The lady I bought my birds from feed dry feed and then gave kefir. I know nothing about kefir. My concern with ff is also having to store in the house and haul To the coop. We are almost to freezing temps. And if I leave it I'm the shed it will be one frozen chunk. Does kefir give the same results? Where do u get kefir?
FF and Kefir are both products of lacto-fermentation. The former is created with grains, the latter with milk. You create FF by creating a lactic acid culture within the feed itself. Kefir is created via a lactic acid culture in the milk. I happen to add the latter to my feed. Now I could most certainly allow the kefir to sit in the feed for a day or two and allow the kefir's lactic acid to ferment the feed, but I choose not to do that. That would create the same problem I already have. It would however be inaccurate to say that the kefir doesn't breakdown any of the feed. That simply wouldn't be true. The lactobacillus in the kefir would continue to eat the protein and sugars in the feed until it starved, and it would within a few days or so because the organic structure of the feed isn't close to optimal for kefir growth, but by then the feed would have been eaten.
Kefir provides vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, D, K2, Folic acid, nicotinic acid, calcium, iron, and iodine to anyone's diet. I would not suggest that it is not nutritious. It most certainly is.
I make my own kefir using raw milk from grass-fed cows. I buy that milk directly from the farm of an acquaintance who lives near me. I bought organic kefir grains from
Amazon.com. You can buy kefir in the store, but it is more expensive, and it is generally a very mild culture. Most people don't like the super sour flavor of a thick, kefir culture, but the animals love it. So I make my own and I let it over-culture on purpose.
The real distinction here in this discussion is that fermenting the feed itself will breakdown the feed itself. You will not get a complete breakdown of all or most proteins and sugars in the grains simply by adding kefir (and FTR, I made no such claims anyway). You will get, however, plenty of added nutrition. It is not unlike adding herbs or garlic or any other natural ingredients (veggies, seeds, eggs, yogurt, meat, etc) to your animal's foods to boost nutrition.
I am not trying to say that no one should FF. It is absolutely a good and proper way to feed any animal (even the human animal), but it is not the only way nor is it the only optimal way. If it works for you and your chicks love it in any proportion, have it at. I'm not criticizing FF. I am merely saying that I have suspended feeding traditional FF for now until I can resolve issues that, for me, are important to deal with and in the meantime will use an additive (like any of the others listed above) that can replace some, if not all, of what I was giving before. That is my choice and I take it gladly.
In regards to temperature, mileage will vary, but generally speaking, fermentation is optimal at room temperature. Google lacto-fermentation. Documentation on that is easy enough to find. Fermentation does create lots of heat so you can still get a fermentation going at lower temps, it just takes longer for the cycle to complete. Most sources though say if the temps drop below 40, lacto-fermentation hits stasis, that is why temps below 40 F are good for storing ferments (rather than creating them). You purposely put a ferment at that temp to make it last so storing it outside in cool temps after it has fermented would be fine. You should have a good product for at least a couple of months. There is generally a diminishing return if the temp is so cold that it takes days to ferment newly added feed so you either have to maintain a large enough "vat" of the ferment whereby you could put newly added feed into the center of it (presumably the warmest part) so it can ferment or, in a cold climate like mine, you'd have to have a place of relative warmth (preferably above 60 degrees) where your feed can more quickly set up. Again, mileage may vary. Maybe someone has a nice sunny spot or a cozy place near some other external heat source that would empart just enough heat to not stop the ferment process. Any variety of variables could make one person's situation work while another's fails. Just keep at it until you find what works for you.
My preference is to make small batches. Nothing more than what a 5 gallon (or in my case, 2 2.5 gallon containers) container can hold. As I said before, I like seeing my ferment. Air pockets and unmixed feed can lead to mold or alcohol fermentation (which is not what you want if you are lacto-fermenting) and destroy your ferment so I just prefer glass so I can see everything. Acidic things should not be stored in metal unless it is stainless steel. The acid is corrosive to most other metals. There is debate about plastic and really your choice on using it or not depends on what you believe happens to the plastic when it comes into contact with the acid. Most of what I read says it is stable, but again I prefer the see-through quality of glass so it wins out.
