The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Quote: Yeah, but the mash I can mix up by the coop. The FF would preferably need a slightly more stable temperature, and then there's the possible smell that accompanies fermenting anything. I don't want that inside the house, and the only place I could keep the FF would require walking to the other end of our house for refills. That would add maybe two minutes to the daily chicken routine, which doesn't really sound like that much, but still, twelve hours annually is quite a lot. Plus then there's the time it would take to make the FF. So for me, it would be more labor intensive. I see the benefits in it though, and have nothing against others doing it. It's just not for me.

 

[Bunnylady]

My brahmas really are ugly. I saw a show quality brahma a few weeks ago. Looks like totally different breed than the ones I have. I wish mine looked as cool as the sq. I think I paid $10 for mine so Im ok with them for now. Their eggs are delicious

Y'know, I'm of two minds on this. If someone comes on and says, "look, I have (insert name of breed here), too, then the appropriate response is to say, "Good for you, welcome to the breed, this is a great place to learn about them, etc." Jumping right in with "Those things are soooo far from show quality that they are an embarrassment to the breed name, I hope you aren't so misguided that you intend to breed those ratty things" is totally uncalled for. On the other hand, if they ask, "what do you think?" there are still ways of being honest without being brutal. You don't have to call them walking yard waste or fox food to suggest that they don't meet the SOP.

But mentioning hatchery birds, I pulled an egg out of a pen today that I believe to be the first effort of an EE pullet. It's cream colored.

 

[LindaB220]

Yeah, but the mash I can mix up by the coop. The FF would preferably need a slightly more stable temperature, and then there's the possible smell that accompanies fermenting anything. I don't want that inside the house, and the only place I could keep the FF would require walking to the other end of our house for refills. That would add maybe two minutes to the daily chicken routine, which doesn't really sound like that much, but still, twelve hours annually is quite a lot. Plus then there's the time it would take to make the FF. So for me, it would be more labor intensive. I see the benefits in it though, and have nothing against others doing it. It's just not for me.

Not with you long winters. I keep forgetting the weather. I keep mine outside the coop. Even at 100 degrees it's ok.

 

[vehve]

Quote: Yep, in a month or two we'll start getting freezing temperatures in the night. Not good temperatures for growing bacteria.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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Ron, I have no doubt that you didn't like it. It was supposed to be for your chickens!

With that in mind, would it not then be just as beneficial to feed "wetted" rather than going through the process of doing the ferment? I am familiar with soaking feeds for horses (for various reasons), so am wondering if that would be an option to get the benefits you listed above from poultry feeds vs. doing the actual FF process

Yes, wetted would get those same benefits and I've done it.
The downside of wetted feed is that it will mold quickly, not so with FF. So with wetted feed it's important not to feed too much or some will go to waste.
It also has a lot to do with how many birds one has and if they are housed together. It was tough feeding FF to 8 flocks last winter. The only reason I continued to do it is it saved me so much money.

You just caused me to stumble around youtube for half an hour. He was pretty good there, then I moved on to some other videos and found one with Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting a "Weight training for women" book. I must say, the way they talked about women on the show was quite different from today, and I was shocked to see how rudely Johnny interrupted his female guest.

I followed Arnold's career when he was a body builder. He had a meet (I believe it was in the US) when his father died. His mother wanted him to come to the funeral but he refused to cancel his show.

That's because some troublemaker came on the thread and said "Don't feed your chickens fermented feed or you'll kill them". She of course answered back "Pay no attention to that troublemaker, he's in the pay of the big feed companies." And it went from there. Back and forth. So she opened her own forum
thefrontporchswing.freeforums.org

It small but entertaining. I have learned so much in my year on BYC that I'll never leave. Too much info on tap and so much fun.

I do remember that exchange. She does tend to have a short fuse though. At least she did with me and a few others.

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I had forgotten Sophia Loren, yep, she was gorgeous.

..

I could never forget her. I almost chimed in when the topic came up. She's always near the top of my list of beautiful people.
Age notwithstanding. I always thought Lauren Bacall opposite Bogart in 'To Have and Have Not' was something else.

I will never stop fermenting my feed. My birds are incredibly healthy and growing. And it helps the budget. Different studies posted show that the nutrient content is raised by 12%

When I came on the thread this morning I was 249 posts behind. Down to 20 I'll finish. Man, definitely a chore to catch up. Never put off perusing the thread.

I would never be able to afford organic feed if it weren't for fermenting. So I guess you might say it has an added benefit there as well.

Not true, Felix, Kassaundra has been fermenting her feed for over 3 years and she does it in a 33 gallon trash container. Using a paddle or something to stir. She didn't add anything to it. Feed or grains and water. Stir daily for 4 days and start feeding. After it gets down to a a serving or two she does it again adding the water first and stirring the mess around before adding grain. Ready the next day. I'm not that big and I keep two 5 gallon buckets going for the adults and kiddies. Three quarters full made up will last each set about 4 days. The best place to feed is to cut a 10' rain gutter in half and have 2 5' long sections to feed out of. Put a piece of 2x4 lumber to stabilize on the ends.

She probably doesn't carry it around to multiple coops.
It is a lot more time consuming for me because all my coops had bulk feeders that only needed to be filled weekly.

 

[vehve]

...

I had forgotten Sophia Loren, yep, she was gorgeous.

..

I could never forget her. I almost chimed in when the topic came up. She's always near the top of my list of beautiful people.
Age notwithstanding. I always thought Lauren Bacall opposite Bogart in 'To Have and Have Not' was something else.
She too, passed away yesterday. May she rest in peace.

 

[ronott1]

Y'know, I'm of two minds on this. If someone comes on and says, "look, I have (insert name of breed here), too, then the appropriate response is to say, "Good for you, welcome to the breed, this is a great place to learn about them, etc." Jumping right in with "Those things are soooo far from show quality that they are an embarrassment to the breed name, I hope you aren't so misguided that you intend to breed those ratty things" is totally uncalled for. On the other hand, if they ask, "what do you think?" there are still ways of being honest without being brutal. You don't have to call them walking yard waste or fox food to suggest that they don't meet the SOP.

But mentioning hatchery birds, I pulled an egg out of a pen today that I believe to be the first effort of an EE pullet. It's cream colored.

EEs do that. Sometimes they miss the blue egg shell gene.

Is yours an EE or a non standard Ameraucana?

 

[ronott1]

This is from our local paper. Joys of living in a Mediterranean climate.....

 

[Alaskan]

 
Y'know, I'm of two minds on this. If someone comes on and says, "look, I have (insert name of breed here), too, then the appropriate response is to say, "Good for you, welcome to the breed, this is a great place to learn about them, etc." Jumping right in with "Those things are soooo far from show quality that they are an embarrassment to the breed name, I hope you aren't so misguided that you intend to breed those ratty things" is totally uncalled for. On the other hand, if they ask, "what do you think?" there are still ways of being honest without being brutal. You don't have to call them  walking yard waste or fox food to suggest that they don't meet the SOP.

But mentioning hatchery birds, I pulled an egg out of a pen today that I believe to be the first effort of an EE pullet. It's cream colored.:/   

EEs do that. Sometimes they miss the blue egg shell gene.

It yours an EE or a non standard Ameraucana? 

Now that can be a can of worms!

 

[ronott1]

Now that can be a can of worms!

I know, It was a funny not trolling.....