BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Beekissed]

Thanks, I just want to clarify a few things. Are you fermenting grains only? I can buy a feed that has grains as well as green and yellow peas in it, can you ferment legumes? If the grain etc. is not whole (ie crushed) does that matter? So you just take the feed and add water over the top and wait a few days, that's it? My understanding of fermenting veggies is that you have to brine them- so you aren't adding anything but water or do you add any salt? I'm thinking of adding a kefir starter as @DesertChic suggested. What temperature should fermentation be done at and for how many days?
If chickens are free ranging, do they pick up enough bacteria etc. or does fermented food provide a more or more varied gut flora than what they can just pick up?
Thanks.

I ferment my layer mash and others ferment any and every kind of feed they wish, while some just do whole grains or a mix of both. You can ferment legumes just fine. No brine...nada, zip. People brine veggies for long term storage while they are fermenting but your feed is likely to be fed out in a week's time, so no long term storage will be considered.

Here's a great site for all your FF questions that was put together by one of our BYC members, derived from the largest FF thread and questions asked there: https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[Beer can]

The mash I've been fermenting all summer has legumes in it. With this warm weather I've cut it down to one bucket on a one day ferment and leave some liquid and grain in it, add water, stir, add more mash which looks about 50/50 grain and powder, mix it up, good and working the next morning. I like this mash, I can put way more water in it than pellets or crumbles, water drains right off, doesn't turn to soup like pellets. From the mill much cheaper than TSC feed, $10 a 50lb bag.

 

[Kusanar]

For feeding huge amounts of birds FF, I wonder if you could put it in a barrel with a valve in the side near the bottom, you add water and feed through the top, then you open the valve and let the feed come out. You could actually attach a PVC trough feeder to the valve, keep the barrel in the pen with the birds or just outside, and just fill the feeders automatically with the valve. I'm thinking you could even put a timer, and possibly a float on the valve, so it will open at a certain time of day, then stop when the feed hits a certain level in the feeder, then it will keep it's self topped off for a certain amount of time before it stops filling back up and lets the birds empty the feeder. For mixing, you could rig a paint mixer in the barrel that will come on before the valve opens to stir things up a bit....

 

[Beer can]

Buy a old cement truck.....:-D

 

[Kusanar]

Buy a old cement truck.....:-D

It would probably work.... I saw something where someone turned one into a compost bin, he just threw stuff in as he got it and let it turn constantly

 

[omalicha]

Buy a old cement truck.....:-D

seriously? will that work to mix the ff?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

OK I read the articles, and I have one more question about fermented feed- you have to keep the feeders really clean, right? Doesn't the leftover fermented food spoil and grow Aspergillus and other nasties if you don't wash the feeders out after every meal?

 

[DesertChic]

I put chick starter feed and water in with my pipping eggs, but I noticed the chicks didn't touch either for the first day. I did wonder if maybe they just didn't like it? Next time I will try some hard boiled egg, maybe they will like that better.

The first day I sprinkle a little dry food around the brooder for the wobbly chicks to peck at, which they do with increasing vigor even if they don't eat the food. I always put probiotics and a vitamin boost in their water right from the start, and when they actually start eating the food I sprinkled on the floor of the brooder, then I introduce them to fermented feed. Every couple days I supplement their feed with some crushed hard-boiled egg. It's a simple system that's always worked well for me.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

seriously? will that work to mix the ff?

I've seen really little cute cement mixers- some are even made of plastic. The would be handy dumping your feed. There are food grade giant tub mixers too made for the food industry but those get expensive.

 

[gmatson]

I love my red stars. They are great layers. I have heard black austrolopes are great for egg production and hope to add a few to my flock this coming spring.