FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[triplepurpose]

It's time to move my FF bucket outside. Tired of it sitting in the house. Should I just put the lid on the bucket tight to keep critters out? Or put it loosely enough to let air in but a brick or something on it to keep them out? I might even get really lazy and just move it into the run next to the trough that I will soon make i'm going to do the cinderblock and vinyl gutter idea.

I just put the lid on loosely, a home depot bucket with matching lid. Letting air in isnt relevant--lacto fermentation takes place with or without O2--and besides you open it up at least once a day to feed, presumably. not snapping on the lid of the bucket just makes it easier to take on and off twice a day. if there were a lot of large critters around i would just use a rock or brick or whatevers handy, like you say, or get a secure screw-on lid. be wary of keeping it in the coop tho--it could get covered with poo prety quick!

 

[aart]

Quote: Unless you have an active lacto culture going in bucket, might it be be beneficial to have an open lid?

 

[bbhorsefly]

I don't think it's an all or none topic. They eat for calorie and Also because they like some foods better than others. They could eat all day long but if you throw down a handful of meal worms they are going to eat them. Wine for you range but they still love getting their FF in the evening. And they eat it all

I don't think so either, but I was quoting someone who was stating that they do. I've also read stories of people locking their chickens up and withdrawing all food but the fermented and the chickens refused to eat for days at a time. Essentially starving themselves because they didn't want to try eating fermented. So if it was so cut and dry as to be "if your chickens eat fermented food enthusiastically, that's just because they are hungry and not because it's any better for them or that they like it better," then those people would never have those experiences. And everything I've experienced with my own chickens is a lie.

 

[Leigti]

I don't think so either, but I was quoting someone who was stating that they do. I've also read stories of people locking their chickens up and withdrawing all food but the fermented and the chickens refused to eat for days at a time. Essentially starving themselves because they didn't want to try eating fermented. So if it was so cut and dry as to be "if your chickens eat fermented food enthusiastically, that's just because they are hungry and not because it's any better for them or that they like it better," then those people would never have those experiences. And everything I've experienced with my own chickens is a lie.

Oh no! You must've read my post when I did keep my chickens locked up with nothing but FF. Well, they didn't eat it for three days. So I decided I would just let them out. I wasn't going to let them starve to death on my watch. Maybe they wouldn't have but still I wasn't going to force the issue.
They all eat it now, I started my new chicks out on it and they eat it relatively well. I'm still not sure if they eat it any better than they would if it is just wet it down but who knows. There seems to be some advantage to fermenting, and also I think it helps just too wet it down even if it's not fermented. So when I started out my bucket I wasn't worried about waiting until it fermented to feed it to them.
Because of the food I feed, scratch and peck brand, I feel it is vital to wet it down at least because then they get the nutrients from the powder. Otherwise they're not getting it. Which would be a huge waste of a very expensive food.
So anyway, to end my ramblings, I think chickens will eat what they will eat. I've heard they won't starve themselves and I've heard that they will not over eat, I think neither statement is true all the time. My chickens have made liars out of anybody that says chickens like apples, bananas, cat food, pumpkin, squash, and yogurt or scrambled eggs. Mine won't touch yogurt or scrambled eggs. Mine won't touch

 

[Tikkijane]

I'm convinced that chickens have a pretty good sense of taste and/or smell.  They even like the open-pollinated corn that we grow much better than the hybrid whole corn that we have to buy and crack when ours runs out. 

Certainly not taste. Humans have around 10,000 taste buds. Chickens have 20-30. They lack capsaecin receptors. And they like eating snakes, mice, frogs, etc.

It's not taste.

 

[triplepurpose]

Unless you have an active lacto culture going in bucket, might it be be beneficial to have an open lid?

according to my working understanding (ive done a fair bit of fermenting and culturing, both agriculturally and culinarily) it doesnt necessarily make a difference. lactic acid producing bacteria are already living on just about everything. they are one of the most abundant and adaptible microbes on earth. unless the grain was pasteurized, it would be crawling with LAB already. to grow well they just need a favorable environment, abundant feed source and reduced competition. thats how sauerkraut works for example. excluding air should actually encourage LAB because it creates s more selective environment. and innoculation (including back slopping) just helps speed up the process and give more predictable results by introducing large numbers of the strains that are known to be successful or preferable, rather than trying to selectively breed the ideal LAB community from scratch every time...

now, trying to tame "wild" yeasts, as with starting s sourdough from scratch, or mead, is different, because they do need a lot of air to thrive and proliferate in a competive environment. acetic acid producers, as in vinegar, also require some aeration. all this probably goes a long way to explaining why different people wind up with very different profiles of fermenting organisms with different species dominating the ff depending on the method, length of ferment etc.--some wind up with it smelling like yoghurt or sourdough (combinations yeasts/LAB), some like pickles or sauerkraut (LAB), some like vinegar (acetic acid producers/some LAB), or some other combination.

Fortunately all the variations seem to work for people tho! i guess yet another lesson that uniformity has no place in the real world of living things...

 

[Leigti]

I got the cinderblocks and the vinyl gutters today. How high should I make it? When the cinderblocks are on their side it seems too low but if I put them up on the end and put it in the upper slot it seems too high.

 

[paneubert]

I got the cinderblocks and the vinyl gutters today. How high should I make it? When the cinderblocks are on their side it seems too low but if I put them up on the end and put it in the upper slot it seems too high.

If on the side seems low, can you maybe add a brick under the cinderblock to raise it a couple inches? That seems like the best middle ground.

 

[Leigti]

If on the side seems low, can you maybe add a brick under the cinderblock to raise it a couple inches?  That seems like the best middle ground. 

I'll see what I can do this weekend. Definitely need a middle ground.

 

[Tikkijane]

I got the cinderblocks and the vinyl gutters today. How high should I make it? When the cinderblocks are on their side it seems too low but if I put them up on the end and put it in the upper slot it seems too high.

What's the problem with being low? Mine are on the ground. Chickens get bugs from the ground.......