The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

On fermenting. .. I ferment the grains only. I have a line of 5 gallon food grade buckets and each contains fermenting grains. I take half from each each day and replace.
THEN after weighing what I want from the FF buckets I weigh the non - fermented ingredients to the mix and stir. Those ingredients vary depending on time of year but over the winter it was nutribalancer, alfalfa meal, fish meal for chicks, BSF for layers, etc
Everything is weighed to keep the ration balanced. I'm anal and want to know what % protein they are getting.

 

[hellbender]

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..

I tried that and the birds picked through and took what they wanted. Others have done exactly the same thing and it worked out well..

Good luck....It took me a long time to really buy into feeding fermented food but there's no going back now. Absolutely saves money and the birds are just as healthy and productive...WIN....WIN

 

[Kassaundra]

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.

I am very lax and not charty at all (I admire those of you who are though) I buy the grains I have available (wheat, oats, corn) put them in the big garbage can add water and shovel out the grains w/ a shovel, hold the shovel over the barrel for a few seconds letting the juice drain and put it in the food containers. Toss some crumbles over the whole thing and call it a day.

 

[ki4got]

for fermented, I'm not doing grains at the moment, the smell is bothersome to hubby.

I feed a 'rooster' feed designed for growing out non-laying birds for everyone, fermented and add pellets to the glop if it's too wet, to soak up the extra liquid. then give free choice oyster/egg shell to everyone.

interesting to note, I caught some young sfh cockerels playing with the water in one of my 'ponds' (kiddie pools). couldn't figure out what they were doing till I got closer. they were trying to catch the mosquito wigglers that have already taken over in the water.

time to add more goldfish.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Mine also go through the feed and pick out the stuff they want weather it's fermented or dry. (For clarity, my feed is coarsly ground grain & field peas, then the nutribalancer, fish meal, etc. so it's not processed feed that goes to mush.)

I've found that if they had a choice they would NEVER eat any legume so those are left until last. They do finally eat it if I don't give them anything else. But it's very obvious that legumes weren't on the menu if they were making their own feed.

 

[hellbender]

Mine also go through the feed and pick out the stuff they want weather it's fermented or dry. (For clarity, my feed is coarsly ground grain & field peas, then the nutribalancer, fish meal, etc. so it's not processed feed that goes to mush.)

I've found that if they had a choice they would NEVER eat any legume so those are left until last. They do finally eat it if I don't give them anything else. But it's very obvious that legumes weren't on the menu if they were making their own feed.

I try to make it all palatable for them. I heat all grains to 212* F before I put them into the fermentation tanks. For most, this would be just too much trouble but I have 'toys' to play with and I utilize them. After they cool to room temperature, I store them in the walk-in cooler. Haven't had a batch go bad since I started this and I make large batches.

There are so many ways to skin this cat and most of them work very well and serve the purpose.

RON

 

[RedRidge]

There are so many ways to skin this cat and most of them work very well and serve the purpose.

RON

As my husband likes to say... "It just depends if you want the skin or the meat"

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
I like that. I'll have to file it away for the future

 

[Leahs Mom]

50 today and thankfully no hawk activity. I opened the gate and let them go. Been checking from time to time but so far so good.

 

[hellbender]

50 today and thankfully no hawk activity. I opened the gate and let them go. Been checking from time to time but so far so good.

You need one of those 'monoculars' with a cross hair to check for hawks. I used to see a few of them like that and some would just explode...feathers spreading in all directions. Not much of that happens around here anymore...I think those raptors can warn each other about certain areas and that suits me just fine....I actually hate to see feathers explode.