Recent content by mammaducky1

Thanks for the input, looks like I am going to use hardware cloth.

Am planning on using a 10 x 10 dog kennel with a roof of corrugated metal as a coop for our ducks and geese at night. Neighbor now has us concerned about raccoons reaching in through the chain-link fencing and killing the birds. I am thinking of attaching shade cloth on the bottom 42 inches of...

Discovered something when butchering and just wanted to share. I really love gizzards, but they have always been a pain to clean. All the instructions I found say to cut them in half, wash out all the stones and food, and then peel the thick lining off the gizzard. That works but it is a...

I use a chick starter when I first get them, then after 1-2 weeks, I switch over to a game bird feed for its high protein content. I was also told that the game bird feed did not have a lot of additives to it. I am also adding alfalfa pellets right now, since they have no green grass to eat...

Made an observation with my flock recently and wanted to know if anyone else had noticed this. Raised my first bunch of meat birds using FF this summer and the results were wonderful. We decided to do another batch in late fall and they should be ready to butcher end of December/first of...

We keep them because of the grasshoppers! Down here in Texas they get BIG. Before I got the guineas you would literally get bombarded by these horrid bugs every time you walked from the house to the barn. Nothing like walking outside and getting a 3-4 inch grasshopper tangled in your hair...

Sure you can do FF from the start. I tried both thin, like gruel and thick, like peanut butter. The peanut butter consistency seemed to work best. Mine did not appear to eat a lot the first few days, though every time I checked them they were eating and did not appear stressed or unhappy...

So glad you had such success with your birds! I too had birds with quite a bit of fat, but these were the roosters that I culled early because they were so much bigger than the others and were hogging the food. I cut back a little the next couple of weeks before I butchered the rest, and they...

54 Here in Texas. Have enjoyed hearing everyone's age and about your flocks. Working on my second batch of meaties. Have had them 10 days now and have been doing FF from the start with this batch. Had to start a second bucket of feed today, as they are beginning to go through the first...

Have a question for those of you who have fed FF to your young chicks. What consistency do you use, watery or thick like peanut butter. I am using thick feed like peanut butter right now, and the chicks seem to be eating nonstop, but there just does not seem to be that much feed gone. Want to...

Well, I received my second batch of meaties today. I ordered 60 birds this time instead of 50. My first birds (butchered the first of September), were started on FF at about 3 weeks of age (when I found this thread!). I was so pleased with the results that this second group will go FF the...

It took us about 2-1/2 hours, which I think was way too long for that many helpers, but remember just about all the workers were novices. My husband and I caught, killed and processed nine birds in about 1-1/2 hours one evening. I would suggest starting with about 5 or 6 on your own and see...

Just an update - We butchered our meat birds this last weekend. Started out with 51, lost 3 at the very beginning, so had 48. We culled the roosters a couple of weeks ago, so had 33 hens to butcher at this time. (Had 3 grown children, their spouses, and 3 of 5 grandchildren helping- all in...

Yes, you can definitely use pellets for fermenting feed. The pellets of the brand I used actually stayed coarser and did not turn to just a watery mush. It just seemed to have more texture. Other than that I saw no difference.