Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[shadowmane]

Well, the way the wifie did ours was this. She put the vinegar in a bowl (not sure how much she put). Then, she filled the bowl with the feed. She then topped it off with water and let it sit. The chicks did wind up eating it. After we put them outside for their exercise (which wound up lasting all day, as I am still working on their coop), I took the food out to them. They tore into it finally. When I brought them back in and fed them the rest of what was in that bowl full, they went right to eating it without hesitation. We'll see how they do tomorrow morning. I suspect it'll go much better.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thank you all for sharing your experience & wisdom in this matter. I am very interested in doing this with the next batch of CXs I get. Until then I want to try it with some half-grown DP cockerels I'm growing up for the table. Do you think it would have benefits for Freedom Rangers too? Those may be the next type of meaties I will be getting.

I'm not certain what kinds of grains I could get at my feed store. I know they have corn, both cracked & whole, and the scratch grain mix. What would you recommend I try?

I'll experiment with fermenting their chick starter. I'm in hot & humid South Florida, where would it be best to leave my working buckets?

 

[Beekissed]

They ferment best in the warmth(72 and above), so you are fine...I wouldn't place them in direct sun, but the warmth of your climate is definitely a bonus. I know vinegar cultures grow best in the dark and thought this is not much different, so I used dark buckets with the lid on but cracked open to expel any gas build up and to allow spores from the air into the mix. Stirring it every now and again helps aerate the mix but this will probably happen when you start your grains and each time you feed anyway.

I leave my working bucket right in the coop. Have to fight the CX chicks out of each time I feed....they will jump down into the bucket while I'm scooping the feed into the feeder.

Suffice to say, they really love their fermented feed and act like crazy beasts each time they get a refill.

 

[galanie]

Making your own ACV is child's play. Of course you'll need a start of it by getting Braggs or similar. Or if you want to wait for 3-6 months you don't but... Best juice to use is frozen apple juice WITHOUT added calcium. It's ok if it has the "Added Vitamin C" but not the calcium. Just mix up the frozen juice, glugg in some Braggs, cover with coffee filter (held by a rubber band) and sit the whole works in the pantry for a month. Only use a glass or ceramic jar. You'll end up with a slimy layer on top that is tan to cream colored. That is the real "mother." You can taste it with a straw or with litmus paper to see if it's done yet.

Take out the slimy thing and plop it into the next batch instead of glugging in Braggs and you're off and running.

PS - there are more than one reason why the frozen juice is best, the main one for me being that it's only going to cost you $2 a gallon that way if you get the generic. But besides that, the frozen is not pasteurized and so the enzymes you need to make the ACV are still present.

 

[Raen]

We'll be getting our first meat birds at the end of April, and I think I'm going to try this. We'll have 12 cornish Xs in a tractor that will be moved daily.

What kind of feeder should we use with this method, since the food will be mushy?

Why do the birds eat less of the fermented grains? Is the nutrition just more available?

Thanks

 

[shadowmane]

I think its because it's more condensed. The food swells up when it is fermented, and looks like it would be more filling. You can get away with feeding them less feed than if it was dry.

 

[Beekissed]

You can use a trough style feeder for this. The fermentation changes the availability of some nutrients in the feed to increase their usage...sort of like changing regular gas to high octane. This kind of feed also increases the good bacteria in the bowel that aids in digestion, enabling the bird to pull more nutrients from their feed than usual.

In the studies they observed actual changes in the bowel tissue that showed more villi in evidence in the birds that were fed fermented as opposed to those that weren't. The villi in the small intestine are small finger like projections, which increase surface area in the intestinal wall for food to be pushed past. It is richly supplied with blood vessels, which get nutrients from the food and transport it to rest of the body.

More nutrients, more of them available for use and more villi to use them all translates into the animal getting more bang for your buck.

 

[BunsNChicks]

Making your own ACV is child's play. Of course you'll need a start of it by getting Braggs or similar. Or if you want to wait for 3-6 months you don't but... Best juice to use is frozen apple juice WITHOUT added calcium. It's ok if it has the "Added Vitamin C" but not the calcium. Just mix up the frozen juice, glugg in some Braggs, cover with coffee filter (held by a rubber band) and sit the whole works in the pantry for a month. Only use a glass or ceramic jar. You'll end up with a slimy layer on top that is tan to cream colored. That is the real "mother." You can taste it with a straw or with litmus paper to see if it's done yet.
Take out the slimy thing and plop it into the next batch instead of glugging in Braggs and you're off and running.
PS - there are more than one reason why the frozen juice is best, the main one for me being that it's only going to cost you $2 a gallon that way if you get the generic. But besides that, the frozen is not pasteurized and so the enzymes you need to make the ACV are still present.

Thanks that sounds easy enough

 

[Beekissed]

You can do it even quicker with one jug of mother vinegar that you split off into jugs of regular, pasteurized ACV. That way you don't have to wait for the apple juice to ferment...just instant vinegar with the mother. This can go on exponentially....just keep buying the cheaper, pasteurized ACV and place a little mother vinegar in it and you have a jug sitting there forming more cultures. That jug can be split off, and those jugs can be split off...and it doesn't have to end.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

How often and how much feed to you make at a time, is the feed ready for the next feeding? We are getting our CX chicks the end of this month and would really love to use this!!!