FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[COChix]

If you get another heater and still want to try, first put your FF five gallon bucket in a trash can or 16 gallon muck bucket, fill the larger bucket up to the level of the feed in the five gallon bucket. Then put the heater in the water bath, set the thermostat at 75° and cover the larger bucket to reduce evaporation.

nice, thanks for that tip...smart.

 

[Bridebeliever]

So my chickens quit eating their FF!! What's up with that!? I was giving it to them twice a day as a "treat". They loved it...then started getting less excited about it. Nothing has changed about the feed. Do I need to take their regular dry feed away? I ferment Scratch & Peck feed and feed them Nutrena Grower free choice all day. It's always available to them.

 

[lazy gardener]

Are you renewing the fermented feed on a regular basis? Is it getting to be much stronger smelling? If so, that may be what's at issue. Otherwise, I think that they have too many options available. If you want them to eat FF, then give them that. My flock gets dry feed only if I run out of FF in their bucket b/c I didn't renew it when I should have.

 

[dolfi]

I'm giving for for a while. I mix layer with a little of scratch. Today I noticed that my mother in law had finished yesterday the ff and we had ran out of layer feed. I already had a soupy ff going in another bucket, so I added corn to make it thicker.
My question is. My mom came to visit and saw the wet corn, she said that it's not healthy to give them wet corn. Has anyone heard of this? Mom is from the old school. She does things because it was tough even if it doesn't make sense.
That didn't make sense to me because the layer and scratch have corn in it, but who knows.
I love byc because someone always have the answer for my chicken questions.
Lol

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Damp wet corn will mold and that isn't healthy. In a fermented mix it is fine. You need to stir it in though.

 

[Bridebeliever]

Are you renewing the fermented feed on a regular basis? Is it getting to be much stronger smelling? If so, that may be what's at issue. Otherwise, I think that they have too many options available. If you want them to eat FF, then give them that. My flock gets dry feed only if I run out of FF in their bucket b/c I didn't renew it when I should have.

Thank you for the advice. I was getting strong smelling but I didn't see any growth in it or mold. I think I'm going to start fermenting all their feed.

 

[dolfi]

Damp wet corn will mold and that isn't healthy. In a fermented mix it is fine. You need to stir it in though.

Thank you. That does make sense. Lol

 

[Leigti]

Leigti,
Titanium is used to make bone joints, the real issue is there is not enough liquid circulation to dissipate the heat the unit will produce.

Ok

 

[bbhorsefly]

We're going strong with the ff here! I have a two bucket system and ferment my layer feed. I have a batch of 6 week old chicks and I tried to ferment their starter when they were peeps, but they wouldn't even touch it! None of my tricks worked. Soon as I put them out with the flock, only took them half a second to copy the others. Now everyone devours it like its crack. I had gotten in the habit of just dumping some in the feeder and not going back 15 minutes later to take in what they didn't eat. I was going through a lot of feed. As soon as I started doing that again, they started ranging over about 2-3 acres instead of hanging around the yard all day. My girls have finally started laying as of a month or so ago. I'm up to 5/9 laying. They have awesome strong shells and huge dark orange yolks. The tastiest eggs I've ever had. And that's saying something since I've been buying eggs from the neighbor who grows his own organic grain for his hens. I don't see how he could ferment though because he runs such large numbers and while they aren't caged, they are in chicken houses. They do have fresh air, sunshine, and a chance to get out in a lot. I think it's the fermenting, bugs, and greens my chooks get. I hope to start buying feed from him, and once I get that fermenting, well, I'll have it just about perfect scenario. Thanks so much for all the advice everyone!

 

[shodack]

Well, I've hit a bump in the road, and it's my own fault... my four chickens have been happily eating ff and a daily handful of boss, with veggie scraps as I have them. A week ago I bought a "flock block" thinking it would be a good treat. Of course the label says the chickens will self regulate how much to eat, which I naively believed. Day one, fine. By day two they ate zero ff. By day three they were lethargic and grumpy, and the poops! ! I covered the block with a plastic bag, but it took them only a couple hours to peck through the bag. On day four I removed the flock block, and now we are on day three of only ff available. No snacks of any sort. They haven't touched the ff and are all hanging around in the coop far longer than usual. They have zero energy, and don't even come to see what I have for them when I come in. The poops are ridiculous- runny, multicolored... poor girls. I'm hoping today will be the turning point and they eat some ff. Need to get those guts back in order.
Should I put some acv in their water to kick start things??