FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[ChickenCanoe]

 

[jbkirk]

It takes one to know one....

and @Beekissed , I Command you, don't leave!!!!!

 

[katbriar]

[quote name="jbkirk" @Beekissed</a>
, I Command you, don't leave!!!!!  
[/quote]

X2 missed you too much last time ;-)

 

[LowerBamaMama]

NOOOOOO!!! Don't leave!!!

If people can't help but to get their panties in a bunch, I'd say they're the ones who need to step back and take a breather.
The people who appreciate your wisdom and willingness to share it need you

 

[Rhinoman]

My post was specific about MY own experience which involved attempting to mix a primary staple-ration myself.

Bee never said to do it the way I did it, I'm aware most people are fermenting a bagged commercially-prepared feed, I realize this. I tried to take it a step further, I wanted to feed an animal-protein based ration, I used fish meal as my protein source, I bought a big bag and froze it in small bags in my deep freezer. I took out my gallon freezer bags and added that in the ratio as explained in my post. That's what I fermented!

I didn’t skim through the thread, I’ve read thousands of PAGES on this forum, I just don’t post much. I read through “the road less traveled thread and loved it!” I’ve also followed the links and read the information on the other sites about fermented feed. I attempted to find a formula people who feed whole grains use there just isn’t much information on formulating a “whole grain” staple ration (even though as you can see my grains were minimally processed, as I couldn’t get “whole grains”) for fermenting. I slightly modified a formula I found that someone else was using.

It was fine [?] all summer when our birds were running around the yard supplementing my insufficient ration, but when winter came…Of course I wonder how much better they would have done last summer on a commercial feed (fermented or not) supplemented with free ranging.

My only point was it can be screwed up and I screwed it up. I’m a nurse in a dialysis rehab center and I'm the go-to person on the unit when there's a problem. Admitting I screwed up something as simple as feeding chickens is not easy. My first major was [human] nutrition. LOL

I don't deliberately try to complicate things, it's just usually that the more work you put into something the better the results; not this time.

Lesson learned

 

[jbkirk]

My post was specific about MY own experience which involved attempting to mix a primary staple-ration myself.

Bee never said to do it the way I did it, I'm aware most people are fermenting a bagged commercially-prepared feed, I realize this. I tried to take it a step further, I wanted to feed an animal-protein based ration, I used fish meal as my protein source, I bought a big bag and froze it in small bags in my deep freezer. I took out my gallon freezer bags and added that in the ratio as explained in my post. That's what I fermented!

I didn’t skim through the thread, I’ve read thousands of PAGES on this forum, I just don’t post much. I read through “the road less traveled thread and loved it!” I’ve also followed the links and read the information on the other sites about fermented feed. I attempted to find a formula people who feed whole grains use there just isn’t much information on formulating a “whole grain” staple ration (even though as you can see my grains were minimally processed, as I couldn’t get “whole grains”) for fermenting. I slightly modified a formula I found that someone else was using.

It was fine [?] all summer when our birds were running around the yard supplementing my insufficient ration, but when winter came…Of course I wonder how much better they would have done last summer on a commercial feed (fermented or not) supplemented with free ranging.

My only point was it can be screwed up and I screwed it up. I’m a nurse in a dialysis rehab center and I'm the go-to person on the unit when there's a problem. Admitting I screwed up something as simple as feeding chickens is not easy. My first major was [human] nutrition. LOL

I don't deliberately try to complicate things, it's just usually that the more work you put into something the better the results; not this time.

Lesson learned

Just so you know it wasn't you I was talking about.

 

[monkcat]

Ok, I'm totally hijacking this thread back to FF for a minute

I started my grower crumble fermenting Friday. Just got home from work an hour or so ago and it's got that good yeasty, fermenty smell. Hoping the feed store still has the type of chicks I am interested in. If they do, will get them tomorrow. Really looking forward to how this will all go. Okay, I'm now back to

 

[Tikkijane]

I agree!  Folks just don't want to have to work for things any longer.  Comes from all this technology that gets them info fast and with very little effort.  Well, sometimes in life things can't be that simple and learning how to take care of chickens is one of those.  Living, breathing creature....takes time and study to do it right.

I appreciate all that you do on your site with the FF info, TikkTok, I really do...you save me so much time and words, words, words, just from the work you have done there.  But, like you've said, sometimes even doing all that work isn't enough....folks want miracles. 

 

[Tikkijane]

One thing I've noticed is comments on how often people are stirring their ff. Stir daily, stir three times a day, stir, stir, stir. I don't do that. I back slop, add water, stir, add new food, stir, done. That's it. I do not stir again after I have set up the bucket. My buckets ferment for two or three days before being used, sometimes up to five days. I use a bamboo spoon to stir. After the liquid is soaked up it's too thick to stir with my spoon. I have never gotten around to getting something better to stir with. The food still ferments just the same. Sometimes I end up with thick layer of scoby on top. I just ladle it out. The chickens eat it just the same. No fuss.

I am in the stirring camp. I stir when I backslop; I stir before scooping to feed. Because I use a 1:1 ratio, I usually end up with a more juicy layer in there, under the drier layer. And that's it. I don't much hover, but mixing it back together before feeding aoids a need to add more to get that layer drier and also avoids a sloppy feed. I think once someone has done it a while, they find the sweet spot for their particular flock.

 

[Tikkijane]

I got my first chickens a year ago. I had been reading on BYC off and on for 4 years before that. I had designed my chicken coop to have a dirt floor and planned the deep litter method. I was fencing in a large run but hoped I would be able to free range a good bit. I had studied upon feeders and feed in final preparation for my chicks and came across fermented feed. I had read probably the first 50 pages and probably should have taken notes because when you have a question you think you have read about it but it is sometimes difficult to find what you know you have read and can't remember. I didn't even know you could search an individual thread. I do most of my reading on my phone and that may not be available through the app. I have been feeding fermented feed for a year now and it is all my chickens have ever had, feed wise. It seems the easiest thing in the world to me now but before I got my first chicks it seemed so complicated and I was so worried about doing something wrong and making my chicks sick. I actually stepped out of my comfort zone and asked some questions and then got ridiculed for asking. Once I got the link to Tikktok's page I read it and that made some things more clear. But I had read from the beginning of the thread and not the later stuff so before I asked my questions I didn't know about the link. Also, I consider myself to have average to above-average intelligence. I have two children with clearly above average intelligence. But I also have two kids(twins) with learning disabilities. One with Aspergers who could read the whole thread and understand it but be thrown off by the detractors because he doesn't comprehend that mindset and would consider them as sincere as everyone else. Then his sister has dyslexia and it would take forever for her to read the whole thread and she would get confused at times because words move around for her. There are other people with all kinds of life issues and situations and those people are asking questions to try to raise healthy chickens. I'm continually amazed when I follow the incubation and broody threads at the patience of those that are doing the helping as the same questions are asked over and over. But each person is treated as though their situation is important to the teacher because the teacher really is interested in helping them. All this is said because I get distressed about all the complaining about having to answer questions and about people being lazy. If you don't want to answer questions then DON'T! There is no need to be so negative all the time. You don't have to answer question 50 times in a row if you don't want to. If I had read the later post a year ago and had seen all those types of remarks I certainly would not have opened myself up to being called lazy on a public forum.

I think asking clarifying questions is good. There is so much conflicting info out there!

And that is pretty much why the FAQ was born. There are a good number of folks who jump in without having bothered to read anything.

We still answer. An observation isn't always a complaint.