Alright, I am just a couple weeks into fermenting my feed and getting everyone on a schedule. But I'd like to talk to someone who has experience with it, as I feel I'm doing something wrong. I'm guessing it's my ratio of what I mix in, but I'm not 100% sure. I have laying hens, a turkey, pullets(10wks), and young ducks(10wks). The adults are all doing find on the fermented feed, including the turkey, but the pullets and young ducks are losing weight. Here is what I am doing:
So, typically with dry feed all of my flock was getting 26 dry cups daily. So I started fermenting my feed and doing 13 cups dry in a 5 gallon bucket( I have a rotation of 3 buckets going). It is a mixture from a big barrel containing 2 parts cracked corn, 1 part Scratch Grains, 2 parts Chicken feed. It was starter, now we've moved onto lay just a few days ago, because they were out of grower and said lay would be fine. I'm still not sure about that, but that isn't my issue for the moment. With each 5 gallon bucket 11 cups are from the mixed barrel, and then 2 cups of wild bird seed is also mixed in. Then we fill the bucket with water covering the feed by about 2 or 3 inches. In our heat here in Phoenix the fermentation process is happening very quickly. We feed on day 3 but I think it's ready on day 2. It gets covered in a white yeast the next morning and stops bubbling during day 2.
We feed on day 3 and everyone gets their measured amount. We were doing 1/4 cup per chick/pullet, 1/2 cup per hen, and 2 cups for the turkey, but because the pullets are really starting to grow now we are bumping them up to 1/2 cup today. I'm wondering if I should have switched them to a 1/2 cup sooner and that's what is causing the issue, or do I have to many fillers in my barrel mix? Trying to keep things as cheap as possible so I was hoping this would work. Again, my adults are good, but the pullets and ducklings are underweight when they were not before we started fermenting. But they are growing birds, so in my head they many not be doing well with these portions. I'd like some serious input.
We used to free feed in the past, but cannot afford to do that anymore unfortunately. The cost of everything here is outrageous now. So I'm trying to make this work in the best way that I can. Another concern is that I always hear about fermenting, and how it doubles the feed. The feed does not expand in the bucket by hardly anything. Its a soup when we feed each day. Not a stew, a full blown soup. Is it because I'm using the scratch and cracked corn? How do I make this work and not have to sell one of my children to do so?! I am also supplementing Duckweed a couple times a week, but I think I need to do that more often. That's everything I can think of, but my brain is a bit frazzled at the moment, so please feel free to ask for whatever info you need. I would really love to get some expert input. I want to do the best I can for everyone and I feel that right now it's not going as good as it should and I'd like to fix that. So any help is truly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
So, typically with dry feed all of my flock was getting 26 dry cups daily. So I started fermenting my feed and doing 13 cups dry in a 5 gallon bucket( I have a rotation of 3 buckets going). It is a mixture from a big barrel containing 2 parts cracked corn, 1 part Scratch Grains, 2 parts Chicken feed. It was starter, now we've moved onto lay just a few days ago, because they were out of grower and said lay would be fine. I'm still not sure about that, but that isn't my issue for the moment. With each 5 gallon bucket 11 cups are from the mixed barrel, and then 2 cups of wild bird seed is also mixed in. Then we fill the bucket with water covering the feed by about 2 or 3 inches. In our heat here in Phoenix the fermentation process is happening very quickly. We feed on day 3 but I think it's ready on day 2. It gets covered in a white yeast the next morning and stops bubbling during day 2.
We feed on day 3 and everyone gets their measured amount. We were doing 1/4 cup per chick/pullet, 1/2 cup per hen, and 2 cups for the turkey, but because the pullets are really starting to grow now we are bumping them up to 1/2 cup today. I'm wondering if I should have switched them to a 1/2 cup sooner and that's what is causing the issue, or do I have to many fillers in my barrel mix? Trying to keep things as cheap as possible so I was hoping this would work. Again, my adults are good, but the pullets and ducklings are underweight when they were not before we started fermenting. But they are growing birds, so in my head they many not be doing well with these portions. I'd like some serious input.
We used to free feed in the past, but cannot afford to do that anymore unfortunately. The cost of everything here is outrageous now. So I'm trying to make this work in the best way that I can. Another concern is that I always hear about fermenting, and how it doubles the feed. The feed does not expand in the bucket by hardly anything. Its a soup when we feed each day. Not a stew, a full blown soup. Is it because I'm using the scratch and cracked corn? How do I make this work and not have to sell one of my children to do so?! I am also supplementing Duckweed a couple times a week, but I think I need to do that more often. That's everything I can think of, but my brain is a bit frazzled at the moment, so please feel free to ask for whatever info you need. I would really love to get some expert input. I want to do the best I can for everyone and I feel that right now it's not going as good as it should and I'd like to fix that. So any help is truly appreciated. Thanks in advance!