FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Tikkijane]

  Yes...that!!! 

This really is unbelievably easy. It might actually fall into the "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is" category- key being *usually* because in this case, it actually IS as good as it sounds.

It has easily cut my feed bill by 2/3; everyone is super healthy, their feathers are fabulously glossy and growing back really well.

I've got 3 new hatchlings, but because I'm not home, I can't feather sex right now to add to the pullet/cockerel ratio observation. Mama is hatching- no bators here!

 

[Audio51]

Poofy! Sounds like it's maybe more fresh and has some good ingredients going on!

I use the Layena and mine is and has been "poofy" too. Maybe fresher stock?

 

[fosterson]

Mine doesn't grow mold but I live where it is extremely dry. I feed about 2 cups in the morning for 4 growing girls. I figure they finish that up anywhere between 2 and 6 hours. They eat every single speck of it. It just depends on how full their crops were when they went to bed.

Wow. I feed a similar ratio (5 cups for 10 adult birds) and they clean it up in about 2-6 minutes

 

[Beekissed]

I'm at about that same ratio right now for my 10 birds. I'm keeping them a little fatter during this cold weather but will be cutting that down as time goes along towards spring and more reasonable temps, when they can forage well. By spring/summer it will be down to about a cup, if that.

 

[Audio51]

Wow. I feed a similar ratio (5 cups for 10 adult birds) and they clean it up in about 2-6 minutes

I give about 5 cups for my 10 girls too. They usually clean it up pretty fast but not always. I have a coop inside a run. They are fed in the run and do not get let out to forage in the backyard until all the FF is gone. I have to admit though...mine took a few weeks to really take to it. I am still using the double bucket method and it is always fluffy and has a very pleasant "sour-doughy" smell to it, so I'm pretty confident I am doing it right. Poops are nice and dry and the girls all look great. I add enough water to cover it by about an inch when I first add the new feed, but it is quickly absorbed and makes a drier feed than I was giving initially. I have noticed if I add too much water it tends to be stickier and they don't like it a much. I do have a question though.....after a week or so, in the space between the bottom of the 2 buckets, I start to notice a slimy looking liquid settling to the bottom. It is kind of gross looking and is clear...not white and foamy like the SCOBY was described as being. I usually end up pouring the more liquid stuff into another container and dumping the slime. I add the liquid back to the new batch and off it goes again. Am I pouring out the good stuff? Am I doing something wrong and is the slime a bad thing?

 

[LindaB220]

I've seen a lot of people suggesting using dechlorinated water for the FF. Is a regular water filter on the tap enough? We have a PUR filter on our faucet and love it, but I'm not sure if that is good enough.

Yeah, I bought a Brita Water filter when I began making my kombucha. Same LAB. It works great.

 

[Beekissed]

I give about 5 cups for my 10 girls too. They usually clean it up pretty fast but not always. I have a coop inside a run. They are fed in the run and do not get let out to forage in the backyard until all the FF is gone. I have to admit though...mine took a few weeks to really take to it. I am still using the double bucket method and it is always fluffy and has a very pleasant "sour-doughy" smell to it, so I'm pretty confident I am doing it right. Poops are nice and dry and the girls all look great. I add enough water to cover it by about an inch when I first add the new feed, but it is quickly absorbed and makes a drier feed than I was giving initially. I have noticed if I add too much water it tends to be stickier and they don't like it a much. I do have a question though.....after a week or so, in the space between the bottom of the 2 buckets, I start to notice a slimy looking liquid settling to the bottom. It is kind of gross looking and is clear...not white and foamy like the SCOBY was described as being. I usually end up pouring the more liquid stuff into another container and dumping the slime. I add the liquid back to the new batch and off it goes again. Am I pouring out the good stuff? Am I doing something wrong and is the slime a bad thing?

The slime is a scoby and it's the good stuff. When I dump that out on the ground with the flour residue in the bottom of my bottom bucket, it's very rank in smell...very! But the chickens and dog will eat that stuff and lick the ground, scratch up the soil, etc. to get it all. Must taste better than it smells....

 

[MandalaMaMa]

I was just wondering if anyone also does fodder along with their fermented food?

 

[Audio51]

The slime is a scoby and it's the good stuff. When I dump that out on the ground with the flour residue in the bottom of my bottom bucket, it's very rank in smell...very! But the chickens and dog will eat that stuff and lick the ground, scratch up the soil, etc. to get it all. Must taste better than it smells....

Thanks, Bee! I haven't actually smelled the slime, but will take your word for it. It was triggering my gag reflex, but I will just have to get over that!

I will leave it in the bucket now. Don't want to be tossing out the good stuff!

 

[chickengirl1193]

Your chickens are going to eat that feed so fast there won't be any mold that can establish...and your feed is already colonized with organisms that inhibit mold growth.  You won't need to clean it up...the chickens will practically lick the trough.  No worries...it won't mold. 

SCOBY= Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast (first letter of each = scoby).

Otherwise known as "the non-mold stuff that covers the top and looks, um, interesting. "

Mine doesn't grow mold but I live where it is extremely dry. I feed about 2 cups in the morning for 4 growing girls. I figure they finish that up anywhere between 2 and 6 hours. They eat every single speck of it. It just depends on how full their crops were when they went to bed.

I give about 1/4 of their morning ration in the evening when I let them out to free range. I live in the desert and our pickins are less than slim, especially in the winter. They have some dry grass, a few leaves and maybe some green weeds that are poking through the rocks. I feed the afternoon ration more out of habit than their being hungry. I don't like them going to bed with an empty crop. They spend about an hour free ranging now, sometimes a little more on the weekends and they will pick at the given food but forage for most of the time until it gets very close to dark then they gobble up what is left in the snack trays. The afternoon snack amount is dependent on whether I gave scraps that morning and how full I see the crops when I let them out.

If I make an apple pie or something they will get all the peels and the cores in the morning to keep them busy all day and when I get home from work, I can see they are not hungry at all. Afternoon ration is about 1/4 cup. Other days I have no kitchen scrap and they are itching to get let out of the run, race to the snack area then maybe they get a total of 3/4 c. I give scratch ONLY about once a week. I have noticed when I do (and believe me, they LOVE it, like crack cocaine!!!) they are VERY thirsty afterward. They just drink and drink and drink. That never happens on their regular routine. Given my dry climate and the super high temps in the summer, I plan to not give scratch at all come about May or once the temps are consistently in the 90's during the day.

okay thank you everyone for the info! I'll let you know how my ff goes!