Fermented feed experiment

Well, with the all the wonderful information on BYC about fermented feed, we decided to give it a try. My girls LOVE LOVE LOVE squishy food. Anytime rain has managed to make it into their feeders, they defend on the mush with a gusto that would match a kid in a candy store.

I set up my three buckets, and over the past three days made three days worth of feed.

DH made me a fantastic trough and stand and today was the big day to introduce the flock to fermented feed.

OMG. I don't think I can do this. The SMELL of the stuff is worse than the worse case of diarrhea from a baby with a horrific intestinal virus. My teenager, who works at a zoo, almost vomited on the barn floor. He's around exotic and disgusting odors and poo all day!

How on earth do you all do it?

The birds, once one of them took a break from marauding the newly cut hayfield, and one of them dipped in, they all dove in, but it didn't last long. OF course, they are already full of grasshoppers, so why eat feed?

But seriously?! Gag! Just thinking about the smell....I feel green all over again.

If you ferment feed with animal fats in it, it will smell BAD. We had the same problem it's perfectly safe for them to eat but just smells. So we just got layer pellets without animal protein in it.

Mine never smelled that bad. Yeasty and sour, yes, but never a bad or sick smell.

I gave up on the FF just because it was too much work with multiple pens, but the birds did seem to love it.

I have no idea what protein base is in this layer feed. It's feather fixer.

I have to dump all of it tonight in the compost pile. The whole barn smells of sick, from both ends!

The birds do love their food wet. LOL. But they won't really go near this stuff. Oh well.

I think it's called crude protein on the feed bag. I don't knowing right now because I'm out of town at the moment so I don't have a feed bag at the ready.

Mine only has a sour smell. It's starter and grower. I haven't tried fermenting any layer feed. I've noticed during really warm weather that it sometimes only takes 2 days for it to ferment. If I hold it past 4 days in a warm area it starts to mold.

Try soaking oats or corn for a few days and mixing in a starter / grower just before applying it to feeder. The pasty nature will help reduce spillage and soaking / fermentation process will help with digestibility of the grain.

I am not a fan of the ferment feed either.

I don't dare give them any corn. We are over 100'.

They sure like it, but I cannot stomach it.

Oh well.

Please clarify, over 100 feet?

What about the oats.

Some feeds do smell worse than others but if yours stunk up the whole barn, something's wrong. I use 1 bucket and fill enough to feed each day. As long as a little is left over, the whole bucket ferments over night. I can smell it but not that bad. Did you have lids on your buckets or could the buckets breath? I used to have mold problems and it certainly made things stink worse. Now I just drape a towel across the bucket as the "lid".