Texas

[TexasLisa]

Good Morning Fellow Texans!

Here is the thread for Fermented Feed: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

Beekissed is the lady to go to for questions on this stuff. She is from West Virginia and believes in keeping everything simple. Either go to the forum or PM her. She will answer. (We made her an honorary Texan a while back)

Fermented Feed should smell sourdough or yeasty. 8iesenuff if you are putting a lid on your jar, DON'T. It needs to breathe--put a coffee filter over it or a lid with a crack showing. It should be stirred twice a day. Fermented feed is for chicks and the adults. It is good for the chicks because it keeps them from getting 'pasty butts'. It will make the chickens' feathers shinier, healthier, eggshells are harder, AND it is cheaper to ferment the feed. They don't eat as much. My feed bill is way down because I switched over. All I use in mine is layer pellets and scratch. I also add (from time to time) garlic, red pepper, and oregano.

Ya'll have a great day!

Lisa

 

[Ms Jellybean]

They do. Call them to get the places where they have a drop in your area.
How long do you ferment before you feed? Do you tighten the mason jar lid? Does your feed have fish meal in it?

My feed always smells bad, but it's the fish meal. I use a jar with an airlock so that it can't mold. Mold is always bad. You should sanitize your jar in the dishwasher before using again, since it had mold in it.

My method is quite simple, especially since I only have four chickens right now. I put about a tablespoon of fermented feed in the bottom of the jar. This is my starter. I fill the jar with dry feed to about the half way mark. Then I fill with water to the shoulder of the jar. I stir, clip the lid (since it is a Fido jar) and attach the airlock. Usually it sits for 24 hours before I feed. I have two jars going almost all the time so that I never run out while more is fermenting.

For the chicks, I will use a splash of apple cider vinegar with the mother to get it the ferment started. I should probably do that tomorrow, since I have chicks due to hatch in a week. Unfortunately, out of the 9 eggs, I think I will only get two chicks. I had 3 clears, ain't egg that never started. The rest are quitters. I'm pretty bummed.

Don't clamp the lid on. The jar could explode! It's been known to happen.

Good Morning Fellow Texans!

Here is the thread for Fermented Feed: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

Beekissed is the lady to go to for questions on this stuff. She is from West Virginia and believes in keeping everything simple. Either go to the forum or PM her. She will answer. (We made her an honorary Texan a while back)

Fermented Feed should smell sourdough or yeasty. 8iesenuff if you are putting a lid on your jar, DON'T. It needs to breathe--put a coffee filter over it or a lid with a crack showing. It should be stirred twice a day. Fermented feed is for chicks and the adults. It is good for the chicks because it keeps them from getting 'pasty butts'. It will make the chickens' feathers shinier, healthier, eggshells are harder, AND it is cheaper to ferment the feed. They don't eat as much. My feed bill is way down because I switched over. All I use in mine is layer pellets and scratch. I also add (from time to time) garlic, red pepper, and oregano.

Ya'll have a great day!

Lisa

+1 to what Lisa said too.

Here is another thread on fermented feed. It also has a link for the thread Lisa posted in it.


It is going to be a beautiful day here! Warm with not too bad winds. I'm going to ride my bike as soon as all the fog burns off and the temp warms up a bit.

 

[txmel]

Has anyone used the little cups with floats that are hooked to a pipe? I got 6 of them. Thought they would work well for our big birds.  We have a 10 gallon igloo jug for the reservoir and will run PVC into the coop with the jug outside for easy access.

Hi I use the cups. I have them plumbed off of a 55 gallon barrel. I absolutely love them! You do have to clean them out every so often but they are soooooo much easier then the water buckets. The chickens learn quickly how to work them, even the duck! The chickens cant tip them and dont scratch in them so they stay cleaner than the bucket did for me i have 10 set up for 28 birds spaced far enough apart that they arent crowded together when they drink. I ve had this set up for a year now and even with the hard freezes this yr none of the fittings or pipes cracked, i did place water out in buckets during the freeze because the cups were frozen

 

[Chick-a-dow-dee]

First time chicker here. Why would one need to do this?

You saw how well my resolve to wait went away once people started posting the chick pics. see below I've read they usually clog up. Quote:
Originally Posted by 8isenuff [COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR] I had been fermenting for a couple weeks and the chickens loved it. Then they stopped one day....I looked at the jar and it had white mold growing....i thoroughly cleaned the jars and started over....the next batch, no mold, but the first time I opened it smelled pretty "off"....it normally would smell like tart wet cat food....this smelled like rotting fruit or something.... Any idea what might be going on? I've been using masin jars and lids....could they be harboring germs even after washing? I've just bee using layer pellets....
******************* I've done a bit of research on FF and I asked Beekissed (on here) about it as well. There is a really long thread you can read, but this sums it up pretty well. This is his reply to my questions on it.
Fermenting starter food for chicks is as simple as placing starter in a bucket and pouring water into it until you've mixed all the feed well enough that it's moistened fully. Add more water~about 6 in. more~to account for further absorption. You can add some mother vinegar~doesn't really matter how much..just a splash~or not, your preference. Leave it somewhere warm and you can place a lid over it but don't snap it down tight on all sides..leave a crack for air exchange. The next day, give it a stir. Is it about the consistency of peanut butter or very thick oatmeal? Perfect. If too dry, add just a little more water until it's a smooth, thick mixture that can be stirred. You should see some bubbles rising when you stir. If not, no worries. Sniff it...does it still smell sweet or does it have a slight sour smell like sourdough bread? If still sweet, it will need more time, if smelling sour, the fermentation has started and you can start feeding it then. You don't really need to strain it if you keep your mixture nice and thick. Just stir it every day before you feed to moisten the top of the feed and then feed it out to the chicks.

A feeder that doesn't allow them to get into the feed can save you a lot of trouble...I used an old muffin pan with a piece of fencing over it to keep them from wading in the feed. No longer than the feed stays in the metal of the pan, it won't start leaching into the feed, so no worries there. Just dish out what they can clean up in a couple of hours, twice a day. Good deep litter will help clean off the feed residue from their faces, chests or feet. Don't place the feed directly under the light or the top will bake hard, but keep it near the circle of light to keep it warm. Check back on it later and if it has gotten a crust, just stir that up and they will eat the rest of the feed quite easily. If you are finding they can't clean it up in a couple of hours, feed a little less next time until they have cleaned the entire feeder before they get fed once again.

Don't worry about mixing this or that in your chicken feed...folks get a little too wrapped up in that and it makes them feel like they are doing something special, but it's not necessary unless you are mixing in a cheaper grain to cut the protein percentage and to save money. If it isn't saving you money, it's not worth the bother. That's one of the reasons to do fermented feed, so adding expensive grains or supplements to the mix is kind of defeating the purpose and is entirely unnecessary~not to mention is giving the chickens too much protein. USDA sources on information about the protein percentage of brewer's grains(a less potent end product than the FF)shows them at 24% and no chicken needs more than 16% to produce an egg, so no further adjustments to FF need to happen unless it's downward....like adding a cheaper grain like barley to the layer feed to make the layer feed go further.

But, you don't have to worry about that at all....just ferment the layer ration, doesn't matter what brand or type, and feed it to the chickens and gauge their reaction, how the feed ferments, tweak your water amounts to get the easiest texture or thickness and enjoy the process. That's all...just enjoy the simplicity of taking a cheap, substandard feed source like grains and amping them up to provide a better nutrition for your birds. No need to complicate it any further....just a bucket and a scoop, feed and some water.

Any questions about it after that can be answered pretty quickly and usually quite accurately at the two FF threads on BYC,one is in the meat bird section and the other in the feed and water section of the forum. Both are dedicated to giving the correct information on the method and have many people who have been doing it for some time...one lady has been doing it for years in large quantities and can give you the low down on it for the long term or for large quantities.

Good luck, Laurie! And give all those Texans a big ol' hug from Bee!

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Hi I use the cups. I have them plumbed off of a 55 gallon barrel. I absolutely love them! You do have to clean them out every so often but they are soooooo much easier then the water buckets. The chickens learn quickly how to work them, even the duck! The chickens cant tip them and dont scratch in them so they stay cleaner than the bucket did for me i have 10 set up for 28 birds spaced far enough apart that they arent crowded together when they drink. I ve had this set up for a year now and even with the hard freezes this yr none of the fittings or pipes cracked, i did place water out in buckets during the freeze because the cups were frozen

Is this the cup you are talking about?

 

[Ms Jellybean]

First time chicker here. Why would one need to do this?

Fermenting the feed makes it more nutritious and you also need to feed less so it saves money too..

 

[hensfortherapy]

Is this the cup you are talking about? 

MsJellybean you are so great about posting the links to things. I wouldn't know half of what people are talking about if not for you. Thank you.

 

[ClovisMan]

Quote: I think he means these:

 

[ClovisMan]

Quote: I wouldn't bother with fermented feed unless I was doing broilers or fryers. Birds that only have an 8 week life span before slaughter. You want them as big as can be before butcher.

For a laying flock....pellets and free range IMHO.

 

[hensfortherapy]

Here's a tip for people using chickens as therapy. Do not let the keeping of chickens be a cause of your anxiety. Keep it simple. Start off small. No roosters as you will not be small long unless you have more resolve than a saint. If you are worrying over your chickens, cut back.