FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LeslieDJoyce]

This article/book describes many preparation techniques for various traditional fermented foods in Nigeria. There are a lot of techniques!

http://www.intechopen.com/books/myc...enous-fermented-foods-processes-and-prospects

Note the section on "loop" fermentation. This is just one paragraph, but it describes some benefits of using a starter ... either a specific starter product; or doing what we call "backslopping."

No, I have not read the entire article.

 

[birdlady79]

Well with that direction of education, you'll be able to educate us on fermentation in no time!

Thanks, Bee for that wiki info about LABs using oxygen from the organic material. Makes sense. Most of my "education" has come from the folks at the Microbial Nutrition Yahoo group, the EM folks and especially Sandor Katz's excellent books. His books get somewhat into the science, but mostly from a practical and user-friendly perspective. I find his "Art of Fermenation" book is a very pleasurable education on ferments, from all around the world. They're all largely based upon ferments meant for human consumption but he does have a snippet on silage, a type of ferment used on farms.  Always something new to learn!

I was reading a article earlier that mentioned him.. I think the book was Wild Fermentation... I was going to see if it was on kindle...

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: And I thought "naked necks" were ugly! These poor things are hideous! Certainly saves time on plucking but the the expense to heat them in winter and keep them out of the sun in the summer?? I couldn't stand to look at them.

 

[Tikkijane]

You are correct...LABs have to have a source of oxygen to survive.  They derive it from the organic material they are feeding upon and no amount of putting plastic or tight lids over the buckets will keep this from happening...nor should anyone be trying to keep it from happening. 

Here's a little blurb  on it from Wiki....I'll highlight some important points in red....


I doubt just putting plastic or plastic and then a lid will make an FF bucket an efficient anaerobic digester....if it were that easy the wine and liquor industry are spending WAY too much money on trying to keep out wild yeasts.  We'll call them up and tell them to just use a plastic bag...

I suggest folks do some serious reading on the difference between these two, read more about wild yeasts, about the process of fermentation of feed grains and all the end products....without just reading someone's misinformation on a blog site.  Dig deeper, read more reputable information so you won't have to get it second hand and wrongly so. 

Yes, I know Wiki isn't always accurate about things either, so read further, dig a little....I just posted this so folks can get an idea of what is going on in their buckets....and it's not the aerobic kind of digestion going on, with or without your lids screwed down tight or plastic over the buckets.

I suggest, while you are digging and reading, to just leave the bucket lid cracked open on one side, stir your feed before feeding out and scrape down the bucket sides while doing so and just enjoy the simplicity of the system....it's healthy, it's working and will continue to work, just as it has for many people for the past few years using the same open air system to produce fermented feed for the chickens. 

No starters needed, no lids or containment to limit oxygen to the feed is needed, no water over the level of the feed needs to be maintained, and no over thinking of a simple process is needed.....learn about it, own the information and don't repeat what is learned on blog sites as certain fact unless you've done the research to confirm it as fact.  I used to have several links about such information and they are probably buried deep in these two threads but I'm too tired to go looking for them tonight. 

Did any of them make into the FAQ in my siggy?

 

[Tikkijane]

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Did any of them make into the FAQ in my siggy?

 

[Tikkijane]

Well I soaked her in some warm water and cleaned her up now shes drying. It was easier than I thought! I do notice that she has a large bulge below her vent, almost like an egg waiting to come out but she already laid her egg today. Is this just chicken anatomy that you wouldnt normally see when their feathers are fluffed?

The large bulge could be another egg if she's egg bound. I'd keep checking periodically to see it it changes; if not, continue the warm soak.

 

[Tikkijane]

It's called vent gleet. I had a bird die after she had it for 2 weeks. I think she actually died of of being egg bound and the vent gleet complicated it. I tried putting garlic in their feed and I cleaned her many times a week. I hope your bird does better soon.

If you've got boys, it could also have been some overflow of boy juice....

 

[Tikkijane]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805557/is-this-vent-gleet-please-help-pictures

Great thread on vent gleet; particularly good article by Dr. Rob Marshall linked.

It's called vent gleet. I had a bird die after she had it for 2 weeks. I think she actually died of of being egg bound and the vent gleet complicated it. I tried putting garlic in their feed and I cleaned her many times a week. I hope your bird does better soon.

 

[Tikkijane]

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I really hope you're not intimidated! Feed+ water+ time with a cracked lid = fermented feed.

It really is that easy. No need for starter- take whatever feed you use and use that.

Hello

This just about sums up my feelings as I try to read through this thread.  I've started at the beginning, jumped to the middle and headed towards the end, trying to figure out what the current simplest protocol is.  Can y'all help me out?  Just point me to a general part of the thread or a particular post and I'll go from there....just having trouble separating the sh!@ from the shine at the moment

Cheers,
M

[COLOR=800000]#3745 BOOM! Found what I was looking for[/COLOR]

 

[pdirt]

I was reading a article earlier that mentioned him.. I think the book was Wild Fermentation... I was going to see if it was on kindle...

Sandor Katz is a true pioneer in the fermentation revolution. How many of us were fermenting anything, chicken feed or whatnot, 10+ years ago? He was. He sources much of his inspiration from Sally Fallon, aka the Weston Price folks. I find his disarming approach to people's fears about fermenting things "going bad, wrong, poisonous or just plain nasty" refreshing. It's very easy. People USED to do it for thousands of years. In fact, outside of the "western world", especially the USA, lots of people are still doing it.

As to his first book, Wild Fermentation, it's a great book to start with. It reads more like a "recipe book" with lots of simple instructions to make everything from kraut, kimchi, tempeh, natto, kombucha, beer, wine, cheese, sourdough, miso and so on. I still use his book today.