Fermenting feed

[ChxLadyCass]

Thank you! I will just use their granule layer feed with those ratios! I have been giving the girls a cup of scratch before bedtime to get them coming in from free range and as a good night treat! It will get warm soon here, so I know I won't be able to spoil them too much longer!

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Hi ,
Any food works
You can change it up for sure,
I use 2:1 ratio of feed to water with a TB or so of apple cider vinegar
Stir often to speed process
Usually takes 2-3 days to start bubbling and smelling yeasty .
Yes, my hens are much less wasteful with wet feed.

I do it in big glass jars and fill the feed trough with dry feed then pour the fermented feed on top , each morning.

Maybe last question for now on this topic. Do you just feed them the FF every 2-3 days then? And then they have dry feed when that's gone while another batch is brewing? I am ready to do it now!

 

[snow5164]

Hi , ask away !!

No I'd start it 3 days before they arrive , I have many jars brewing, just watch for the bubbles . Did you know they're just as happy with feed soaked in water delivered to them right away? Fermented is great but soaked feed is still good!!

Just so you know don't be a slave to this I leave dry feed out all the time and just add a topping of ff each morning . If I'm sick they get dry all day , no problem

Nice talking to you ,
I started ff because of all the mess they made!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Hello! I'm hoping this is a relevant questions for this forum. I have exactly one week until my baby chicks arrive and I would like to ferment their feed. I would also like to start doing it for my older hens too, as they are so great at wasting feed and we have mice on occasion. Can you use any type of feed to ferment? I have scratch and switch back and forth between pellets and granules of layer feed. I am assuming my chick starter will be granules or pellets as well. I have also read a few varying things about using starter. Can I use kombucha starter tea? I see the use of ACV and am curious! thank you!

I would not use kombucha starter tea, or even ACV. Simply: chick starter, water, time. That is ALL that is required. Mix the feed with warm water, about the same temp as you would use if making yeast bread. Add enough water to make it the consistency of thick cooked oatmeal. Let it sit for several days, stirring several times/day until it puffs up or bubbles come up out of it when you stir it. Do not cover it. You want it to pick up the beneficial bacteria and yeast that is found in all air. If you want to ferment for your chicks and adult birds, simply give the entire flock the fermented starter. (supply oyster shell on the side for the adults). It takes about 3 days to get a good ferment going at room temp.

For ease of handling, I use 2 buckets, each holding 3 gallons. Hold back as little as 1/2 cup of FF from a bucket, and replenish it with feed and water. While that bucket is fermenting, I'm feeding out of the second bucket. Once you have a healthy ferment going, and save a bit to replenish the next mix, it can be ready in 12 - 24 hours.

I never give my flock dry feed. They get FF as their only feed ration. Though, in the winter months, I sprout wheat for them, since they have no green grass from November through most of April.

 

[mobius]

In addition to what lazy gardener says above, you can use any kind of feed, although in my experience the crumbles (granules?) do a bit better. You really do not need anything but the water and feed and I do mine in a two quart jar on the counter for six chix. I replenish every three days or so. They love it and it is a superfood for them...gets chicks internal systems off to a perfect start.

As above, the chick starter would work for your entire flock until chicks are at point of lay (about 18 -20 weeks). Let us know how it goes.

 

[barred2rock]

I've had my chicks for four days now, I have the five remaining chicks (of 14 total, please don't make me tell the horror story again

) on both FF and dry starter. They just don't eat enough of the FF to make me comfortable providing only it. I don't know how much they should be eating at this point, but I give them a small lid with FF and they don't even finish half of it. How long can this stuff be left in the brooder before changing it out? So far I've thrown out more FF than they've eaten. The chicks are under a MHP, so no hot lamp heating the FF.


ETA: Here you can see the lid within a lid I use to feed the FF. They walk on the inner lid, but less so on the feed itself. They eat less than half than that per day, although today they ate more than previously. Tomorrow I'll try them on FF alone. Oh, and they seem to prefer the FF a little on the dryer side.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

I'm so sorry for your loss!! These are good questions

 

[lazy gardener]

I've had my chicks for four days now, I have the five remaining chicks (of 14 total, please don't make me tell the horror story again

) on both FF and dry starter. They just don't eat enough of the FF to make me comfortable providing only it. I don't know how much they should be eating at this point, but I give them a small lid with FF and they don't even finish half of it. How long can this stuff be left in the brooder before changing it out? So far I've thrown out more FF than they've eaten. The chicks are under a MHP, so no hot lamp heating the FF.


ETA: Here you can see the lid within a lid I use to feed the FF. They walk on the inner lid, but less so on the feed itself. They eat less than half than that per day, although today they ate more than previously. Tomorrow I'll try them on FF alone. Oh, and they seem to prefer the FF a little on the dryer side.

You are putting a reasonable amount of feed out for them. If I am viewing your pic correctly with my ancient eyes, it looks like the second one in the pic has a nice full crop. If you are checking their crops and those crops are not empty, you can rest assured that they are getting enough FF, so they should be fine with that as their only ration. Enjoy your babies!

 

[ChxLadyCass]

Do you need to toss out FF after it's been sitting for awhile? In their feeder I mean

 

[barred2rock]

Do you need to toss out FF after it's been sitting for awhile? In their feeder I mean

Last couple of days, I've just been leaving it out until they finish it. This morning I put the FF in their actual feeder with the orange lid building up the feed. I came back a few hours later, they had almost finished it all. Now I have it in the feeder without the lid inside. As long as you don't have a heat source heating the FF, I think it's fine to leave it out for 24 hours or longer. Seems to me, the worst that can happen is that it'll get more fermented.