Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[B J Hopkins]

Oh my gosh BJ. I can't even begin to imagine such a loss in my life! I hope and pray your chickens give you all the therapy you need.

How many and what kinds do you have?

Right now I've 55 birds. I did have 75 but just had to cut the flock down due to cost of feed. I've 5 full blooded Blue Cochins. Love them! I've 3 Silkys, 2 Showgirls. 5 RIR, 4 Brown Leghorns, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Dominique, 1EE hen & 2 EE Cockrells. 3 Buff Orps. 1 Light Brahma, 1 LB mix. 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte. 1 Salmon Faverolle Cockerell. 7 Mixed Cochens. 2 lovely grey chicks from a Black Silky over an EE hen. 4 or 5 Black Sex Link, A few other mixed chickens and possibly a Black Copper Maran hen (dark egg given to me to hatch) & 2 cockerells from her & a Blue Cochen Rooster. 1 Light Brahma over Barred Rock cockrell. He thinks he's special. Also have 2 Burbon Red Turkey, 1 Blue Slate & 1 Broad breasted Bronze turkey. I do have 3 extra cockrells that are old enouch for the crock pot, but haven't got around to doing that yet.

 

[aoxa]

Aren't PeaFowl hard to keep contained though?

Can't imagine it being any harder than my wild turkeys..

I don't contain things here.. Except my bantam Ameraucanas.

My turkeys sleep on the barn roof if it's nice out.

 

[aoxa]

So I finally set up my 75 lbs feed bin (plastic garbage can). I do plan on setting it inside another, but didn't have a drill. They will eat that full container in 3 days. It was VERY hard to mix up..

If anyone does this, add water first, and mix in feed. It took me twice as long trying to reach the dry food at the bottom and mix in. Had to use my arm. Got it to a nice consistency. I'll have to keep mixing. Will be letting it sit until tomorrow evening.

Can you put too much ACV?

 

[bruceh]

all caught up now. bj my sorrows to you. bee feel better soon. fermented feed i won't switch been there done that.. bee bring it inside it;s just better for the birds. you know that. my gosh it is 2 buckets. the bat won't mind.
i think i said this before here is my birthday december 21, 1962. my standard answer for raising chickens is 1 day. i say this because i have lived long enough to know what is good today may not be good tomorrow..

pigeonguy i will catch up with during the week.



bruce h

 

[B J Hopkins]

So I finally set up my 75 lbs feed bin (plastic garbage can). I do plan on setting it inside another, but didn't have a drill. They will eat that full container in 3 days. It was VERY hard to mix up..
If anyone does this, add water first, and mix in feed. It took me twice as long trying to reach the dry food at the bottom and mix in. Had to use my arm. Got it to a nice consistency. I'll have to keep mixing. Will be letting it sit until tomorrow evening.
Can you put too much ACV?

I've wondered about that myself. Or the other side of the question, "what is the right amount to put in"?

 

[aoxa]

I've wondered about that myself. Or the other side of the question, "what is the right amount to put in"?

I put quite a bit in. Hope it was enough, but not too much

How will I know?

 

[bruceh]

fermenting the feed. if you are using a large container. mix an amount in a smaller container mix it up. pour into bigger container add water and acv repeat until your big container is full . top off with water. you can't use to much acv. just pour some in . it will ferment on it own. what you find is , you may have to add more water as the feed swells.

as bee would say. use a glug or 2 for a 5 gal pail.

 

[aoxa]

fermenting the feed. if you are using a large container. mix an amount in a smaller container mix it up. pour into bigger container add water and acv repeat until your big container is full . top off with water. you can't use to much acv.  just pour some in . it will ferment on it own. what you find is , you may have to add more water as the feed swells.

as bee would say. use a glug or 2 for a 5 gal pail.

Ha! Wish I had of known that BEFORE I did it

This pail is what I used. Filled almost to the top.

It will fit almost 100 lbs of feed. I have maybe 1/4 of a bag left when it as the limit. I filled the garbage bin with 1/2 grower crumble, two big scoops of whole grains, and the rest water.

 

[armorfirelady]

I started a new batch last week. I keep the buckets on the hearth. It gets nice warmth to help it ferment & has a great smell. The consistency is a little drier than last time but thats because by accident I found the birds eat more of it this way. WHen I first mixed this batch up I gave some to the hens & they licked it clean. They seem to prefer it PB consistency but drier. It still clumps together but not a messy drippy clump. And I didnt put the alfalfa pellets in this time. I am going to mix up a small amount separately & dry it so I can just mix into the FF before I feed the hens

I also found the outside outlet I want to use to keep the water & FF unfrozen for the winter.

 

[mammaducky1]

Me neither. I really enjoy the quietness of my flock and could not imagine that horrible racket happening all day long. Plus, I find them to be incredibly ugly. My grandma used to keep them but we could never figure out why...nasty, noisy things.

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. Now with a flock of 12 we rarely see the grasshoppers and those that do survive are small. Even our neighbors about a quarter-mile away, say they have fewer grasshoppers as well, just from our flock. A half-mile from us the bugs are still just as thick as ever. I agree with you that they are ugly and LOUD. My husband hates them, but puts also puts up with them for the bug control. They prefer bugs to any grains, so they eat very little feed. They just forage further when the bugs get scarcer. They are also supposed to be good for snake control. Some people say they can actually gang up on snakes and kill them, I think the snakes just leave the area to get away from the noise !

The year before we got the birds we killed 5 copperheads, this year we have killed one. Mine are more wild than domesticated. I give them a secure place to sleep at night, in exchange they keep the bugs and snakes away. I LOVE my guineas!!!!