FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Waste of time to even respond.

 

[RichnSteph]

Yeah it really surprised me how easy it is to do this. Feed+water+time. Done. I feed out two heaping scoops, about 4 cups total, to our flock of 12 chickens and one duck in the morning. They free range all day and I dole out a little scratch as a treat in the evenings before they hit the coop. I also pour a little dry feed on the ground in areas that I want them to break up and "compost" for me. Having checked them on several nights after they are in bed they all have a full crop and appear to be happy. After I feed in the morning I add in an equal amount of what I fed back into our container, top it off with water and let it sit till the next morning. I did notice that when I use water from the stock tank it ferments a lot quicker than if I use water from the tap or hose. I think the chlorine in the tap water does something to the yeasty stuff in there that slows down the process.

 

[TalkALittle]

So, this morning I fed the birds the batch of FF that I started 3 days ago. Actually it was more like 2.5 days ago, but when I checked it this morning I had some pretty active bubbling going on so I figured I'd go ahead and feed it. I was actually excited when I saw all the bubbles because up to that point it had shown no activity and it only smelled like wet crumble. I did end up adding a shot of kefir the night before simply because I had seen no activity. It probably had started fermenting on its own though because I don't think I got miraculous fermentation rates overnight just from the kefir alone. It smelled a little sour and had a lovely tangy flavor--yes, I tasted it.

I fed it to the birds in a big bowl alongside their morning cream of wheat. They polished off the cream of wheat and left the FF in the bowl. In fact, they took great care to get all the cream of wheat from around the FF and when they happened to get a mouthful of both, they shook their heads and wiped their beaks as if they were eating something foul-tasting. I left the bowl in the run. Perhaps they will eat it eventually. Is this a typical first response to FF?

Despite their lackluster response, I did use the liquid from the first batch to start another batch. We'll see how long it takes for this one to ferment and if the birds eat it any better. Perhaps FF is an acquired taste.

I will continue to offer free access to their dry crumble as well as their usual morning and evening handful of scratch and BOSS. I worry that if I offer FF exclusively and they don't eat it well, that they will lose weight. I don't want to risk that happening in the middle of winter when there is less free-range available to them. I plan to sprout some BOSS for them on a semi-regular basis just to supplement their diet and give them something to busy themselves with.

I also plan on picking up some alfalfa cubes or pellets to reconstitute for them to make up for the lack of green matter during the winter. I'm leaning toward the cubes as I can get them in smaller quantities than the pellets. I'd hate to buy 50lbs of pellets (the smallest bag available to me) only to find they don't really like them. Has anyone had better luck using the cubes vs. the pellets? If it turns out my birds decide they DO like the FF, can I toss the alfalfa cubes/pellets in with the ferment?

 

[hennible]

That sounds like a typical first response to FF.
My younger flock didn't like it at first my older flock especially my oldest bird loved it right off the bat. I add dried Neadleleaf to my FF I don't see why you couldn't add alfalfa.
Back to The FF, I keep pellets available at all times in some big no waste feeders. Despite their full-time access to the pellets they act like they're starving when I bring them their FF in the morning, afternoon and at night... I Only bring it out so many times because my FF feeders don't work well when it is so bleeding cold ( -10C and lower )
In the summer they have round-the-clock access to their FF in my fermented feed feeders.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I fed it to the birds in a big bowl alongside their morning cream of wheat. They polished off the cream of wheat and left the FF in the bowl. In fact, they took great care to get all the cream of wheat from around the FF and when they happened to get a mouthful of both, they shook their heads and wiped their beaks as if they were eating something foul-tasting. I left the bowl in the run. Perhaps they will eat it eventually. Is this a typical first response to FF?

Cut out the "treat" cream of wheat while they're adjusting to the FF is my advice. I tried to ease mine into it this way, too. Didn't work. They would eat around it. When I stopped trying to dress it up and stopped with the warm oatmeal on the side, they took right to it. And now they mob it when I put it out.

 

[Beekissed]

Total waste of time.

Here's the site you are looking for.....I NEVER recommend this site but in this case, it seems appropriate.... http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/

 

[HighStreetCoop]

In the summer they have round-the-clock access to their FF in my fermented feed feeders.

I have to try building one of these so I can take the occasional weekend trip and not have to ask anyone to come over and feed the chooks.

 

[hennible]

I have to try building one of these so I can take the occasional weekend trip and not have to ask anyone to come over and feed the chooks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/931194/fermented-feed-feeder
It's not perfect, but I'm trying to get it to the point where you can do just that.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/931194/fermented-feed-feeder
It's not perfect, but I'm trying to get it to the point where you can do just that.

I have that thread bookmarked! Did you ever try the bottom U-tube one you thinking about?

 

[TalkALittle]

Take everything else away and only offer FF once per day. They will soon attack it like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Not because they are starving, because they have tried it and found it better than anything else. Feed them only the FF for awhile and then try to offer the dry stuff...they'll act like it's poisoned and only eat the FF.

The problem is that I didn't really plan on feeding the FF everyday. I totally understand the benefits of doing so, but for our lifestyle and my personal chicken keeping practices, it just isn't practical. I was hoping to offer it a couple of times a week, keeping the dry food available to them too. I guess I had hoped they would get the benefit of it when I offered it, but since I would only offer it a couple of times a week that they would go back to eating the crumble on the off days.

I know it is most cost and time efficient to prepare FF in bulk but I don't want to keep a large 5 gallon bucket of ferment in my house. Because of my geographic location, the ferment would likely freeze if I kept it outside in the winter plus I don't have an outside water source for mixing during winter. Also, I'm not the only one responsible for feeding the birds, so a streamlined feeding system is critical in our home--you can't beat the ease of scooping dry crumble into the feeder. I'm in the lucky position of not having to need to be concerned about saving money on feed or making my feed budget stretch as far as it can.

I'd be fermenting on very small scale in a couple of containers on my kitchen countertop. I'll basically be offering it just often enough to assuage the guilt I feel over not being equipped to offer it exclusively. I actually don't mind fussing a little over a couple of containers if my birds really like the stuff. I know they won't get the same benefit as they would if I fed it exclusively but I figured I'd try and do what I could for them. Kind of like how I feed my dogs a really high-quality kibble but then also supplement it with raw and home-cooked foods.

I know the birds won't starve themselves and would probably eventually eat it. I've raised a couple of kids so I'm very familiar with the "too full for broccoli but still have room for cupcakes". That's why I left the bowl in the pen. I was hoping for a more enthusiastic reaction to it, I guess--more like the "they gobbled it all up" reaction I had read in a number of the previous posts. It is a completely selfish desire on my part as I just get such a kick watching them enjoy different foods the same way I enjoy watching them scratch their way through a leaf of hay or dig in the compost pile. If each time it's going to take a day or two to convince them to really eat the stuff though, I don't know if the benefit is worth the bother.

I'm going to keep at it and offer the FF a couple of more times. I'll add the alfalfa and see if it makes a difference. Or perhaps pick up some whole grains from the bulk bins at Whole Foods to ferment and see if they prefer that over the fermented crumble. If they seem to take to it, then great--if not, then it was an interesting experiment.