The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[misbhaven]

lol I have a black bunny .FBC Maran's in the incubator I am soo thinking of saving a shell and staging a picture of the three..."easter bunny"

 

[delisha]

You guys are so cracking me up today

I am relieved to say ..the grumpy bird returned to her nest..she ungreatfully accepted the dumb eggs and has told me in no uncertain terms she thinks she got the worse of the deal. She can't believe I stole her valuable golf balls.

I just hatched out about 40 chicks.
I do not do huge batches. Normally it is two dozen plus a few. I hatch for orders. I have three orders I am hatching out for Easter.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Pics Delisha?

Funny about the golf balls.

 

[ki4got]

Who was crazy and entered that Easter egg hatch?

LOL I have eggs hatching weekly... what's crazy?

 

[misbhaven]

I am starting fermented feed in the morning...I have read several "recipes" it some even say brown rice..any tips ? I have crumbles, cracked corn, scratch grains,..oatmeal, BOSS, brown rice on hand. Open to suggestions I figure I am going to do a small batch until my girls get the taste for it..

 

[subhanalah]

Start out with just their regular feed and water. You can continue to give the other items as treats.

Once you have a good culture going, you can ferment the other stuff too, but need to make sure you don't throw off the nutritional requirements within the feed.

 

[hellbender]

I am starting fermented feed in the morning...I have read several "recipes" it some even say brown rice..any tips ? I have crumbles, cracked corn, scratch grains,..oatmeal, BOSS, brown rice on hand. Open to suggestions I figure I am going to do a small batch until my girls get the taste for it..

I use only grains in mine. Then when I feed, along with everything else, I use some of the broth to incorporate the dry components like crumbles or pellets. I mix all my goodies together in a 75 gallon Hochmeyer pebble mill (without the pebbles) and then dump the mixture into a wheeled cart and shovel it out to the feeders.

This works for me. The grains I use are cracked corn, BOSS, whole oats, whole barley, and brown rice. One issue with the brown rice, it does defeat the purpose of many to cut down the cost (including me) because I have to pay $34 dollars for a 50 pound bag of feed grade brown rice but my son insists on using it...

Anyhow this mixture, in this consistency has worked well for us all winter because if you feed it too wet, some birds will get their feet and wattles wet and leave them absolutely ripe for frostbite.

Good luck


EDIT: To discuss my reasoning. The point of fermenting is to break down the grains to make their vital components more accessible to our birds. I think it's not a good use of space in the fermentation container to add the already processed material like rolled oats and layer mash, etc, only to have it turn 'glompy' and difficult to deal with and having to constantly add water.

I put the fermented mixture in a plastic drum, pour in the dry particles and allow it to ferment with the rest over night...then pour the whole mess into the mixing mill and add more dry material to give it the desired level of density.

This is a little more labor-intensive for me since I'm feeding hundreds of birds daily....the average 'Backyarder' could do it so easily without making a mess of the fermentation vat...Works well for me... and there's no real guess work when considering what and how much to add to the fermentation vat and less likely to spoil a batch of mix. JMHO

 

[misbhaven]

Thankyoy for the suggestiond..I have feed of course also..I think I will get it figured out...I am thinking of just doing the grain and putting the food on top when I give it to them..

 

[Leahs Mom]

Maybe @Kassaundra will chime in. I know she keeps a big drum of grain fermenting but doesn't ferment her regular feed. What I don't know is how she feeds the fermented grains and if it is a certain ratio mixed into the dry feed or if she just puts both out and lets them choose which they want.

 

[RedRidge]

You guys are so cracking me up today

I am relieved to say ..the grumpy bird returned to her nest..she ungreatfully accepted the dumb eggs and has told me in no uncertain terms she thinks she got the worse of the deal. She can't believe I stole her valuable golf balls.

I just hatched out about 40 chicks.
I do not do huge batches. Normally it is two dozen plus a few. I hatch for orders. I have three orders I am hatching out for Easter.

Oh good. My little stinker turned stubborn and refused to go back. I turned her to the laying flock yesterday. I did NOT let her take her golf ball with her. Lol
On a good note... I have hatched 20 eggs every 5 days since the 3rd week in Jan - both for myself and to fulfill orders. Only one hatch to go and I am finished for the season! Yeah! !!!