Jan./Feb. 2014 hatch a long

[JDchicks]

With the cold I have been growing sprouts. Easy and cheap, and the chickens love having something green. Paid $11.89 for a 50lb bag of winter wheat, should last the whole winter for us.



Here's the link if anyone is interested.

http://hensandhoney.wordpress.com/2...rowing-sprouts-for-your-chickens-or-yourself/

 

[dfreas]

With the cold I have been growing sprouts. Easy and cheap, and the chickens love having something green. Paid $11.89 for a 50lb bag of winter wheat, should last the whole winter for us.



Here's the link if anyone is interested.

http://hensandhoney.wordpress.com/2...rowing-sprouts-for-your-chickens-or-yourself/

Awesome! I've seen this done in big trays, but never with mason jars. This makes it much more manageable! I may look for some winter wheat at the feed store tomorrow!

 

[Heidisgran]

gonna be below freezing every night for a week....babie chicklets back in the house!

 

[Justin F]

gonna be below freezing every night for a week....babie chicklets back in the house!

Same here. It needs to be spring already!

 

[AmericanMom]

Right on the gorge.Corbett..........a few miles from Crown point.

Oh Jeez, yeah bad area for wind!! Hope everything is nailed down

 

[JDchicks]

I'm 3/4 for my English Orpingtons that went into lockdown. 3 are out and gorgeous. The 4th I was concerned about it, since before lockdown it had no air cell visible, but was clearly alive and moving. After the 3 chicks hatched and dried, I took the last egg out to give it a quick candle and the chick had died. It was a full term chick, but still had the entire yolk attached and I think without the air cell, she just couldn't get thru the external pip to get air.
I still have 8 Blue Marans in my other incubator and I'm going to set 8 more Blue/ Splash English Orpingtons tomorrow.

There is a new member that is looking for pure English Orpingtons. Do you breed them? If so, do you sell hatching eggs? If not, where did you get them?

Here is his link...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/850984/not-good-with-computers-but-love-me-some-chickens

 

[lismarc]

It works better in warm areas. I have mine in the laundry room, I don't mind the smell (it's yeasty). You will notice how warm the container gets. I haven't done this but you could try, get it started then put the container into a cooler in the shed. Maybe wrap a towel around it. Check on it to see if it is still warm. Some people put it on top of the fridge. I have way too much for that.

It's best to start off adding a little at a time to the regular chicken feed to easy your chickens into it. I have heard over months, I did it over a couple weeks. I stired a little into there pellets. They turned there nose up the first day, nibbled the second and attacked it on the third. I started with a quart jar, now I have 2- 2.5 gallon containters that I fill 2-3 times a day. It sounds like a lot but remember it is over half water. About 3 gallons of actual food. I have 48 chickens that are eating it right now. It needs air so you can cover it with a cloth but not a lid. Mine container has a hole in the lid. I forgot to mention, don't fill it. It bubbles and swells. The first few times, only put in enough to fill half way so you can get an idea how much it expands. This is what I'm using.

I started out with purified water, but it got expensive. Then I went to letting tap water sit out over night so the chlorine would evaporate. But my chickens are eating so much now that I don't have room to let 5 gallons of water sit out. I use straight from the tap now. I had read this would kills of the bacteria and it wouldn't ferment. I haven't been having any problems. Everyone's water is different. So you will have to watch yours. If it's bubbling (very subtle bubbles), it's fermenting. There may be some probiotics that are affected but I don't know. I haven't noticed a difference since I started using tap water. There are so many levels of fermenting. All of the way from getting the feed wet to organic, purified, 15 grain, strained, super expensive, time consuming and special containers. I know a lot of people use BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds). I would because they are great but they are very expensive where I live. I might start adding them in the summer when it's too hot for scratch.

The container should be glass or ceramic (food safe of course). No cracks. I made mine because it was cheaper and there's a place I could do it by office. Walmart has glass containers resonably priced. I use a long handled spoon to stir. When you first start, use an old quart jar. Put in a cup of pellets and a cup of warm (I use warm because it helps ferment faster) water, stir and add 2 Tablespoons of buttermilk, stir and wait. I just pour in the milk, it doesn't have to be exact. You can stir whenever you think about it. After a few hours, if it's dry add water, runny add pellets. I like mine about like fluffy oatmeal. My friends is like think soup. My chickens don't like it very wet. There is nothing that has to be measured, there is no 'must' do with fermenting. When you feed it to your chickens, always leave a little in the container. Then you don't have to add the buttermilk again for awhile. The left over will start the next batch. You just add the feed and water and stir. Make sure to get it up off of the bottom when stirring.

Recap
-quart jar
-1 cup pellets
-1 cup water
-bit of buttermilk
-stir cover with wash cloth or paper towel
-wait 24 hours
-feed to chickens

Thank you again. I read your reply this morning and ran straight away to the store. I bought the buttermilk and even some yogurt. So in my jar of feed, I added their normal feed, some old fashion oatmeal, the buttermilk, water and a few scoops of yogurt. I did it in an old mason jar covered it with an old washcloth and set it on the fridge. It actually smells good to me. I've stirred it several times. I don't see any bubbles but it has some that I can see through the glass of the jar. hhhmmm. The consistency is like oatmeal. So tmw I'm gonna try and feed my peeps. I'm sure these pics are hard to see.. I hope I did it right.





Sorry to everyone for hijacking the thread..

Even the method mentioned here is more complicated than it needs to be.
Yeast fermentation:
Take a container twice as big as you need for 1 day's worth of food. Fill 1/3 full of hot water. Dump in yeast. (I use 1/8 tsp in a 5 gal bucket.) Dump in whatever mix of food ypu prefer. Stir. Add more water or food as needed to get it "sticky" without having dry spots or excess water. (Think bread dough.) Cover loosely & allow to sit 15-30 minutes. Scoop out & feed. Will smell like bread dough. No need to save any. Make fresh daily. This is good for cold weather especia

UPACV method:
Use unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (the cloudy stuff, may day "with mother."
Fill container 1/3 full of water. Add preferred feed mix. Add UPACV. (About 1/2 cup for 5 gal bucket.) Stir. Make sure feed is completely covered with water. Allow to sit 12-24 hrs in area over 60F. It will bubble & expand once process starts. Stir & drain excess water before feeding. Use water to start next batch. Just add more feed & keep it going. If done properly it will not sour. Must be stirred frequently to prevent mold & spoilage. Keep covered loosely to keep insects out.

I use the yeast method in really hot & really cold weather & the upacv method during mild weather.

This way sounds easy too. I always have Braggs ACV on hand. I will try it this way after I use up all the buttermilk.
THANKS!!!!

 

[DeannaA]

With the cold I have been growing sprouts. Easy and cheap, and the chickens love having something green. Paid $11.89 for a 50lb bag of winter wheat, should last the whole winter for us.



Here's the link if anyone is interested.

http://hensandhoney.wordpress.com/2...rowing-sprouts-for-your-chickens-or-yourself/

I wish it was this cheap here. I have looked everywhere.

Thank you again. I read your reply this morning and ran straight away to the store. I bought the buttermilk and even some yogurt. So in my jar of feed, I added their normal feed, some old fashion oatmeal, the buttermilk, water and a few scoops of yogurt. I did it in an old mason jar covered it with an old washcloth and set it on the fridge. It actually smells good to me. I've stirred it several times. I don't see any bubbles but it has some that I can see through the glass of the jar. hhhmmm. The consistency is like oatmeal. So tmw I'm gonna try and feed my peeps. I'm sure these pics are hard to see.. I hope I did it right.





Sorry to everyone for hijacking the thread..

This way sounds easy too. I always have Braggs ACV on hand. I will try it this way after I use up all the buttermilk.
THANKS!!!!

It takes awhile. The first time takes longer. Check it tomorrow. Add some warm water.

 

[Gen9]

We are gonna have a high of -5 on monday with a windchill of like -31 grrr I am so over winter this year.

Ouch! Yeah, it's getting bad everywhere! That is insane.. I've never been in single digits, honestly. I do well in triple digits, never single digits

With the cold I have been growing sprouts. Easy and cheap, and the chickens love having something green. Paid $11.89 for a 50lb bag of winter wheat, should last the whole winter for us. Here's the link if anyone is interested. http://hensandhoney.wordpress.com/2...rowing-sprouts-for-your-chickens-or-yourself/

I'll check it out, thanks!

gonna be below freezing every night for a week....babie chicklets back in the house!

I'm curious, with a high of 9* should I bring mama & chicks into the garage? This should go over well with the hubby...

 

[tlpounds]

Start of day 14..... so far out of the 23 eggs I started out with, 21 are doing great, 2 were early quitters.. Cant believe lockdown is Monday!!! Reminded hubby today that we got to go get the brooder out of the storage building and get it ready by Sunday just in case we have early hatchers! I doubt any will hatch early, Temps and humidity have been very stable this time around and the past two weeks have just flown by... I'm so exited to see the German New Hampshire's I set, just hope nothing happens within the next week to mess it all up, I am alittle worried about things going so smoothly

I can't believe it's time already either. Lock-down is on Monday for my hatch also. YAY!