Fermented feed feeder

[JulesChicks]

@hennible Great Thread! Found a link to your thread on the natural thread. Planning on doing FF when I get our chickens and just may try this method. The though of making up a batch daily isn't appealing Thanks!

 

[hennible]

Thanks, hope the method suits you. But if you dish out daily in a bowl or trough, you don't need to make a batch that often, just make a bigger one, and feed out, refresh it with more feed, feed it out. I do love my feeders though
Speaking of, I should make a batch!

 

[hennible]

So I put a fermentation lock in the lid of one of my feeders. I'm not sure if it's just a fluke of how I mix my different buckets, if this one was was wetter or dryer or what but, it did not overflow the liquids the way they usually do, and the food is flowing into the feed port without me messing around as much with the amount of water in the feed... :/

 

[Vian]

I make my own greek yogurt, which means I strain off the whey after it's fermented. Could I use the whey (full of good probiotics) to ferment feed? Do you just mix their regular feed with water and maybe a probiotic starter and let it sit for a few days? I'd love to try this. Awesome feeder design too!

 

[hennible]

Just feed, warm water and apple cider vinegar is what I usually use. I see no reason you couldn't use the whey. And once you've got feed with a good culture going, reserve some of your already fermented feed for your next batch, it ferments extremely fast for me when I do that... Overnight I'll see bubbling.
I've used probiotic powder out of capsules to start a fermentation before as well, was interesting, worked well...
Truthfully though you don't need to add anything except for feed and warm water, it will ferment within four days without much help from you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them/5730#post_14907294
Here's a great thread with people who have been using fermented feed for years if you'd like to check it out.
I really enjoy making FF and the chickens absolutely love it, they really do favour it, the ducks too. And there are lots of things you can add to it, I've added debittered Brewers yeast, five star nutritional yeast, molasses, dried nettle leaf, Black oil sunflower seeds... Some people ferment their own grain blends instead of premade feeds...
Anyway try it out, it's great.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

hi Hennible, were you banned from OFH?

 

[sunflower4you]

So I put a fermentation lock in the lid of one of my feeders. I'm not sure if it's just a fluke of how I mix my different buckets, if this one was was wetter or dryer or what but, it did not overflow the liquids the way they usually do, and the food is flowing into the feed port without me messing around as much with the amount of water in the feed...

Love this idea! Sounds like you are close to perfecting a design.

 

[hennible]

hi Hennible, were you banned from OFH?

No I just left, too many social threads, plus the jailbird forum. I peek in from time to time though.

 

[jckruid]

I was just going to mention trying a fermentation lock. You beat me to it. Looks like a great idea that I'm going to have to try. Thanks!

 

[hennible]

It the darnedest this the fermentation lock really seems to be helping... I'll be refilling that feeder today so I will have a better idea how much it helps things soon.