Calling all Microbiologists! Bacteriologists! Fermentologists!! Why doesn't fermented feed just rot

[SilkieNation]

I don't get it. You take grain-based feed, dump some water and ACV on it, stir it around, put some kind of cover on it, leave it out on the counter (or where ever) for a few days, and it ferments. If I did that with most food, it would grow toxic bacteria or mold. Can someone please explain this to me?

I've been making it in a soup tureen for my tiny flock and they seem to love it. I am also getting more eggs. But I worry that one of these days I'm going to feed them something that'll make them sick. I need to understand the science behind this process!

 

[centrarchid]

When I have done it, the microbes involved are overwhelmingly of the type like used to produce bread or beer. Sugar concentrations first very high with fermentation byproducts (ethanol and volatile fatty acids) building up quickly to slow development of undesirable microbes.

 

[SilkieNation]

Thank you. Do you know if it goes bad at some point? Or, is there a point when it gets too fermented and nutrients start breaking down? It seems so inexact.

 

[centrarchid]

When I ferment, it is done it batches set on a schedule. Fermentation during early stages improves palatability so you want to take avdantage of that which is temperature dependent. Warmer temp means less time. Some of the carbohydrate portion is broken down into components that are easier for birds to process. The microbes can also produce mircronutrients such as vitamins which occurs rapidly. Some amino acids also produced but ideally most diets good on that at milled. I ferment with intact grains that go through early stages of germination that activates some vitamins already in seeds and makes some nutrients more digestible. It also is a route by which birds can be watered during periods of extreme cold.

Allowing reactions to go to far results in increasing amounts of nutrients being converted in microbe and microbe activity which means less for bird even though birds consume microbes as well. When you inoculate mix with AVC if fermented product from previous batch you promote the establishment of preferred microbes while not doing so for the bad guys. The bad guys do eventually get in and some can consume either the waste of the desires fermentors or the feed itself.


The process is not exact and one you learn though trial and error. Commercial poultry producers have not adapted the practice owing to the voodoo nature of the process and because the feed is no longer suited for their system of moving it around

 

[SilkieNation]

This is very helpful. I think I get it now. The stuff I have going right now is probably a bit too cooked as I used pretty cooked juices and added new feed. It smells a bit too sweet/off.

From what you have told me, there are degrees of fermentation that are acceptable. I suspected this, but then really wondered why it just didn't rot in my nice, white soup tureen. I decided to try it in the first place because my birds just weren't eating enough and would go off their feed quickly if I gave them treats everyday, which I like to do (greens and berries, mealies - good stuff). Now they clean the plate, I am still treating them, and my one hen who wasn't laying has started to again. Love this stuff!!

Thanks so much for your responses centrarchid!