FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

I've recently started fermenting wheat for my girls. They love it and their eggs have gone way up in production and quality.


Here's a site with some good information to use.
http://www.gardenbetty.com/2013/05/why-and-how-to-ferment-your-chicken-feed/

Interesting article, but I disagree with her on a couple points. For example, she makes a big deal about using de-chlorinated water. I live in a community way out in the sticks of east Texas and our local water co-op is notoriously not good. You can literally smell and taste the chlorine in our tap water. But I still use it for the FF (frankly never even thought about NOT using it until reading this article just now) and my bucket looks and smells like all the others I've read about here on BYC, so it must be fermenting just fine - chlorine and all...

I disagree with a few of her points as well and she and I have exchanged emails about them. Her insistence on keeping the feed under water is not accurate...I never keep mine underwater past the initial addition of the fresh feed and water. After that water absorbs, I feed it at that texture and add no more water to keep the feed submersed.

The whole section quoted below is wrong...I would never seal fermentation and neither do any of the old timers when they ferment foods for their own consumption~there has to be a way for the gases produced to be released..breweries have one way valves on their operations for this release. You don't have to ADD ACV to an already fermented batch, as it should have already pulled those acetobacter yeast spores from the air..even if the feed is submersed in liquid the spores inoculate and grow in the water. This is almost impossible to prevent...ask any business that has to take extra measures and precautions to prevent these spores from entering their wines and liquors.

"Rotten smell" is subjective and many think that fermentation smells rotten so discarding a batch that smells "rotten" is bad advice. It's that act of fermentation of grains and fruits that causes these things to smell "rotten" when they decompose under an apple tree or in the compost bin. Rotten is the smell of fermentation...be more alarmed when something is decomposing without much smell, as botulism emits no odor when it metabolizes.

As for the mold? Fermentation is a type of molding, so this can be hard to distinguish..so saying molding anything is bad is...well...bad. There are good molds/yeasts, like acetobacter and lactobacter, and there are bad molds/yeasts...so anyone seeing the film of these two organisms on the top of the fermented feeds would automatically throw them away as "mold".


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[A HappyHenLover]

I have a well out in the country, so the water isn't a big deal to filter or anything. I just read the main points of the article and ignored the lady's opinion

not to be rude, but to follow my own way of thinking. Fermenting feed with any water, is fine.

 

[Linlou]

Is there any ratio of how much brown sugar or apple juice you put into the grains? Something like 2 C. brown sugar with so many cups of grain? I would like to get this started but I am worried I will mess up and waste way to much.

 

[Beekissed]

Is there any ratio of how much brown sugar or apple juice you put into the grains? Something like 2 C. brown sugar with so many cups of grain? I would like to get this started but I am worried I will mess up and waste way to much.

Brown sugar?

I don't know who told you to put in sugar but please don't do that. Nor apple juice. No sugar is needed as the grains have all the sugar needed for fermentation to take place. The only thing folks are adding at the beginning of the process is maybe some mother vinegar, kefir or kimchi. Mostly just the mother vinegar but you don't even need that...just your feed, water, warm temps and time. Stir it a couple of times and leave it open to get some air...I put a lid on it but just snap down one side so that the other side gaps open for some air flow...that's all that's needed, just a little air and opportunity for the mix to let off some gases.

You can't really mess it up, so don't worry..it's such a simple process that anyone can do it. Just feed, water enough to account for absorption, air and time...that should do it!

 

[bruceh]

Brown sugar?

I don't know who told you to put in sugar but please don't do that. Nor apple juice. No sugar is needed as the grains have all the sugar needed for fermentation to take place. The only thing folks are adding at the beginning of the process is maybe some mother vinegar, kefir or kimchi. Mostly just the mother vinegar but you don't even need that...just your feed, water, warm temps and time. Stir it a couple of times and leave it open to get some air...I put a lid on it but just snap down one side so that the other side gaps open for some air flow...that's all that's needed, just a little air and opportunity for the mix to let off some gases.

You can't really mess it up, so don't worry..it's such a simple process that anyone can do it. Just feed, water enough to account for absorption, air and time...that should do it!

NEVER HEARD OF THE BROWN SUGAR EITHER. oops sorry for the caps..i like to see a young 17 week old cockerel on sugar. my g-d the poor bird would chase hens till he dropped.dead.
i never keep my fermented feed covered with water. makes it like a runny soup.. i like it when i go out every day and see that nice whitish film on top. . i keep a loose lid on my feed. some days i go out to feed and find a bird or 2 eating away. makes me laugh when they look up startled like oops im busted.

 

[iheartnh]

I am so disappointed right now. I mixed up a batch of fermented organic layer (from pellets the chickens rejected), with some BOSS, oats and flax seeds. Served it up this morning, and they won't eat it. A couple of them are picking out the BOSS, but otherwise they won't even go near it. They were more receptive to the pellets. Boo.

 

[wlhtx]

iheartnh, give them some time and don't feed them anything else. Some birds (mine included) take a bit longer to decide they like it. After a couple weeks, I bet you'll have to swat them back when you fed them. They usually get to a point where they basically mob you to get at the FF!

 

[KrazyChromatics]

i have chicks that end up getting feed dumped on them cause they jump into the feeder and look up and try to fly into the scooper... they absolutely love love love it .... idk why ive been feeding dry all this time lol its like a treat all the time for them... and when i have 2 5 gal pails instead of the 30 gal trash bin, i had a wetter and a dryer mix, i would take dry and dump it into the wet so there was a little more liquid but feeding at an oatmeal consistancy instead of a paste seems to work better

 

[marktoo]

I am so disappointed right now. I mixed up a batch of fermented organic layer (from pellets the chickens rejected), with some BOSS, oats and flax seeds. Served it up this morning, and they won't eat it. A couple of them are picking out the BOSS, but otherwise they won't even go near it. They were more receptive to the pellets. Boo.

I recently switched from feeding fermented plus free choice pellets to just fermented. My birds never start eating the fermented feed right away, they always go out into the run first & scratch around but by the end of day the feed is gone. When giving the fermented plus free choice pellets the fermented feed would still always be gone the pellets would last several days.

 

[Beekissed]

I am so disappointed right now. I mixed up a batch of fermented organic layer (from pellets the chickens rejected), with some BOSS, oats and flax seeds. Served it up this morning, and they won't eat it. A couple of them are picking out the BOSS, but otherwise they won't even go near it. They were more receptive to the pellets. Boo.

Also...it sort of sounds like your birds are spoiled with too much food.

I've never met a chicken that wouldn't eat whatever I put in the feeder. Take away continuous portions and only dish out once a day what they can consume in 15-30 min. Soon they will be haunting your steps for anything you throw down for feed.