Maine

[CoopChick719]

Jazor, saw this on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread re: FF

Concerning amount to feed. ..
These numbers are winter confinement numbers. ..
The average production/laying hen eats .25 lb/day of dry food.
The average heritage LG will eat .33 lb/day.
The average wet weight of 1 lb of dry fermented food is 2.25 lbs
So... When calculating how much FF to feed simply multiple your dry amount by 2.25

 

[suzMEchicks]

Beautiful eggs! I just have white, light beige and jumbo darker brown speckled. Kinda boring but they sure taste good!

 

[MustardTiger]

Hrm it may be a challenge to tell them apart then BUT, the offer stands if anyone wants. ordering in the next hour.

 

[anyasmifya]

The good thing about the foxes is that they keep the mice population from exploding, but it is difficult keeping them out of the chickens.

I have a lot of weird color eggs, some which are darker and probably would qualify as olive. If the IPad will let me post a photo, I will:

Assuming the photo posts, the uppermost darkish egg I call true olive. Is that the color you have, ashandvine? I really like that color, but I like the other varying shades of gray-green as well. I'm not even sure what to call the egg on the lower right. With the birds I have to work with here, it is much easier for me to get grayish colors than the dark olive.

I love those eggs! They are beautiful. You should get some quails too! It'd be cute with little eggs too

 

[anyasmifya]

I have trough-style feeders that never run empty. Since I top off the feed each day, the stuff in the bottom starts to get dusty (and I imagine stale), so I occasionally scoop it out and mix it with water and they devour it.

That's so smart. I usually just dump the dust on the ground. I'm going to start doing that.

 

[Jazor]

Hey there Jazor! Wanted to add my

on the FF. I have 14 birds and feed FF & free choice dry crumbles along w/any leftovers. I know someone who has 8 birds and is feeding 4 cups of FF per day during the winter. She’ll cut way back when they can free range again.

I just started fermenting again even though the Animal Health Lab at Orono told me to stop AND didn’t give me a reason as to why I should stop. Someone mentioned the Lab is going to recommend whatever Big Ag is doing anyway. I can’t believe the FF is anything but good for the birds!! Too many testimonials on the FF thread & Natural Chicken Keeping thread!! I started all my chicks on FF at Day 3. They devoured it!!!

Anywhoo…I didn’t personally care for the holey bucket system. It took me too much time and needed 2 buckets going at the same time. However I did find it I let it drain the night before I had a good consistency the next morning. Last summer I fermented in the garage. Brought everything in for the winter to the downstairs bathroom—fairly cool temp depending on if the door is open or closed. Can be downright chilly if someone shuts the door for a while! BRRR! DO NOT put your bucket 3 feet from pellet stove!! You WILL have mold by day 3!!!

Now I just scoop out 1 or 2 scoops the FF with a strainer from my 5 gallon bucket into my 8 quart feeding bucket, add extra dry feed crumbles until it’s a crumbly, oatmealy consistency—just moist enough to have form like when you’re making cookie dough. I divide it between 3 feeding stations. Found this at Target

I’ve used UP/ACV to start in the past. This time started a small batch with:
2 Tablespoons of plain, unflavored Hannaford yogurt
2 cups dry crumbles
1 cup of dry corn
½ cup “run of the mill” birdseed
Hot Water from the tap to cover the top of the dry stuff. Mix it up good with sturdy wooden or plastic utensil. Check it about an hour or so later--Add water to cover again and mix again.

Stir at least once or twice daily for at least 3 days until it starts to bubble and smells tangy. Scoop and feed. Replace scooped FF with same equivalent dry ingredients and water, if necessary to cover.

If it smells like alcohol or moldy, dump it out and start over after washing all your equipment.

I like to have enough water covering so nothing can grow on the feed. This batch started fermenting by the 2nd day using the yogurt. Whenever I mixed it, there were nice bubbles coming to the top giving off that tangy sour smell. I fed it to them this morning (Day 4). I did add hot water this morning to give them a warm breakfast. I’ll give an update from the food critics when I get home from work tonight.

Excellent info! Thank you so much. I will certainly become obsessed with this once it warms a bit and I can do this out in the barn. Maybe I'll throw together a quick photo-log of the process to try and help people who, like me, couldn't ascertain all the information from the errant threads on here.

I'm not sure exact quantity of dry feed. Basically I eyeball 1/3 bucket full (any more and it will overflow when the feed swells) and then I add a bit more when it goes low (again, don't add too much or it will overflow).

Ah good. I would have filled it halfway thinking I was being safe, then had a mess to deal with. Good advice goes a long way, I appreciate it.

Hrm it may be a challenge to tell them apart then BUT, the offer stands if anyone wants. ordering in the next hour.

Mustard, one thing about McMurray is their YouTube channel shows almost all of their chicks. They sort it by breed, so for example you could pull up the video of Barred Rock chicks then hold one of the little buggers up for inspection to see if they match the video. It's not perfect, but since they won't be labeled it just may help out a bit when trying to ID them.

 

[Jazor]

I love those eggs! They are beautiful. You should get some quails too! It'd be cute with little eggs too

Quail eggs are one of my favorites! I stole a recipe from a Thai restaurant for cooking them.

Put an ebelskiver pan in the oven around 400 degrees for 20+ minutes
-put a little sesame oil in each section of the pan
-crack a quail egg into each section
-put a little diced green onion on top
-put a few drops of your favorite hot sauce

Scoop em out and enjoy!

Photo of the pan, for those visual learners out there.

 

[ashandvine]

Nix the hot sauce and sesame...use bacon lard and add cheese maybe. I am a traditionalist can you tell? lol I like the pan.

Bucka my olive egg is darker even. Some days it is like that. When she first started laying it was a lovely green with brown spots. Those are for blowing out so I can save them. I want a chicken to consistently lay spotted eggs darn it!

 

[anyasmifya]

Nix the hot sauce and sesame...use bacon lard and add cheese maybe. I am a traditionalist can you tell? lol I like the pan.

Bucka my olive egg is darker even. Some days it is like that. When she first started laying it was a lovely green with brown spots. Those are for blowing out so I can save them. I want a chicken to consistently lay spotted eggs darn it!

No, keep the hot sauce! I love spice! Agree with bacon fat and cheese though!

 

[lazy gardener]

EVERYTHING is better with cheese on it.