ive decided to have an endelss suppy of food, but what kind.

[JNB]

thank you so much, i will definantly try it, i just dont under stand how ill save money if i still have to buy the pellets and so much oats.

... Just try it with the Pellets.. You dont have to add the grains. That is something I do and others do to supplement feed. Add nutirents and help get away a bit from pure commercial feed regiment. Adding different nutrients and variety.
Fermenting just the pellets works just fine if thats what you choose to feed. I have found that because the fermenting increases the digestability and allows the nutrition to be better used in the birds.. They actually eat less feed. This is because they are more filled up and content. You will see a increase in health and a decrease in food use

 

[aggiemae]

I have been considering doing this for awhile now but I feel like I am not sure if feeding them twice a day will be enough - in a perfect world I think your way is the best. But, I currently have a ridiculous wild city bird issue and they are driving my feed expenses up. I also don't want all those little sparrowy birds bringing anything nasty to my coop and ending up with disease or parasites. I built a treadle feeder but my poor silkie just can not seem to figure it out. derp derp.

I want to free range and free feed and am not sure what is best to do. arg.

If you are worried about wild birds bringing illness or parasites into your flock consider taking some preventative steps.

1. feeding (fresh or dried) cayenne pepper seeds/flakes once or twice a week will keep worms from settling in and reproducing

2 yogurt (or any active cultured dairy product) will improve gut flora and boost their resistance to disease

3. a weekly feeding of dried unsalted pumpkin seeds prevents intestinal worms as does garlic.

4. adding a splash of apple cider vinegar (ACV) to the water (1 TBS per gallon) is especially good for balancing gut flora during the winter


NOTE: none of these foods will treat existing parasites but will surely help prevent them and pepper flakes are really cheap, so consider adding them to your wild bird feeder too.

Free ranging hens will keep themselves amused and find plenty to eat by scratching so feeding them twice a day should be enough. But if your chickens are confined to their run all day, even if only happens occasionally, they would probably be happier grazing throughout the day during periods of confinement.

We only keep our hens in the covered run if it's raining hard. It's plenty big enough and has lots of ramps, perches (and stumps and right now it's filled with leaves too) but when they are going to be in there all day, in addition to their twice a day feeding of fermented grains, I go out and toss them some greens, BOSS or a few handfuls of mixed grains a couple times a day.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Please keep us posted on how it goes. Good Luck !

i most certainly will, photos and all, it may be a bit novice though considering i dont really get it and its my first time.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

... Just try it with the Pellets.. You dont have to add the grains. That is something I do and others do to supplement feed. Add nutirents and help get away a bit from pure commercial feed regiment. Adding different nutrients and variety.
Fermenting just the pellets works just fine if thats what you choose to feed. I have found that because the fermenting increases the digestability and allows the nutrition to be better used in the birds.. They actually eat less feed. This is because they are more filled up and content. You will see a increase in health and a decrease in food use

I decided not to PM you because this information pertains to the thread topic. I have also added how I ferment my grains because sometimes is difficult to get the information you need on good but very long and meandering threads.

One of the fermenting feed threads: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/715995/fermenting-feed-for-layers there are others including one for meat birds,

This thread is an excellent source for the benefits of fermenting and has lots of other priceless information (and wisdom) on "natural" flock care: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...nt-to-follow-their-progress/1050#post_9800944

Be aware that different people do this different ways and mine is not the only way and might not even be the best way. Please read up before you decide how you want to proceed.

What I did was get two (two gallon) buckets and poke a few holes into the side of one that I then put it inside the other. I filled it with grain (currently whole oats) warm water and a few spoons of active culture yogurt (add a slash of ACV if you want) the let it sit UNCOVERED on the counter until it started to ferment. In warm weather you can skip the starter and just leave the opened bucket outside to catch spores from the air, The whole oats took 4 days to start fermenting, ground grains will be quicker,

When I use some off the top I replace the same amount in the bottom after dumping the already fermenting grain into the outside bucket, adding more grain to the bottom of the inside bucket then dumping the already fermenting grain and liquid on top. This way the most fermented grain is always on top and the starter (yogurt) is already well active, though you may need to add warm water now and then to keep the grains covered. The holes on the inside bucket are to drain off the fluid, handy if you make one batch at a time. The starter liquid can be reused until it starts to smell funky.

After loosing a seemingly healthy hen and then finding my coop floor with diarrhea AFTER treating the rest with Sulmet, I decided to care for my hens the way my father did years ago so stopped free feeding two weeks ago. Now I put it out in the morning and late afternoon and pick up what wasn't eaten in half an hour, though I am not sure that I will keep doing this once the hens are penned up in the run more and can't forage as 1. my two Buff Orps are both serious chow hounds 2. I think the hens would get bored in the run if they didn't have anything to scratch, so I will likely put the scraps into the run to keep them busy.

PS if your grocery already has someone taking there left overs try a near by restaurant, preferably one that has a salad bar. The chickens can safely eat anything that you eat and will pick around what they doing want and you can add what they leave to your compost.

I am a HUGE fermented feed fan.... My hens have done so well since I began fermenting their feed... I also FF for my meat chickens and the cost has been half what I would have spent by feeding dry.. and I have added grains!!!!

Couple pieces of advice... that I found work best for me... I ferment pellets not crumbles.. the crumbles just break down too much. Make sure the ACV you use has the Mother in it.

I like to buy grains and mix them... I personally started by just fermenting the grain Mix for my Layers and Free fed the pellets in a hanging feeder. They get the grains once a day. Now one thing I found is that some times my girls will eat the grains and ignore the layer pellets.. Silly birds.. they know whats good. So I switched to 2 buckets.. One for pellets and one for grains.. It makes a little more work.. but it s A LOT easier to drain out .

I also had some Alfalfa cubes left over from our Rabbits... I started tossing a few of those in with the grains.. The girls love it esp this time of year when the grass has died down and the snow is coming

OOPS Im sorry I forgot to give you the link to the FF thread... OOPS

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds/1270#post_9675685

I really cant reccomend trying this enough at first it may seem like a lot of effort.. But once you get a system down.. it really goes fast. I have not only saved a lot of money doing this. But It has allowed me to feed my flocks higher quality feeds, variety, and much better health of the flocks.. Its a win win.

Please keep us posted on how it goes. Good Luck !

SORRY for being excruciating DUMB, but im going to need pictures or a detailed explanation because ive been given several different link to more than several different methods and dont quite understand which one to choose and how to begin. Ive got about as far as drilling small holes in a 50gal bucket and now what? sorry

 

[aggiemae]

SORRY for being excruciating DUMB, but im going to need pictures or a detailed explanation because ive been given several different link to more than several different methods and dont quite understand which one to choose and how to begin. Ive got about as far as drilling small holes in a 50gal bucket and now what? sorry

A 50 gallon bucket? How many chicken do you have?

Why don't you start small?

Get a one or two gallon bucket and fill one 3/4 with the grains of your choice, Fill bucket with warm water an inch from the top. Add a few spoons of active culture yogurt and, if you have some, a splash of unfiltered apple cider vinegar (ACV). Stir it up a bit and wait...

Ground up grains will start fermenting in a day or two whole grains might take 4 or 5 days. The liquid will begin to smell fermented and bubbles will start rising from the grain. There might be scum or foam floating on top. You can leave it.

To keep your supply going you will need to keep adding grains to the bottom of the bucket or just start a second bucket and alternated back and forth between buckets. One bucket fermenting while the other is being feed.

Remember:

keep the bucket opened

fermenting slows down when the temperature is lower

you can keep using the same liquid until it starts to smell funky or start a fresh batch every time. .

If you are reusing the same liquid and the fermenting process slows down add some more yogurt (or ACV)


I feed all the hens can eat in half an hour twice a day. Chickens will eat less feed because the fermented grains have more useable protein and energy that the same amount of raw grains but I do give my hens non grain treats and they dso freerange all day.

 

[aggiemae]

thank you so much, i will definantly try it, i just dont under stand how ill save money if i still have to buy the pellets and so much oats.

You will save money because your chickens will eat much less since they can digest fermented grains more easily and so will get more nutrition from less volume. BTW bulk oats probably cost less per pound than pellets, but if you want too, you can ferment the just pellets without adding anything to them.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

A 50 gallon bucket? How many chicken do you have?

Why don't you start small?

Get a one or two gallon bucket and fill one 3/4 with the grains of your choice, Fill bucket with warm water an inch from the top. Add a few spoons of active culture yogurt and, if you have some, a splash of unfiltered apple cider vinegar (ACV). Stir it up a bit and wait...

Ground up grains will start fermenting in a day or two whole grains might take 4 or 5 days. The liquid will begin to smell fermented and bubbles will start rising from the grain. There might be scum or foam floating on top. You can leave it.

To keep your supply going you will need to keep adding grains to the bottom of the bucket or just start a second bucket and alternated back and forth between buckets. One bucket fermenting while the other is being feed.

Remember:

keep the bucket opened

fermenting slows down when the temperature is lower

you can keep using the same liquid until it starts to smell funky or start a fresh batch every time. .

If you are reusing the same liquid and the fermenting process slows down add some more yogurt (or ACV)


I feed all the hens can eat in half an hour twice a day. Chickens will eat less feed because the fermented grains have more useable protein and energy that the same amount of raw grains but I do give my hens non grain treats and they dso freerange all day.

Thank you so much, sorry for being so thick, i shall start this afternoon, just bought a new bag of feed.
this morning i gave a little test run by just adding some water to one scoop of pellets in a bowl and letting it sit for 10 mins till it soaked all the water up, and they loved it. And i now see how i will save money(i dont mind how much i spend on my girls because i get it all back through there wondrous eggs, i just want them to be full happy healthy hens)