Questions about fermenting chicken and quail feed

[rosemarythyme]

I can't answer on fully submerged feeds as I've never done it that way, so I don't know if it "lasts" longer or not, or

Thank you for your response!
I assume you continue to stir it during those 2 to 4 days you serve it after fermentation?
I would probably store it indoors if I use this method.

I don't stir, at least not deliberately. Some stirring happens as I scoop out feed each day (as U_Stormcrow noted, if you use whole grain feeds the layers separate a bit, so I stir to ensure I'm serving a mix of the contents), but once feed and water are combined and set aside, I don't do anything to it until time to serve up.

Approximately how much fermented feed do you feed your chickens everyday?

My guess is I feed 4 to maybe 4.5 cups a day but I don't measure it (I use the same bowls each day, so I just fill them up and out they go). I have 10 standard hens.

I also offer dry pelleted feed all day, but they'll finish the FF first and the pellets are just there to get them through the rest of the day. This further decreases the need for me to be accurate about serving amounts.

How do you gauge how much dry feed to ferment to feed your flock for a few days?
How much does the feed expand after 24 hours? Many people say their feed nearly doubles (but this also has to do with the type of feed they used), do you find this to be true when you ferment your feed?

I eyeball it (very scientific, I know) - I just know from experience that the plastic cereal storage container I use to hold dry feed holds enough to make 4-5 days worth of FF.

As far as expansion, you're going to find that each feed behaves differently. I ferment Scratch & Peck which is a whole grain mash feed, and it doesn't expand as drastically as a pelleted or crumble feed would. I'd say it maybe rises in the jar 2" or so, so I would never fill to the top, but I can get away with starting a jar at 80% full.

I would recommend not going over 50% of jar capacity at first try, to see what kind of expansion your feed gives you, and adjust from there.

When you say 'snap a lid on', do you mean closing it tightly? I heard that if the lid is sealed the fermentation can cause the whole thing to explode! Maybe it wouldn't if you left enough room at the top to contain the pressure?

You can cover it, but do not ever seal it so it's air tight. A few people on here have had sealed jars explode from the build up of CO2.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

I can't answer on fully submerged feeds as I've never done it that way, so I don't know if it "lasts" longer or not, or

I don't stir, at least not deliberately. Some stirring happens as I scoop out feed each day (as U_Stormcrow noted, if you use whole grain feeds the layers separate a bit, so I stir to ensure I'm serving a mix of the contents), but once feed and water are combined and set aside, I don't do anything to it until time to serve up.

My guess is I feed 4 to maybe 4.5 cups a day but I don't measure it (I use the same bowls each day, so I just fill them up and out they go). I have 10 standard hens.

I also offer dry pelleted feed all day, but they'll finish the FF first and the pellets are just there to get them through the rest of the day. This further decreases the need for me to be accurate about serving amounts.


I eyeball it (very scientific, I know) - I just know from experience that the plastic cereal storage container I use to hold dry feed holds enough to make 4-5 days worth of FF.

As far as expansion, you're going to find that each feed behaves differently. I ferment Scratch & Peck which is a whole grain mash feed, and it doesn't expand as drastically as a pelleted or crumble feed would. I'd say it maybe rises in the jar 2" or so, so I would never fill to the top, but I can get away with starting a jar at 80% full.

I would recommend not going over 50% of jar capacity at first try, to see what kind of expansion your feed gives you, and adjust from there.

You can cover it, but do not ever seal it so it's air tight. A few people on here have had sealed jars explode from the build up of CO2.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Molpet]

I feed 3 or 4 five gallon buckets a day to my chickens and turkeys. I make it like oatmeal after it's absorbed the water. At the bottom is an inch or three of liquid when I transfer it to a couple two gallon buckets. I reuse that as starter, backslop.
A Byc member made this FAQ years ago , it's the method I use, but I don't stir.
https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

I feed 3 or 4 five gallon buckets a day to my chickens and turkeys. I make it like oatmeal after it's absorbed the water. At the bottom is an inch or three of liquid when I transfer it to a couple two gallon buckets. I reuse that as starter, backslop.
A Byc member made this FAQ years ago , it's the method I use, but I don't stir.
https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Thank you for the information!!

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

To start, I want to thank everyone who has responded to this thread and shared important information on fermenting chicken feed. All of you have been a huge help!

I'm feeling a lot more confident with the process and plan to start fermenting my feed tomorrow.
Here's the idea:
I'm going to have two 5 gallon buckets (both food grade), One for the chick starter feed (for our chickens) and the other for the game bird feed (30% protein, for our baby quail and guinea fowl). I'm going to fill each bucket about 1/3 of the way with feed, and then fill it just over 2/3 of the way full with chlorine free water (enough for the feed to be fully submerged in the water after expansion). I'll give them a good stir and then very loosely cover them with their plastic lids (I'll place the lids on the buckets but not press down so they don't seal). I'll store the buckets inside (at room temperature). I'll stir the feed 2-3 times a day. After 2 days of fermenting I'll serve the birds some of the fermented feed (I'll scoop it out with a mesh strainer, reserving the water in the bucket). I'll then top up the buckets with fresh feed and chlorine free water (along with whatever feed and water was left), give it a good stir, and loosely cover as I did previously. I'll then serve the birds fermented feed again and repeat (always stirring 2-3 times a day). In this way I'll have an on-going jump started fermentation process.

Does that sound like it'll work? Any details I might have missed or forgotten? As long as the feed doesn't have fuzzy mold or smell like death it should be good right? I saw someone say they had a fermentation continuing like this for 8 years!

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

GIve it a try like you planned, and then adjust if needed. Only extra piece of advice I'd add at this point is maybe make the initial batches smaller (even if you have a lot of birds) - make sure they'll eat it without issue first, before committing to it, to reduce any possible waste.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

GIve it a try like you planned, and then adjust if needed. Only extra piece of advice I'd add at this point is maybe make the initial batches smaller (even if you have a lot of birds) - make sure they'll eat it without issue first, before committing to it, to reduce any possible waste.

Oh yeah, I'll do smaller batches to start with. Thanks for the advice!
The plan is to get the fermentation process going today!

Thanks for your help!!

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

I just fed the chickens some fermented feed (bubbly, no mold, with the scent of very slightly sour wet feed) and they love it!!

I think the guineas like it too!

We're going to try the quail on it later.

Thank you so much everyone for all of your help!!

 

[Vixen with Chickens]

I've done the never ending bucket method with quail before, covered with water in a large glass jar, stired twice a day, morning and night, put new food in with left over food after feeding, adding new water as needed so it was always covered. Quails loved it and none got sick.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

I've done the never ending bucket method with quail before, covered with water in a large glass jar, stired twice a day, morning and night, put new food in with left over food after feeding, adding new water as needed so it was always covered. Quails loved it and none got sick.

Wow, neat! My never ending bucket did great for a few days to week, but it started to smell sour, I mean really sour, in particular the gamebird feed. How sour of a smell is normal? I've read that fermented feed should smell pleasant, even slightly sweet, like that of a sour dough starter. I've never made a sour dough starter so I have no idea what that smells like. People said slightly sour is perfectly fine, but this smelled really sour, and certainly not pleasant. I didn't see any sign of mold and there was bubbles, which is supposed to be good. I've heard that storing FF outdoors can cause it to spoil but this was indoors in my room. I as stirring it twice a day. We ended up getting concerned it was rancid and I've heard rancid FF can make your birds ill so we ended up throwing it away. I wasn't sure that it was bad but didn't want to risk our birds. We're going to start a 2-3 day bucket cycle so that the chance of going rancid is less but I'm still open to the idea of a never ending bucket as long as its safe.