Fermenting feed

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mobius said:
Lol fella that is your SCOBY...just mix it back in...I find the same and while initially I was alarmed by it too, it is not mold or bad stuff...it is the good stuff...very thin white layer right?
Click to expand...

Yeah that was what I was thinking. Unless it's actually hairy it's not mold, I believe. There's more to it than that, but that's a good indicator.
 
mobius said:
Lol fella that is your SCOBY...just mix it back in...I find the same and while initially I was alarmed by it too, it is not mold or bad stuff...it is the good stuff...very thin white layer right?
Click to expand...


Yeah, thin white layer... Oh well... Live & learn!

Thanks!
1f44d.png
 
I have a FF question.

My chicks, now 2 weeks old, used to LOVE their FF I gave them twice daily. In the last 1-2 days, though, they ignore it completely in favor of the plain old dry crumbles. It doesn't look/smell any different than it did when they were devouring it.

I started fermentation on 3/11, and have simply added food/water to it when it got low, so it's in a continuous fermentation. It's covered by a thin layer of water and has that nice sourdough smell to it. I mix it up at least twice each day.

Any ideas why they're all of a sudden ignoring it?
 
haunani said:
I have a FF question.

My chicks, now 2 weeks old, used to LOVE their FF I gave them twice daily.  In the last 1-2 days, though, they ignore it completely in favor of the plain old dry crumbles.  It doesn't look/smell any different than it did when they were devouring it.

I started fermentation on 3/11, and have simply added food/water to it when it got low, so it's in a continuous fermentation.  It's covered by a thin layer of water and has that nice sourdough smell to it.  I mix it up at least twice each day.

Any ideas why they're all of a sudden ignoring it?
Click to expand...


Could it be too wet? Mine prefer the FF on the drier side. Maybe you could strain out some of the water when you put it into the feeder or add some dry feed to the top of the wet? BTW, you don't need to keep a layer of water above the FF, that's a misconception.
 
haunani said:
I have a FF question.

My chicks, now 2 weeks old, used to LOVE their FF I gave them twice daily. In the last 1-2 days, though, they ignore it completely in favor of the plain old dry crumbles. It doesn't look/smell any different than it did when they were devouring it.

I started fermentation on 3/11, and have simply added food/water to it when it got low, so it's in a continuous fermentation. It's covered by a thin layer of water and has that nice sourdough smell to it. I mix it up at least twice each day.

Any ideas why they're all of a sudden ignoring it?
Click to expand...


barred2rock said:
Could it be too wet? Mine prefer the FF on the drier side. Maybe you could strain out some of the water when you put it into the feeder or add some dry feed to the top of the wet? BTW, you don't need to keep a layer of water above the FF, that's a misconception.
Click to expand...

barred2rock is correct - I used to make my FF "wet" with a layer of water but have since changed to keeping it drier (like oatmeal), less messy & my girls seem to prefer it better. There are days the gobble it up so fast and other days they just pick at it. I was so worried but not anymore, like us there are days they're not as hungry. You'll be feeding/using less feed when fermenting, that's one of the benefits saving & no waste of feed. I feed just FF, remove the dry feed.
 
Last edited:
My flock prefers FF on the dry side. If it puddles in their bowls, they are far less enthusiastic about it.

The notion you need a layer of water on the top of you ferment is a fallacy. FF doesn't mind one bit to be like cookie dough or biscuit dough as it ferments. It does it just as fast, just as well as a sloppy, wet mix. Stirring frequently, at least twice a day is key.

If you could eliminate the step of draining liquid off before you feed your FF, wouldn't that be liberating? Just mix dry to water in a ratio where you don't see any standing water and it has a nice biscuit dough consistency. As FF ferments it will release water and become wetter. I add enough dry crumbles to keep the consistency the chickens and I prefer.
 

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