FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[kpgoldstar]

I wouldn't refresh it daily...too much work. I'd refresh it when you get down to about 1/5 of the bucket left and then refresh. That way you are feeding some really fermented feed as time goes along and your batch gets strong enough to inoculate the next batch well. Makes it a little more simple for your life!

I agree. I wait until I have maybe one feeding left in the bucket, then I refresh enough to feed for about 4 days. Leave all your excess water in the bucket as you feed daily and you should have a nice base for when you are ready to refresh.

 

[azygous]

How often do you feed? More often when it's below freezing?

 

[kpgoldstar]

They loved it! They tore into it like it was the tastiest thing EVER!

It's snowing and in the teens. I took away their dry feed, and now they're standing around with nothing to eat but their flock block. When do they get their next meal? I read here that people feed once a day? That certainly doesn't seem like a very good idea when it's this cold.

Thanks Bee, for the suggestion to wait on refreshing the bucket. I shall be happy to wait.

I can't relate to you on the weather, I am in sunny AZ! But I do feed twice a day. I only have 4 girls, 9 weeks old so they are growing. The amount I feed them at daybreak (around 7am) usually lasts them several hours. I am guessing by weekend behavior up until about noon or 1. Most days I also throw a bunch of herb sprigs and blossoms in their run, so it does give them something to do during the day pecking the leaves and seeds from the blossom heads. They get basil, oregano, thyme and tarragon. Sometimes too some chopped apple or butternut squash skins.
I get home just after 5 and it gets dark about 5:45. I let them out to free-range and they get about another cup total of ff as a snack. I'm not sure how much they need it as it is more of a habit, but they go to bed with full crops. On the weekends if I have errands they usually get let out earlier, like 3 and I wait to give snack until about 4:30.
This schedule works well for all involved and I feel my flock is getting enough food without being overfed. They are all a very healthy weight and seem to be generally happy. Although they are establishing pecking order, no one is being picked on and there is not feather pecking among them at all. They bicker over roosting position when getting ready for bed. They have a fairly small coop and run but we will be extending the run over the Christmas holidays before they get too big and the temps start to heat up.

 

[azygous]

At mid-day, I took more FF to the twenty hungry chickens. They ate it up with very little left.

It's a blizzard out there, and I guess they're burning the calories trying to stay warm, though the pampered darlings have a covered, enclosed run where only a few wisps of snow manage to blow in through cracks in the winter panels.

I'm very pleased so far over their reaction to the fermented feed. I'm so glad I decided to do it!

 

[niqueie]

Yay. So glad they liked it. I need to get a bigger container. I have to refresh or else I'll run out the next day. How big are the free ones from the bakery's and restaurants? Maybe I'll try them. Thanks for giving me insight as well. I didn't know about leaving it for 3/4 days worth in the bucket.

 

[Beekissed]

I only feed once a day and only what they can clean up pretty well before it freezes. If some does get frozen in the trough, it will thaw out sooner or later, so I don't worry too much...I just feed right on top of it the next time~but less so they can clean that feeding up better. They are less active in the winter, so mine don't really need a ton of food to keep them going and warm. They are fat as ticks on what I'm feeding now and I may even have to cut back on it for that reason. Don't want them so fat they cannot lay properly.

 

[azygous]

I ended up feeding them three times. They cleaned it up each time so they must have needed it. They finished the last serving around 45 minutes before roosting time, and they were all standing around immobile, completely satiated. The amount was around four cups each feeding for twenty chickens.

When do the poops solidify? I noticed no difference in their poops today. Same as usual.

 

[fosterson]

Mine took about a week, but they had a massive cocci infection to fight off too. Three of my older hens have vent gleet and they're still recovering from that too. Not sure what spurred the nastiness, but it's too cold for me to really give them the soaking bath they NEED. But it is clearing up, so I've got my eye on em.

 

[Beekissed]

I ended up feeding them three times. They cleaned it up each time so they must have needed it. They finished the last serving around 45 minutes before roosting time, and they were all standing around immobile, completely satiated. The amount was around four cups each feeding for twenty chickens.

When do the poops solidify? I noticed no difference in their poops today. Same as usual.

Mine never had any runny poops after starting FF, so not sure when other people's have resolved. Mine just had huge, tarry looking stools that looked like broody poop and then went back to regular poop right away. The only time mine get messy butts is when one starts to lay after being off lay for awhile but that resolves pretty quickly too.

I'm feeding 4 cups for 8 chickens per day, once a day, and now I have 13 roosters in a pen to feed, so they are getting 7-8 cups per day, once a day.

 

[kpgoldstar]

I ended up feeding them three times. They cleaned it up each time so they must have needed it. They finished the last serving around 45 minutes before roosting time, and they were all standing around immobile, completely satiated. The amount was around four cups each feeding for twenty chickens.

When do the poops solidify? I noticed no difference in their poops today. Same as usual.

The poops should change in just a couple of days if you have a full ferment. Remember that the less water you have, the fewer bubbles you will see. I like to keep mine a little wetter in the bucket to ensure I have a good base for my renewed batch. By the time I refresh, I have just about a cup of feed swimming in about 2 cups of milky fermented water.