Attempting Fermenting

[LyleVertigo]

Splitting up my feeding schedule has helped with waste some but they are still wasting way too much of this organic crumble I been buying for them. As far as what I can find available to me this 23% boiler crumbles looks to be the most cost effective as far as organics that I found, but the now 5 week chicks love to scatter it all out. Some of it gets eaten but I always end up throwing most of it away.

So fermenting is supposed to not only help it stretch further but as a mash it will make it hard for them to be picky (and the fermentation might make them enjoy it.

I looked up about fermenting and seen so much different ways about doing it. Some say that to do small 3 day fermentation and toss it out after the 4th day to some just dumping all their feed into a large container and keeping it covered with water.

I am familiar with fermenting in general, as I make my own mead, so I know that long term fermentation creates alcohol.

For now I'm making a small batch to test it out on them. I use the crumbles which turn into a mash once wet. I took a small mason jar and did 1 part crumble and 2 parts water, then I added a capfull of apple cider vinegar. After 1 day it's already bubbling.

Right now my biggest 2 concerns is: "What is the ideal amount to give them as to minimize waste (as you can't just keep it out until it's all gone)" and "what would be the ideal container to serve it to them to prevent soiling?" Would those chick feeders work fine since I have them already and they still have to put their heads inside?

 

[nuthatched]

Let's troubleshoot.
How are they scattering it? What feeders do they have? Why are you throwing it away?
You can simply dampen the feed to minimize powder waste and you serve any wet in a pan.

 

[Altairsky]

If it's processed feed just dampen the feed with water or yogurt.
Fermentation is something beneficial on whole seeds because it removes anti nutrients in the seeds, it's pointless in processed feed where everything is readily available.
Just moisten the leftovers, if you moisten them with yogurt or milk Kefir it will be even better.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Agree with nuthatched and Altairsky. The question for whether to ferment is driven by feed form. Use fermentation if you have a whole-grain formulation (goes by various terms.) If the feed is in pellet, mini-pellet, or crumble form, just dampen it, which will help the bits stick together. Example of what I mean by a whole-grain type feed, even though there are "bits" containing vitamins, etc. that aren't whole grains:

(Kalmbach Chickhouse Reserve)

FEEDERS:

For chicks, as in little guys, it works well on those long narrow chick feeders with the holes for their heads. Alas, it doesn't work well at all with gravity feeders, at least not for me.

As they reach 6-7 weeks or so, around the time they are fully feathered, they outgrow this type of chick feeder, and things get literally messy. I used heavy ceramic cereal bowls, which did keep the feed in one place, but they would climb into the bowl to eat, bringing along whatever form of litter you use.

Once mine turned 18 weeks or so and had some real size on them, I started using an elevated dog feeder, a little stand with two cut-outs for metal bowls, easily removed for washing at the end of the day, refilling the next morning. I still find random pine needles, etc. in the bowls, but they're a lot better about keeping their scaly feet on the ground and their beaks in the feed.

FERMENTATION FOR JUST A FEW CHICKENS:

If you do wind up with whole grain-type feed and want to ferment, the methods often vary due to flock size. I only have three pullets (for now, bwah hah hah), and at 20 weeks they generally eat not quite two cups a day. I ferment in two Mason jars. Initially, it does take a few days to get actual fermentation (as opposed to dampened feed) going. Two cups of feed plus de-chlorinated water added periodically through the day will fill a jar. Once that happens, I serve about 1/2 - 2/3 of it in the morning before letting them out of the run, so that they eat most of it, and then MOST of the remainder three hours before dark, leaving about an inch or two of fermented feed in the jar. I add two more cups of new feed, add the water, and give it a good stir. The remaining "old" (not spoiled) feed jump-starts the fermentation, and the jar will be ready to feed in a day and a half. So add new feed Monday evening, feed is ready Wednesday morning. On the day that this jar is fermenting, I feed from the other jar, so it will be nearly empty Tuesday evening, add the feed and water to remaining ferment, stir, and wait until Thursday morning when it's ready. It just keeps rolling along. With a larger flock, it makes more sense to use the multiple buckets that you'll see on Youtube, but this is great for just a few.

IDEAL AMOUNT TO SERVE:

Ha, good luck here! Even before we started yard-ranging them (letting them out of their run into protected areas of the back yard), their appetites were always boom-and-bust. Once they start getting nutrients and calories from non-feed, there's just no telling, and it will alternate between some waste and OMG We're On The Verge Of Death By Starvation days. (My pullets get dramatic on the subject of food.)

I bring in their bowls in the evening when we close up the coop. If there's a significant amount of food left, I keep it until the morning, dumping it out into one of their yard-ranging areas as a little present to find. (We have almost no rodent pressure; thank you, Weirdo Cat.) It does get eaten, presumably by the chickens.

But resign yourself to some waste. It's inevitable. I now have some dry feed available through the day in a gravity feeder. Yes, there's some waste, which I periodically dump into their run litter for them to find.

 

[BDutch]

I simply add water to the chicken feed and stir. The chickens dont mess with that and they love it. Make sure it’s finished within a certain time.
&
I have a no-spill feeder that works nicely. So they have always access to dry feed as well.

&
a ceramic bowl about 6 cm high. I only add max 1 cm feed.

I have bantams. For normal sized chickens you might need a deeper bowl/ other no-spil feeder.

 

[LyleVertigo]

Thanks everyone, I'll try the wet method until they are large enough to eat full grain to start fermenting. I'll give them some of this in a little treat bowl just to get them familiar with it in the meantime.

 

[Appalachickens]

Agree with nuthatched and Altairsky. The question for whether to ferment is driven by feed form. Use fermentation if you have a whole-grain formulation (goes by various terms.) If the feed is in pellet, mini-pellet, or crumble form, just dampen it, which will help the bits stick together. Example of what I mean by a whole-grain type feed, even though there are "bits" containing vitamins, etc. that aren't whole grains:
View attachment 4141962 (Kalmbach Chickhouse Reserve)

FEEDERS:

For chicks, as in little guys, it works well on those long narrow chick feeders with the holes for their heads. Alas, it doesn't work well at all with gravity feeders, at least not for me.

As they reach 6-7 weeks or so, around the time they are fully feathered, they outgrow this type of chick feeder, and things get literally messy. I used heavy ceramic cereal bowls, which did keep the feed in one place, but they would climb into the bowl to eat, bringing along whatever form of litter you use.

Once mine turned 18 weeks or so and had some real size on them, I started using an elevated dog feeder, a little stand with two cut-outs for metal bowls, easily removed for washing at the end of the day, refilling the next morning. I still find random pine needles, etc. in the bowls, but they're a lot better about keeping their scaly feet on the ground and their beaks in the feed.

FERMENTATION FOR JUST A FEW CHICKENS:

If you do wind up with whole grain-type feed and want to ferment, the methods often vary due to flock size. I only have three pullets (for now, bwah hah hah), and at 20 weeks they generally eat not quite two cups a day. I ferment in two Mason jars. Initially, it does take a few days to get actual fermentation (as opposed to dampened feed) going. Two cups of feed plus de-chlorinated water added periodically through the day will fill a jar. Once that happens, I serve about 1/2 - 2/3 of it in the morning before letting them out of the run, so that they eat most of it, and then MOST of the remainder three hours before dark, leaving about an inch or two of fermented feed in the jar. I add two more cups of new feed, add the water, and give it a good stir. The remaining "old" (not spoiled) feed jump-starts the fermentation, and the jar will be ready to feed in a day and a half. So add new feed Monday evening, feed is ready Wednesday morning. On the day that this jar is fermenting, I feed from the other jar, so it will be nearly empty Tuesday evening, add the feed and water to remaining ferment, stir, and wait until Thursday morning when it's ready. It just keeps rolling along. With a larger flock, it makes more sense to use the multiple buckets that you'll see on Youtube, but this is great for just a few.

IDEAL AMOUNT TO SERVE:

Ha, good luck here! Even before we started yard-ranging them (letting them out of their run into protected areas of the back yard), their appetites were always boom-and-bust. Once they start getting nutrients and calories from non-feed, there's just no telling, and it will alternate between some waste and OMG We're On The Verge Of Death By Starvation days. (My pullets get dramatic on the subject of food.)

I bring in their bowls in the evening when we close up the coop. If there's a significant amount of food left, I keep it until the morning, dumping it out into one of their yard-ranging areas as a little present to find. (We have almost no rodent pressure; thank you, Weirdo Cat.) It does get eaten, presumably by the chickens.

But resign yourself to some waste. It's inevitable. I now have some dry feed available through the day in a gravity feeder. Yes, there's some waste, which I periodically dump into their run litter for them to find.

I like the idea of an elevated dog food bowl when they get a little bigger. right now the ones I have that are seven weeks old in the coop are too small to use the treadle feeder and I’ve been using a regular bowl wedged in place with pavers. That keeps them from dumping it but they still hop into it.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I like the idea of an elevated dog food bowl when they get a little bigger. right now the ones I have that are seven weeks old in the coop are too small to use the treadle feeder and I’ve been using a regular bowl wedged in place with pavers. That keeps them from dumping it but they still hop into it.

I bought the dog bowls in the early days (when none of us know what to do, haha), but the stand is tall enough that they would have just climbed on in. Probably napped.

But it works well as they approach POL (point of lay.)

 

[LyleVertigo]

Dampening the food worked. The crumbled break apart and become like a dough and they are going nuts at it. The volume increases quite a bit as well, but now it doesn't want to go down the gravity container part. I Found these hanging troughs that look like they would be ideal.

 

[chuckmill83]

Agree with nuthatched and Altairsky. The question for whether to ferment is driven by feed form. Use fermentation if you have a whole-grain formulation (goes by various terms.) If the feed is in pellet, mini-pellet, or crumble form, just dampen it, which will help the bits stick together. Example of what I mean by a whole-grain type feed, even though there are "bits" containing vitamins, etc. that aren't whole grains:
View attachment 4141962 (Kalmbach Chickhouse Reserve)

FEEDERS:

For chicks, as in little guys, it works well on those long narrow chick feeders with the holes for their heads. Alas, it doesn't work well at all with gravity feeders, at least not for me.

As they reach 6-7 weeks or so, around the time they are fully feathered, they outgrow this type of chick feeder, and things get literally messy. I used heavy ceramic cereal bowls, which did keep the feed in one place, but they would climb into the bowl to eat, bringing along whatever form of litter you use.

Once mine turned 18 weeks or so and had some real size on them, I started using an elevated dog feeder, a little stand with two cut-outs for metal bowls, easily removed for washing at the end of the day, refilling the next morning. I still find random pine needles, etc. in the bowls, but they're a lot better about keeping their scaly feet on the ground and their beaks in the feed.

FERMENTATION FOR JUST A FEW CHICKENS:

If you do wind up with whole grain-type feed and want to ferment, the methods often vary due to flock size. I only have three pullets (for now, bwah hah hah), and at 20 weeks they generally eat not quite two cups a day. I ferment in two Mason jars. Initially, it does take a few days to get actual fermentation (as opposed to dampened feed) going. Two cups of feed plus de-chlorinated water added periodically through the day will fill a jar. Once that happens, I serve about 1/2 - 2/3 of it in the morning before letting them out of the run, so that they eat most of it, and then MOST of the remainder three hours before dark, leaving about an inch or two of fermented feed in the jar. I add two more cups of new feed, add the water, and give it a good stir. The remaining "old" (not spoiled) feed jump-starts the fermentation, and the jar will be ready to feed in a day and a half. So add new feed Monday evening, feed is ready Wednesday morning. On the day that this jar is fermenting, I feed from the other jar, so it will be nearly empty Tuesday evening, add the feed and water to remaining ferment, stir, and wait until Thursday morning when it's ready. It just keeps rolling along. With a larger flock, it makes more sense to use the multiple buckets that you'll see on Youtube, but this is great for just a few.

IDEAL AMOUNT TO SERVE:

Ha, good luck here! Even before we started yard-ranging them (letting them out of their run into protected areas of the back yard), their appetites were always boom-and-bust. Once they start getting nutrients and calories from non-feed, there's just no telling, and it will alternate between some waste and OMG We're On The Verge Of Death By Starvation days. (My pullets get dramatic on the subject of food.)

I bring in their bowls in the evening when we close up the coop. If there's a significant amount of food left, I keep it until the morning, dumping it out into one of their yard-ranging areas as a little present to find. (We have almost no rodent pressure; thank you, Weirdo Cat.) It does get eaten, presumably by the chickens.

But resign yourself to some waste. It's inevitable. I now have some dry feed available through the day in a gravity feeder. Yes, there's some waste, which I periodically dump into their run litter for them to find.

great info!