KEFIR - who makes it, drinks it, and/or feeds it to their chickens?

[RoseMarie1]

From what I've read, water kefir is as good as kefir made with various other media, including soy milk, goats milk, and cows milk.
Anne and I have stopped making kombucha for a while. We'll go back to it later though. We gave it to our chickens too. You're right, they thought the chunks of the mother scobi were like steak.
I'm sitting here drinking a cup of probiotics now, i.e., I just finished working with my kefir mix.

I make kefir and have been doing it for a year now. I mix it with my chicks starter food and they love it. You should see them go at it. lol I have also given them plain yogurt with their food to.
I also make cheeses and yogurt with it. To make the yogurt just use a coffee filter in a PLASTIC strainer and pour the kefir in with it sitting on top of a bowl so it will have something for the whey to drain into from the kefir. you can use the whey in all sorts of ways to. just do a google on uses for whey.then when it all drains out you are left with nice yogurt or cream cheese which ever you want to use it for. Thats the way I do it anyway.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I make kefir and have been doing it for a year now. I mix it with my chicks starter food and they love it. You should see them go at it. lol I have also given them plain yogurt with their food to.
I also make cheeses and yogurt with it. To make the yogurt just use a coffee filter in a PLASTIC strainer and pour the kefir in with it sitting on top of a bowl so it will have something for the whey to drain into from the kefir. you can use the whey in all sorts of ways to. just do a google on uses for whey.then when it all drains out you are left with nice yogurt or cream cheese which ever you want to use it for. Thats the way I do it anyway.

Am wondering now if I need to keep doing this for my chicks since this has calcium and I am reading where it can harm their legs if they get too much calcium while they're young. Don't want to hurt my chicks so I think the yogurt and the kefr will have to wait until they need the calcium for laying eggs.Unless I just give it once a week or once every two weeks or something.

 

[RedRidge]

Everything gets used around here by humans (priority over animals)... after I make cheeses I then make ricotta (for humans).
Only thing left is whey from whey ricotta which I will sometimes give to laying hens.
The only thing my chicks get is their FF and BSF.
I don't use any of my raw milk or their products on the chickens because we consumme it all - instead I raise BSF for the chickens to make sure they get plenty of animal protein.
When I made milk kefir, it was for humans.
I make water kefir now as it is just as effective for our purposes.
Water kefir soda is made every 48 hrs and everyone has a bottle a day. This has enabled my husband to totally eliminate reflux meds which he took for years. This was our main objective in drinking kefir - and it has worked.
He used to drink milk kefir every morning... but, I make so much cheese in addition to drinking our raw milk that we don't share it with chickens unless I have some clabber or a batch of cheese bombs.

 

[Triple Willow]

Great thread.

 

[Lorien]

I started our FF two weeks ago with some water kefir grains. The birds adjusted well and eat much less feed. Their combs and legs look so much healthier already! I am so glad I found this thread and gave it a shot! Yay BYC!

 

[amberflea]

I started our FF two weeks ago with some water kefir grains. The birds adjusted well and eat much less feed. Their combs and legs look so much healthier already! I am so glad I found this thread and gave it a shot! Yay BYC!

So I have milk kefir and water kefir, do you need to let the feed set in the kefir water mixture for a certain amount of time? My chickens do love it mixed with their feed, as I have been doing this for a long time now.

 

[Lorien]

I have a bucket with two days worth of feed. I scoop out half each day, drain the liquid back into bucket and and refill bucket. It did get stronger ferment smell for a few days and seems to have leveled off.

 

[Smoky73]

I got my first batch of water kefir done for my sour crop patients, but I do nott think I can drink it myself, it smells yeast or femented, I know its supposed to. I pored a lttle of the water in the dogs water and the cats, as my cat has a really bad gut.
Are the kefir grains good to eat? I ate a piec etonight when I was transferring, and it did not taste like anyhing other than a harder texture than cottage cheese? I could tolerate to eat it, but not drink it. I have a really bad gut as well, but would like to be able to use it for myself I just do not think I could flavor it enough to drink LOL.

In a quart jar, how much kefir is too much to keep in the quart to recreate more?

I did purchase some kefir drink at the store, made by lifeway I think, it it of a decent value probiotic wise? I liked it.

 

[Susique333]

I make Kefir all the time with pasteurized milk and have for 5 years. The natural milk enzymes might be dead in the milk, but Kefir eat the sugars so YES you can make good Kefir in pasteurized milk. (in reply to someone who said you need raw milk)

 

[EllyHood]

Would it be ok to give my 2 day old chicks a chopped up SCOBY and/or some water kefir grains? If so, do I need to give them grit?



My kombucha recipe is a little different than Joe's and I LOVE it! It's like slightly tangy/citrusy sweet tea.
1 gallon water
2 cups starter kombucha
1 cup sugar
6 black tea bags

I use a 1 gallon Ball Mason jar for mine. I only let it go for 7 days so it's not too tangy. It tastes almost exactly like Lipton Brisk Lemon tea to me (do they even still make that?).