FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[shawthorne44]

What about fermenting in Winter, i.e. starting a batch now?
I did that this last summer, but I ended every batch when we had chicken-sitters. I didn't know I could dry out the bacteria. I've been wanting to start it up again but it seems so cold. When is too cold? Note, I am in the Dallas area. So, usually above freezing. I'd also rather my house NOT smell like beer, so I'd like to do this outside.

 

[lazy gardener]

What are your temps, high/low? I've heard some folks have good luck keeping a ferment going in an insulated picnic cooler. Personally, I find that there is no odor from my FF in the house, as long as I leave it alone! It sits in it's little bucket by the wood stove, and is not noticed unless someone is hanging a nose over the bucket.

 

[Kusanar]

What about fermenting in Winter, i.e. starting a batch now?
I did that this last summer, but I ended every batch when we had chicken-sitters. I didn't know I could dry out the bacteria. I've been wanting to start it up again but it seems so cold. When is too cold? Note, I am in the Dallas area. So, usually above freezing. I'd also rather my house NOT smell like beer, so I'd like to do this outside.

It's going to be harder to start if it's cold, but if you can START it inside, you can put it outside and keep it going. It will actually build it's own heat once it's going good and will keep it's self warm. I would put it in something insulated like the suggestion to put it in a cooler (above) to give it a better chance of staying warm. You can also buy heated 5 gallon buckets designed for horse water in stalls that will keep the mix above freezing but won't get hot enough to cook the bacteria and kill them but being in TX I would imagine that it's not going to get and stay too cold for it. If you were middle or north of the country then maybe it would be needed. In cold weather since it's fermenting slower, it's better to have a larger batch going so that it's got more time to ferment before being fed and maybe only get it down to half full before feeding or feed every day rather than waiting until nearly empty and then completely refilling. The more food the bacteria has, the more active it will be, and the more active, the more heat they will generate which will allow more activity. You can also use body temp water when you feed to give it a little burst of warmth and kick the bacteria in the butt and make them work.

 

[hillbillyreefer]

I ferment in my old workshop that is kept at about 35F all winter, the floor is most likely right at freezing. The ferments are slow but it does work, I added a couple of extra fermenters to make up for the slow ferments.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I have looked multiple pages in but haven't seen an answer. If you are feeding fermented feed to chicks do you still go by the 30 minute clean up rule 2x a day? Try to keep it available all the time? Or feed more than 2x a day with 30 min rule? Thanks!

When having chicks, I try to keep FF constantly available, don't quite follow the 20 - 30 minute "clean up rule". I fill their feeder; scoop or two depending how many you have; morning, afternoon & dusk, removing before I close them up for the night.

Same goes with the older ones, I scoop FF in the morning (7:15 - 7:30), then give them more in the afternoon (2 - 3pm). They throw some scratch at close up.

 

[lazy gardener]

When having chicks, I try to keep FF constantly available, don't quite follow the 20 - 30 minute "clean up rule". I fill their feeder; scoop or two depending how many you have; morning, afternoon & dusk, removing before I close them up for the night.

 

[Finnie]

Feeding FF in below zero weather: I gave up! During the last month, the feed would not stay thawed long enough for them to enjoy it. So, I cleaned out my buckets, and switched to dry pellets, with a single serving of HOT moist mash to warm them up in the morning. That kept them going.

Finally, this week has seen a break in the weather pattern. I'm ready to start FF again. However, I was not looking forward to the "wait" for the FF to "mature". Yesterday, I started 1/2 bucket of FF. For starter liquid, I used rinse water from my sprouting. By THE END OF THE DAY, the contents of that bucket were percolating like a witch's brew. Nice tangy scent to it this morning. Moving forward, I intend to keep about 3 gallons of ferment going. They will get one bowl of FF, in addition to dry pellets until the weather remains predictable so their whole feed regime can return to FF.

I did something very similar these past couple of weeks when we had temps in the negatives and low teens. I stopped serving out the FF and gave them dry feed only. The FF bucket got put in the garage with its loose lid, and I'm pretty sure it just went dormant. (Water in the garage stayed frozen during this time.) When the temps went back up this week, and the FF became stirrable again, it looked and smelled fine, so I dished it out and continued as normal.

I guess if it had looked bad, I would have dumped it and started over.

I have looked multiple pages in but haven't seen an answer. If you are feeding fermented feed to chicks do you still go by the 30 minute clean up rule 2x a day? Try to keep it available all the time? Or feed more than 2x a day with 30 min rule? Thanks!

I'm afraid I don't know the definitive answer.

Annanicole18, rebrascora is right. As you can see from just the most recent posts, we all have many variations on how we serve FF.

The 30 minute rule isn't so much a requirement, its more like a guideline. Used to determine how much food your flock NEEDS, if you want them to eat set meals, rather than "grazing" at the feeders all day. The food won't go bad in 30 minutes.

However with growing baby chicks, I'm not so sure you want to limit them to set meals. Maybe some folks have good luck with that. My own feeling is that the youngsters should always have food available. Now that I'm using FF, when I raise chicks, they have a feeder of dry crumble 24/7 and a small dish of FF in the mornings. I will often refill the FF dish during the day once or twice because they tend to pick it clean. The benefit I have noticed since I started doing this is, they don't make as much mess spilling their dry feed. They eat less of the dry AND they waste much less of it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Personally, I would not go by the 30 minute rule even for adults, unless my birds were free ranging on very good land with access to free range ALL day long EVERY day. If the flock owner does not limit his flock to a 30 minute feed when using dry pellets, why should it be any different with ferment? I simply put out a "day's worth of feed", and assess towards the end of the day. If the FF is gone, and I see crops that are not topped up, I give more. If there is some left at the end of the day, I simply bring it in, or cover it to keep vermin out of it. Based on time of year, access to free range, flock size, other foods fed, there is always some variation in the amount of FF consumed. By leaving it accessible most of the day, it gives plenty of opportunity for the wall flowers in the flock to get their share.

 

[Dayrel]

By leaving it accessible most of the day, it gives plenty of opportunity for the wall flowers in the flock to get their share.

Just wanted to emphasize this. Those lower in the pecking order lose out when there are limited resources.

 

[lazy gardener]

absolutely. While fermentation has lots of benefits, it really does not need to change up common practice. Whether I feed fermented or dry, it is poor practice to leave it available to vermin overnight.