Best Fermented Grains/Feed for Chickens

[mg15]

I feed fermented grains, and I just top there regular feed with it.

Chris

I just found your answer.
So you do not ferment the crumbles.
You ferment whole grains.
ughhh....I just started to ferment the starter crumbles
This is so hard.

 

[Chris09]

I just found your answer.
So you do not ferment the crumbles.
You ferment whole grains.
ughhh....I just started to ferment the starter crumbles
This is so hard.

I myself just ferment grains.

Chris

 

[Ullie]

Island Roo, I love your trough feeder, did you make this from pvc pipe and if so...... what did you use to cut such a straight section on the pipe.

thanks again.

This is what my trough feeders look like but they usually hang outside. A piece of gutter screwed onto a piece of works too but like to hang mine.

 

[Chris09]

Island Roo, I love your trough feeder, did you make this from pvc pipe and if so...... what did you use to cut such a straight section on the pipe.

thanks again.

When I made mine about 10 or so years ago I used 6 inch PVC pipe and I used a standers circular saw with a fine tooth plywood blade in it to cut it.

Chris

 

[Ullie]

Thanks

 

[Island Roo]

I used a rotary tool with a cutting blade. Its goes quickly if you don't have a lot to do. I thought about using a table saw but I've had PVC catch on saw blades before. As Chris mentioned, using a fine tooth blade would be the way to go if using a power saw.

Mine is 4" pvc.

 

[Ullie]

I used a rotary tool with a cutting blade. Its goes quickly if you don't have a lot to do. I thought about using a table saw but I've had PVC catch on saw blades before. As Chris mentioned, using a fine tooth blade would be the way to go if using a power saw.

Mine is 4" pvc.

Yes, I have also tried the power saw with pvc and I guess I didn't have the right blade or set low enough and it stuck and made a bit of a messy job.

I do have a rotary tool in the garage somewhere, I should look for it again seems like I could of used it already more than once.

Thanks Island Roo

 

[NickyPick]

I started with fermenting my Layena pellets. I threw in some BOSS and oatmeal at first. It took 2 days to start the bubbles, so I started feeding. By day 4, I had gotten a bag of scratch grains, so now my bucket is about half and half of layena and scratch grains and I just add more feed & water every other day and stir whenever I pass the bucket. It has been going on for almost 2 weeks now and still smells great. The chickens love it.

I know there's another lady here that has had her bucket of FF going for over a year now, just adding grains & water and stirring. Once you get the fermentation going, you're good.

 

[spiritrancho]

I started with fermenting the lay pellets and scratch I had in stock. Now for fermenting I purchase only recleaned wheat oats and barley. I dont eat GMO stuff nor want to feed my critters that crap. Researchers have proven that GMO negatively effects reproductive systems in mamals but I found also effects the birds and rabbits. I went from 2 eggs a day to 15 after eliminating the usual feeds. Most corn, soy(read protien), sugar beets, and canola oil are GMO and that is what the feed is made from. By the way my rabbits are yielding twice as many babies and getting prgnant twice as often on barely grass vs. pellets.

 

[Kilsharion]

I just found your answer.
So you do not ferment the crumbles.
You ferment whole grains.
ughhh....I just started to ferment the starter crumbles
This is so hard.

That's not a problem, hon. Fermenting the crumbles does help to reduce the carbs and initialize breakdown for easier digestion. It won't hurt anything; but, yes, grains themselves are better to ferment. Some do crumbles/pellets all the time with no grain in the mix. It seems to work for them. I use a mash (ground grains) which ferments very well.

At ~72 hours the carbs that are in the feed/grains begins to truly be converted to alcohol. However...don't panic (HHGTG anyone?). You don't get any significant alcohol levels present until well after day six or seven. And, if you're worried about it at all, just put vinegar in the batch. Apple Cider Vinegar is the popular choice. The vinegar converts the alcohol to more vinegar. You aren't going to have enough alcohol to have to worry about acidity levels. Especially if you are extracting feed and adding feed every ~24 to 72 hours.

If you are using a plastic bucket for fermentation, be certain to allow reasonable air exchange. You can cover it with a towel if you want. I just ferment in an open bucket to encourage additional wild yeasts to join in the fun.

As for feeding - I use pie tins for some since they are small groups of six. The large group gets a pvc pipe much like what's been shown in this thread. My day olds/brooder chicks, however, get a top off of my largest storage container. I do mixed brooding, so there are some larger chicks/keets in with the day olds and anything with an edge would result in a snapped neck (BTDTGTT). If they are all the same age, that doesn't matter, and using a pie tin would work just as well...up on a small platform to keep it out of the shavings.

That's what my 'feeder' for day olds looks like

As for smell, as Nicky pointed out, a good ferment smells wonderful......if you don't have fish meal or other meat meal/byproducts in your mix. Crumbles/pellets essentially smell like either a really good dough on the rise or early stages of beer fermentation. In other words, delightful. H&H feed, however....well, let's just say you'd be better off fermenting it where you don't go all that often. The fermenting fish meal puts off a rather unpleasant aroma.

As for hard....don't panic (favourite expression) and don't let it overwhelm you. Mankind has been fermenting for millennia. If you get into all the anecdotal shoulds and musts, it can be overwhelming. It's like trying to get a room full of people to say the exact same thing when questioning them about an event. Everyone has their own perception. Reality is generally somewhere in the confluence. So, just relax and roll with it.

If you have crumbles in your fermentation bucket and they are fermenting, just start adding some grain to it over time, if you want. It's not required. Though, I agree with Chris in that grains tend to be more beneficial when fermented. Crumbles have been so processed that I'm not sure how much true benefit is extracted from the fermentation process...but, it's not hurting anything. And, many on here swear by their fermented crumbles...so, it has to be doing some good.