on the other hand...alot more knowledgeable men than me have fed fermented oats for decades and decades and swear by them. there are even recipes out there that for fermenting oats that are quite elaborate. and the ingrediants do seem to have much good health benefits to them. i.e. vinegar, cinniamon, vit/elec. mixtures, other proabotics. and i fed this way for a long time. you can soak the oats for weeks and as long as they stay submerged, they will not rot. just stirr them occasionally.
i used to put a heat lamp over my bucket of oats so it wouldnt freeze in the wintertime. i know of others that fill 32 gall. plastic trashcans full of soaked oats and wrap it in heat tape. gets them to cook faster.
i never ever saw any bad effects from fermenting oats, except the loose droppings. im a student of MIKE STRECKER's book. and he couldnt find any benefits of soaked oats or grains to make it worth the effort. it was his writings that got me to looking at the droppings closer. there is alot to be learned by looking at chicken manure. but as mentioned, many swear by them old stinking fermenting oats.
if anyone does chose to ferment them, let them soak till they stink bad, and the white foam continually forms on top. with occasional bubbles. thats when they are ready to feed. the fowl LOVE them this way.
here is a good recipe that many swear by:
Get a 30 Gallon plastic garbage can...the heavy duty ones....rinse out thouroughly....into this add:
one gallon of apple cider vinigar
one pound of brown sugar
four quarts of vegetable juice concentrate
one cup of Red Cell
one half pack of vitamin/electrolyte powder
one 2 1/2oz. jar of ground cinnamon
now fill the can half full of water and stirr all the ingreidents thoroughly. add 100lbs. of whole recleaned oats... there are several brands o the market so just make sure that they are clean. Add more water till all of the oats are covered. Cover this and let set for 24 Hrs.... then add more water each day untill the oats quite soaking it up. I like to let mine set for 7 days before feeding them to my fowl. I calculate the ratio of my feed so that I am feeding 20 to 25% oats. You can add a pack of brewers yeast or as Doc does it a can of beer to the mix to speed up the fermentation process. These oats REALLY help in hot weather.
now i must add i never used this recipe exactly. i did use everything listed but the suger, cinnamon, beer. everything else i vouch for. i did not ever soak this many at once either. i never had that many chickens at one time to where this amount was necessary.
