Silkie thread!

[Member 151789]

maybe a she?

 

[Mumsy]

My chickens love the FF, but I find that if I don't feed it to them in the morning and give them some kind of treat instead that when I go to give them the FF in the afternoon it's moldy. Then I have to toss it. I usually do use layer feed, bird seed, & BOSS. Any suggestions??

I've never had my ff go moldy. Even when it sits in the pan a couple days in the barn. If it comes from a really good ferment, a bloom will develop over it. This is not mold but the active ferment. I can't imagine it getting moldy in that short amount of time unless you live in a very warm tropical climate. I usually feed my birds in the morning. They don't get more feed of any kind until that morning FF in their dish is gone. If you have feed left over in their dish, you are giving them too much. Once chickens get used to eating this, they eat less than what you would feed them dry. That's one of the beauties of feeding FF. It takes less feed and allows your birds more nutrition from what they do eat. Sometimes it seems like they aren't eating enough but they won't starve themselves. They are getting a nice full crop with the FF and you use less feed in the process. Feeding treats to chickens is like giving candy to children. If they fill up on treats, they won't want to eat the good as much. Treats for my birds are once in a while. When they get them, they really enjoy them. But treats are not part of their nutritional intake. They are treats. Once every few days or so. Not every day. Just like when I would give my children a chocolate bar. I didn't count that as part of their every day food intake. It was an occasional goodie.
The idea for me is this. I want my money to go as far towards feeding my layers, breeders, chicks, and show birds as it will go. Giving my birds the best chance at health, fertility, and good nutrition. A benefit to that is the gorgeous lush feathers they grow and the vitality they have in the breeding pens. I scooped dry crumble out of a bag and fed chickens with it for decades as is. And for decades I had just so so results. The way I'm feeding them now is giving me spectacular results.

 

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

Baby got Back

 

[RockerHen]

Baby got Back

Pretty girl! I like how she's holding her head up. She's like, yeah, I'm hot. What about it?

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

I've never had my ff go moldy. Even when it sits in the pan a couple days in the barn. If it comes from a really good ferment, a bloom will develop over it. This is not mold but the active ferment. I can't imagine it getting moldy in that short amount of time unless you live in a very warm tropical climate. I usually feed my birds in the morning. They don't get more feed of any kind until that morning  FF in their dish is gone. If you have feed left over in their dish, you are giving them too much. Once chickens get used to eating this, they eat less than what you would feed them dry. That's one of the beauties of feeding FF. It takes less feed and allows  your birds more nutrition from what they do eat. Sometimes it seems like they aren't eating enough but they won't starve themselves. They are getting a nice full crop with the FF and you use less feed in the process. Feeding treats to chickens is like giving candy to children. If they fill up on treats, they won't want to eat the good as much. Treats for my birds are once in a while. When they get them, they really enjoy them. But treats are not part of their nutritional intake. They are treats. Once every few days or so. Not every day. Just like when I would give my children a chocolate bar. I didn't count that as part of their every day food intake. It was an occasional goodie.
The idea for me is this. I want my money to go as far towards  feeding my layers, breeders, chicks, and show birds as it will go. Giving my birds the best chance at health, fertility,  and good nutrition. A benefit to that is the gorgeous lush feathers they grow and the vitality they have in the breeding pens. I scooped dry crumble out of a bag and fed chickens with it for decades as is. And for decades I had just so so results. The way I'm feeding them now is giving me spectacular results.

What does the "bloom" look like? I know mine gets a white film on it. It also smells like rotten potatoes. I don't feed them treats everyday but sometimes they get oatmeal and fruit or veggies in the morning. Especially when it's cold. I usually keep it in the house but its not that warm. About 68 in the house. Is this what my FF should be like? I know my chickens enjoy it very much and I notice how much feed we are going through by not using the FF.

 

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

Pretty girl! I like how she's holding her head up. She's like, yeah, I'm hot. What about it?

Thanks! She came from Bobbi Porto, one of her dark blue hens

 

[RockerHen]

Here's my friend's baby, this poor little one had wry neck but luckily got treated in time and is 100% now. Opinions? I think it may be a boy, the comb is a bit larger/bumpier than my pullets usually is. Snowball is 9 weeks old

If I were to see this without an age, I would say girl. But 9 weeks is pretty young and that comb is a bit larger than my girls' were. I would give it a few more weeks. A boy should become more obvious then. How does it behave?

 

[Mumsy]

What does the "bloom" look like? I know mine gets a white film on it. It also smells like rotten potatoes. I don't feed them treats everyday but sometimes they get oatmeal and fruit or veggies in the morning. Especially when it's cold. I usually keep it in the house but its not that warm. About 68 in the house. Is this what my FF should be like? I know my chickens enjoy it very much and I notice how much feed we are going through by not using the FF.

The bloom is hard to describe. Kind of greyish, white-ish. It should be stirred back into the mash before scooping and feeding. That bloom is good and desirable. Mold is fuzzy and nasty. The bloom is not. Vegetable based FF should smell pickl-y. Yeasty. Not unpleasant. When there is garlic and oregano in the mash, it smells like Italian food is cooking in the house. My house in 68 degrees too. If you regularly stir and add fresh grain based feed mix and water to your mash ferment, it should be fine. If you started your original ferment with un-acv and keep adding water when you add more grain that should be good too. I'm wondering if your feed has a meat by product or something. My ferment stunk when I used Game Bird grower. It had meat protein in it. I went back to vegetable based crumble. I'll take a picture of the 'bloom' on the top of the mash tomorrow morning and post it.
My Silkies really love the stuff. The chicks look so cute with it all over their fuzzy faces.

 

[fluffyfeathers]

I'm going to try the ff too. Does it matter what kind of container you use? I have a stainless steel container i would like to use. Would that be ok?

I've never had my ff go moldy. Even when it sits in the pan a couple days in the barn. If it comes from a really good ferment, a bloom will develop over it. This is not mold but the active ferment. I can't imagine it getting moldy in that short amount of time unless you live in a very warm tropical climate. I usually feed my birds in the morning. They don't get more feed of any kind until that morning  FF in their dish is gone. If you have feed left over in their dish, you are giving them too much. Once chickens get used to eating this, they eat less than what you would feed them dry. That's one of the beauties of feeding FF. It takes less feed and allows  your birds more nutrition from what they do eat. Sometimes it seems like they aren't eating enough but they won't starve themselves. They are getting a nice full crop with the FF and you use less feed in the process. Feeding treats to chickens is like giving candy to children. If they fill up on treats, they won't want to eat the good as much. Treats for my birds are once in a while. When they get them, they really enjoy them. But treats are not part of their nutritional intake. They are treats. Once every few days or so. Not every day. Just like when I would give my children a chocolate bar. I didn't count that as part of their every day food intake. It was an occasional goodie.
The idea for me is this. I want my money to go as far towards  feeding my layers, breeders, chicks, and show birds as it will go. Giving my birds the best chance at health, fertility,  and good nutrition. A benefit to that is the gorgeous lush feathers they grow and the vitality they have in the breeding pens. I scooped dry crumble out of a bag and fed chickens with it for decades as is. And for decades I had just so so results. The way I'm feeding them now is giving me spectacular results.

 

[fluffyfeathers]

Double post.