Fermented Feed Questions

[Blooie]

Hi, Cluckfun. I've only had my chickens about a year now, but I've learned quit a bit in that time. I asked some of the same questions on the start of this thread and from what Blooie has told me is that you continue to feed the dry feed along with the FF. BTW, I free choice my dry feed, always keeping the hopper full. I feed FF once a day in the evenings, and only give enough so that they can clean it up in about thirty minutes or so. But please bare in mind that I'm new to this as well, so I don't won't to steer you in the wrong direction. I would wait for Blooie to respond.

Um, lest anyone get the wrong idea, I am only feeding dry while I'm out of town so that my daughter-in-law, who hates all things "yucky" doesn't have to mess with the FF. Other than that, when I'm here they get only FF. Haven't gone through a winter using it, but Beekissed (one of BYCs pioneers in FF) said to feed them what they can clean up in 30 minutes so it doesn't freeze. I'm winging it here as well.

 

[Cluckfun]

Thank you timbowsr! I appreciate your feedback!

 

[Cluckfun]

Thank you Blooie! I appreciate your feedback too! I was thinking from what I have read elsewhere you don't need to put anything else down other than the FF, but I wasn't sure because some people say there should be food available 24/7, so that's why I wondered.

I knew a secondary concept of doing the FF after the health benefits was the fact that it does save on feed because you don't have so much waste from the dry food flying all over the place. Since I had not been putting down more than they could eat up within about 30 mins. that's what I'll continue to do. Should I do that once or twice a day? I have been doing it twice a day, for the past few days.

Thanks again!

 

[pdirt]

Hi, Cluckfun. I've only had my chickens about a year now, but I've learned quit a bit in that time. I asked some of the same questions on the start of this thread and from what Blooie has told me is that you continue to feed the dry feed along with the FF. BTW, I free choice my dry feed, always keeping the hopper full. I feed FF once a day in the evenings, and only give enough so that they can clean it up in about thirty minutes or so. But please bare in mind that I'm new to this as well, so I don't won't to steer you in the wrong direction. I would wait for Blooie to respond.

I also feed in a similar manner. We LOVE fermented foods and think a little is good in a diet, but it doesn't sit right in my mind to eat a diet of 100% fermented anything. I'm not saying anyone is doing it wrong otherwise, this is just my personal opinion. I have tried both ways, feeding 100% FF and about 20% FF (the rest being dry feed) and have not seen the benefit of feeding 100% over 20%.

 

[pdirt]

Just an update on my FF experiment. They absolutely love it! I have it in a gallon mason jar. Every evening I get enough out that they can completely eat in about thirty minutes ( about 6 - 7 spoonfuls ). I then put 2 cups of feed and 1 cup of water back in and stir it up vigorously. This seems to give me enough so that I am always leaving about a half gallon of the FF in the jar and then replenishing it for what I'll take out the next day. It doesn't have a bad smell, it just smells sour ( almost a sweet smell ) kind of like sauerkraut or something similar. It swells up and has bubbles on the top every evening and reminds me of sourdough starter. As for the feeder, these guys are in a limited space pen right now ( hopefully going into a new grow out pen this weekend ) so I split a four inch piece of pvc and attached it to two 2x4 pieces for legs, this is easily taken in and out of the pen and cleaning is a breeze. Yes, they jump in and walk around in it and I wish they wouldn't, the pen floor seems to take care of any left on their feet. But ... I will be building one of those feeders as soon as I get them in the new coup!!

BTW ... I have read of all the benefits of FF, but are there any visual indications of how it helps? I don't know if its because of the FF or just a natural growth spurt, but these guys are sure putting on some weight/height/frame. This has gone so well, I believe I am going to start another batch for my main coup. Will keep ya'll posted.

Sounds like you've got it down! The only tip
I would offer is to not leave so much fermented feed in your container when you replenish. Firstly, you don't need to...now that your culture is going strong in your container, you can nearly empty it and then replenish with feed and water. Secondly, master sourdough bread makers have found that doing their starter in such a way makes for a better starter and bread. Not sure why this works, but I have noticed they are right. Thirdly, leaving feed to ferment for long periods of time can begin to break down vital nutrients, such as proteins. If your container is basically always half full, then you are having a fairly slow turnaround on the total feed content in your container. A day or two is plenty time to ferment since your culture is strong.

If you want to experiment to see for yourself, remove about a cup of your fermented feed, and mix it with more dry feed and water into a new container. Stir, wait and stir for 2 days and see how it turns out. If you don't like it, you can just keep doing the 1/2 full method you've been doing.

 

[Percheron chick]

I keep a little dry feed out jik. It mostly gets cleaned up. Don't want chicks to ever not have feed available.

 

[pdirt]

Our vinyl gutter feeder, used for FF and scraps:

 

[Cluckfun]

Thank you for posting that picture! We are making a gutter feeder too. Do they seem to walk through it? My 10 girls are moving outdoors hopefully this weekend....depending on whether or not we have thunderstorms that impede our ability to finish fencing their run area. My better half was going to put the gutter on brackets and attach it to the outside wall of the coop (making it easily removable of course for cleaning), but I think I like the mobility of yours better.

 

[Blooie]

I made a gutter feeder but it's covered. Keeps poop and little feet out, feed in!

 

[snow5164]

EASY FERMENTING FOR DUMMIES

I have 4 quart jars , numbered 1-4,I use the first one which has sat for 3 days , stirred it twice a day.feed the 1 1/2 -2 cups it makes to my 10 chicks am and pm.then wash the jar add 2 cups hot water, 1 cup chick crumble,And 1 TB apple cider vinegar (regular kind) stir and place it last in line.by the time I make it back to one its all fermented and smells like sour dough bread! My number labels are at the 2 cup level!
Bought a small strainer today so it's not so juicy, my 10 day old chicks are healthy and strong. They were eatting 4 cups of crumble dry and spilling most of it