Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[kitchenchick]

Awesome!
I had something similar when I got some silkies from a friend. She uses FF and sent some along. Chicks got wry neck and I lost one. Turns out she doesn't really ferment. Her feed is only wet. Yes chickens love wet feed, but man it can mold quickly. Epsom salts took care of the other chicks and back to my own feed. We do FF over the warm seasons, but because we have a LOT of birds it's too much to keep in the house over the colder seasons.

Glad you figured out the problem!

I ferment the day I feed. No holding it over. Use yeast from a bulk food store (sam's or costco). No worries about feed molding up if you're wetting/fermenting and feeding an hour later.

so you are just wetting, not really fermenting? I think I might just keep working on my fodder system and not try to ferment feed. Sounds like it can easily turn into a disaster and go awry.

Yeah beta you aren't really fermenting since it never sits and "cooks"

Krafty..... You can ferment down here year round easily. If you turn over the feed quick enough there is never a chance for it to bad. Air flow and stirring us vital as is ACV with the mother. Our buckets turn over every 4 days and we haven't had any mold

We are like COFrm, I do get white mold on top of my bloom, but our feed and water turns over so quick we've not had a problem. I didn't start feeding this way until this year, but I don't think I'll go back. I've seen a lot of benefits with my birds. I will note that we ferment our grains and use the bloom water over our crumble and mix both together.

 

[chiqita]

Community supported agriculture. People buy shares at the beginning of the year and get weekly shares. We provide fruits, chickens, eggs, and turkeys. Our products are a separate billing as we are not the CSA but a separate supplier. The customers are begging us to do pork and beef or lamb also, but we need to build at a pace we can afford. No government welfare here! Money has to all come from profits, so in time but not this year. We also have huge orders for both the cornishX and our Cornish game.

Wow, I wish we had something like that here! That is super ultra cool.

 

[kitchenchick]

I have been saving about 70% off my feed costs!!! I think we haven't been aerating it or turning it enough. I would try it again....though I wonder if I can check PH or something. Also, I won't try it with babies.

I've been thinking about using an old undergravel filter and a huge power head in my bin to keep the bloom turning over. It's got to be moved out to the big hen house, but I think it'll work.

 

[Bettacreek]

Wow, I wish we had something like that here! That is super ultra cool.

Check farmer's markets, any kind of farm store, local goods stores, etc. Even feed mills might have some CSA advertising.

 

[allsummedup]

Just found my mystery chick was a mottled Hudan and sold him or her for 7$
Woo!

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

Okay guys. Here are a few pictures of my brahmas. Can anyone guess at rooster or pullet? I'm clueless. As I said, these guys are close to 14 weeks old.














I don't know but I LOVE this chickens stink eye

 

[pysankigirl]

The rain we have had here the last 48 hours has been amazing. The river that borders two sides of our land is the highest
I've seen it in the 7 years since we bought the property. Probably about 8 feet based on the normal height of the bridge I'm standing on in the second picture...

 

[Bettacreek]

LOL! Love the pic of you on the bridge!
"I guess I'll go in after her if she falls in" "yup, you're already wet"

 

[chiqita]

Check farmer's markets, any kind of farm store, local goods stores, etc. Even feed mills might have some CSA advertising.

The closest we have are baskets at 4x the price of buying stuff individually. No meat or eggs. I'll keep a look out, but California and our wonkey laws might stifle that stuff in the bay area.

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm not a big fan of buying in the CSA's. When money is tight, it makes no sense to prepurchase and get half of your money's worth in product you'll never consume. I guess we're a picky bunch, but eggplant, cucumbers, squash and stuff like that is never going to be eaten here. Most CSA's around here, you either take what they give you or "donate" it back and hope you're lucky enough that someone wanted eggplant and not lettuce or broccoli or whatever you actually want.