Results of the Experiment and More

A week or so ago, I wrote about a post I had seen on Community Chickens about fermenting feed for the chickens.  

I am not sure I did it right... I got some mold on the very top, instead of a "mother" coating. 

Here it is the first day... I mixed 20% layer pellets, cracked corn, some canned corn (cheap) and bird seed together with water and cider vinegar.  

I covered it and let it sit.  I did stir it several times.  

It did begin to smell, but not badly. 

Here it was Friday: 

You see there are little bits of mold on top.  I scraped all this off, I was not sure about it.  However, I am going to send this picture to the lady who wrote the article to ask some questions.  The top looks dry, doesn't it? 

However, here is the gruel that was IN the bucket. 

YUMMMMM. 

There was chaos in the henspa.   I had to put it in several different locations. 

Including on top of the nest box.  See little Suzy, my old English hen with her bottom towards you?  She is not doing very well lately, and I am not sure how old she really is, she was an auction buy.  She appears to be failing, maybe just due to old age, but she cannot hold her own against the big hens anymore, and is living up top with Folly and Fancy.  Folly will at least go down on the floor sometimes, but Fancy is the King of the Nest Box. 

The old henhouse crowd got some gruel, too... the turkeys liked it... the hens mostly liked it... but the rafter dwellers there did not.... the littlest hens and roosters.  They have been staying up top while the weather was bad the last few days. 

I'll get some advice about it, and do it again.  The second batch will probably not have as much in the bucket, so it can stay covered with water.  

There's the last of it on the bird station today... I figure the wild birds will clean it up.  It was in a fortex, and froze overnight and stayed frozen yesterday, so I put it out for them.  

So look here... how much melted this afternoon, when it got up to 47!  In fact, the big flocks moved off for the last few hours, and the little birds are able to eat.  The deck has hardly been visited, and we can see the garden beds again! 

Ranger...

And Abby were able to get around in the snow today, not just because of the melting but because the hard crust had melted, and they could make their ways around without hurting.  Abby wore herself out, thank heavens! 

And lastly...

 Uniform du Jour this week and next! 

This handsome guy has about worn himself out this week helping with chores around here... and now we shall see what is coming in the next two days. 

Stay safe, everyone.. (Melinda and Ken (Country Dreaming) ; J and S at Cranky Puppy)

And guess what?  I just remembered I have a "snow" setting on my camera... I'll use it the next few days and the pictures won't be so hard to look at! 

That's it for today from Calamity Acres!