!

Added protein

 

[Mumsy]

Hi Mumsy I have been reading about your amazing Johnny cakes and the saga of your rooster. Glad to hear you finally got your hens! what breeds are they? I live up on Vancouver Island and we have also had torrential rain and 2 outages. Think we need to get a generator! I have just yesterday started putting alfalfa pellets in the FF. Today was the first time they had them in there and they gobbled it all down.

Hi Turkeytruff! I made arrangements with a member here on BYC to purchase four mixed breed pullets at the Winter Brisk show in Chehalis put on by Washington Feather Fanciers. About 22 weeks old. I'm keeping them in the quarantine coop for a few weeks. They are looking good on the FF and kept on deep litter. Johnny has been having conniption fits every day they've been here. He can hear them but can't get to them or see them. He's been a bachelor his whole 1 1/2 years so it's going to be interesting when he meets them for the first time.
All the new kids LOVE their Johnny Cakes! A new recipe is a big hit during these cold rainy days. Meal worms in the beef suet with some other high energy goodies thrown in for good measure. When the birds can't free range during these storms (which is often lately) I crumble a Johnny cake in the deep littler. They get busy and stay busy until every last crumb is gone and the litter looks like it's been stirred with a tornado! Hah!



The new kids day one.

 

[aoxa]

I find alfalfa smells awful. That doesn't stink up the FF?

Not in my mix. A few hours after adding it yesterday the aroma got richer and more fermenty smelling. Not stronger but definately different. It smells yummy to my nose. I like pickles. That must be why. I observe my birds as they eat. Today I'll be watching them to see if they still find it delectable after it's been fermenting 24 hours.

I didn't do it in the FF, but I did soak it in water and serve last year. It smelled God awful

It didn't smell like pickles.. It's hard to explain.

They would not touch it last year. This year my birds are eating rabbit pellets, so maybe they would like it a bit more...?

Maybe a bit of rabbit pellets in the food would give it a nice added green colour.

 

[smyers32]

I didn't do it in the FF, but I did soak it in water and serve last year. It smelled God awful

Soaked alfalfa cubes??? You must be crazy!! They smell like heaven!!

 

[aoxa]

I didn't do it in the FF, but I did soak it in water and serve last year. It smelled God awful

Soaked alfalfa cubes???  You must be crazy!! They smell like heaven!!

They weren't cubes, they were pellets, and definitely not Heaven!

 

[Mumsy]

They weren't cubes, they were pellets, and definitely not Heaven!

I find this interesting. Maybe I'll spend some time today while the rain drives down outside to do a little research on how these things are processed.
The cubes I'm using are top grade and look just to be dried compressed alfalfa.

While observing the birds with the FF an hour ago noticed something interesting with one of the black pullets. I think the breeder told me they were Ameracauna/Orppington crossed. Judy is the one with a missing tail and is lowest on the pecking order. After the first mad dash to chow she is pushed away and has to wait to gobble up what's left. There is plenty in the dish to go around but she was pulling out the alfalfa bits. One by one. She would discard any thicker stems into the litter but would gobble up all the rest of the green bits she could get. The rest of the pullets are not so choosy. They wolf it all down in huge beakfuls. Hmmm...

 

[NickyPick]

I do still use a single bucket system and strain, but I'm planning on changing that soon. I get up at 4:30 am and strain out a some feed and leave it in a small covered bucket. When my Dad gets up around 8, he'll take it out and feed the chickens when he lets them out. The FF is a mixture of Layena, scratch grains with a little BOSS & calf manna tossed in. Every other day, I add some more feed and hot water and it immediately starts bubbling away. It smells nice and I keep is at a porriage consistency. The single scoop of dry layena pellest we put in the plastic feeder 10 days ago is only half gone, so they're definitely filling up on the FF instead. I like it.

 

[chickachee]

11 birds on FF x about 10 days. Good things: Poop is firmer--a few that are runny here and there. Waste of food to a minimum. They seem to like it as much as their scratch. Eggs are heavier!~Cooked some eggs for the fam this past weekend and I couldn't get over the size of the yolks. Wow.

Things that are a drawback for FF: A few more dishes and mess in my laundry tub as I brew my FF. Cold mornings/days the FF does freeze for me. I also note that it can stick on my boy's waddles and I've got some frost bite going on the edges of those waddles...but not sure that could have just been from his water, then cold air, too. Need to be more diligent with the Vaseline applications. Had some seasonably higher temps last 3-4 days so FF it is!~ Temps are going to dip down again tomorrow afternoon and I might just save this FF for spring and/or if there is a health concern. Have always had ACV in their water since they were peeps, so we'll still have that going.

Overall conclusion. I like it. Will do it again when it works well with temps or whenever I feel the flock needs it.

Hey Bogtown - Where abouts in MN are you located? I live in North Central MN in the small town of Emily, about 35 miles from Brainerd.

I too, asked about putting Vaseline on the combs and here's what Bee said:

"You really don't need it on their combs. Frost bite is a humidity problem, not a dry comb or cold comb problem. Just provide good ventilation in your coop to prevent the humidity levels during cold weather. I stopped having comb tips freeze when I started using deep litter in the coop, with pine shavings. I think the pine shavings actually absorbed some of the high humidity in the coop because we have had colder weather since and I was using the exact same coop, with the same ventilation(plenty) and haven't had a frost bit comb since starting the deep litter. "

Hope that helps.
Sheila

 

[aoxa]

They weren't cubes, they were pellets, and definitely not Heaven!

I find this interesting. Maybe I'll spend some time today while the rain drives down outside to do a little research on how these things are processed.
The cubes I'm using are top grade and look just to be dried compressed alfalfa.

While observing the birds with the FF an hour ago noticed something interesting with one of the black pullets. I think the breeder told me they were Ameracauna/Orppington crossed. Judy is the one with a missing tail and is lowest on the pecking order. After the first mad dash to chow she is pushed away and has to wait to gobble up what's left. There is plenty in the dish to go around but she was pulling out the alfalfa bits. One by one. She would discard any thicker stems into the litter but would gobble up all the rest of the green bits she could get. The rest of the pullets are not so choosy. They wolf it all down in huge beakfuls.  Hmmm...

I'm looking it up now, and don't see much difference. Maybe it's the brand I got..? My fiance and friend who was living with us last winter also were disgusted by the smell.

I'd be willing to try it again.

 

[Mumsy]

Just a quick search in a horse owners forum turned up a few interesting things about alfalfa pellets v cubes. It really depends on the maker and the brand. I use Standlee cubes. Some brands of pellets use animal fat as a binder. When soaked with water it can go rancid! Some pellets are such poor quality they turn to brown stinky mush. Even horses won't touch it. I just found this information in a five minute search. Will keep digging.