how to ferment chicken feed
I've been doing this for over 6 Mo's now, and it seems to be working quiet well. our feed bill went from $300.00 a month to $150.00 witch i still think is way too high so we are growing food for them as well. the reason i am posting this is because i have to be away for a few days to get a tumor cut out and i needed to explain to DH how to feed the birds while I'm away. so i figured why not share it with everyone. so here we go !!!
first you take some bakers yeast, DH says we got 2lbs for $4.00 at smart and final.
to get it started i use 4oz of bakers yeast in a 5 gal bucket
then i add 2 1/3 coffee cans of chicken scratch. i weighed them full and they are 4lbs, so about 9.5 lbs chicken scratch
and 1 can or 4lbs of layer pellets second, because you want the pellets on top, otherwise you end up with a big mess in the bottom of your bucket
then you let it ferment for 3 days
here's my plan of attack i use so i can keep track of whats going on
we give our birds one 5gal bucket of feed a day and on the third day we give them two 5 gal buckets of feed
i use the white lid to tell me where I'm at.
the first bucket on the left is 1/4 full of fresh water and i use it to start my next batch of feed
when i see this in the morning i know that the birds get 2 buckets of feed today
when i am done today it will look like this, and in the morning i'll know this is a 1 bucket day
when i see this, it means it;s the second 1 bucket day
when i see this it is a 2 bucket day
so i take my bucket of 1/4 full of fresh water and set the strainer on it
and pour the feed in the strainer, then i let it drain for about 30 mins
then i dump it in a bucket
and do it again and give it about 30 mins
when you get to the scratch it drains faster
and before long your ready to go feed the birds
then, i always rinse out the bucket
and fill it 1/4 full of fresh water for tomorrows new batch
then i add to the water that i strained
2 and 1/3 cans of scratch
and 1 can of layer pellets on top so i don't make a big mess in the bottom of the bucket
then i place the white lid on tomorrows feed so i will know which one to feed them in the morning
a couple of pointers,
once you have your base yeast liquid right it will last several weeks.
you need to make sure that the feed is covered with water or it will mold
when one of my buckets starts to get a light grey foam on it i add 3ozs more yeast.
i clean out my new batch bucket every day
our hens went on strike for a few days when i first started feeding them their new food.
OK, so there ya go folks and DH i hope i made it clear enough fer ya. oh, and
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of
battle."
I've been doing this for over 6 Mo's now, and it seems to be working quiet well. our feed bill went from $300.00 a month to $150.00 witch i still think is way too high so we are growing food for them as well. the reason i am posting this is because i have to be away for a few days to get a tumor cut out and i needed to explain to DH how to feed the birds while I'm away. so i figured why not share it with everyone. so here we go !!!
first you take some bakers yeast, DH says we got 2lbs for $4.00 at smart and final.
to get it started i use 4oz of bakers yeast in a 5 gal bucket
then i add 2 1/3 coffee cans of chicken scratch. i weighed them full and they are 4lbs, so about 9.5 lbs chicken scratch
and 1 can or 4lbs of layer pellets second, because you want the pellets on top, otherwise you end up with a big mess in the bottom of your bucket
then you let it ferment for 3 days
here's my plan of attack i use so i can keep track of whats going on
we give our birds one 5gal bucket of feed a day and on the third day we give them two 5 gal buckets of feed
i use the white lid to tell me where I'm at.
the first bucket on the left is 1/4 full of fresh water and i use it to start my next batch of feed
when i see this in the morning i know that the birds get 2 buckets of feed today
when i am done today it will look like this, and in the morning i'll know this is a 1 bucket day
when i see this, it means it;s the second 1 bucket day
when i see this it is a 2 bucket day
so i take my bucket of 1/4 full of fresh water and set the strainer on it
and pour the feed in the strainer, then i let it drain for about 30 mins
then i dump it in a bucket
and do it again and give it about 30 mins
when you get to the scratch it drains faster
and before long your ready to go feed the birds
then, i always rinse out the bucket
and fill it 1/4 full of fresh water for tomorrows new batch
then i add to the water that i strained
2 and 1/3 cans of scratch
and 1 can of layer pellets on top so i don't make a big mess in the bottom of the bucket
then i place the white lid on tomorrows feed so i will know which one to feed them in the morning
a couple of pointers,
once you have your base yeast liquid right it will last several weeks.
you need to make sure that the feed is covered with water or it will mold
when one of my buckets starts to get a light grey foam on it i add 3ozs more yeast.
i clean out my new batch bucket every day
our hens went on strike for a few days when i first started feeding them their new food.
OK, so there ya go folks and DH i hope i made it clear enough fer ya. oh, and
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of
battle."