FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[kpgoldstar]

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.

What is vent gleet?

 

[fosterson]

What is vent gleet?

Basically a yeast infection for birds.

 

[kpgoldstar]

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.

A bakery with lots of volume will have 5 gallon buckets (like the home depot kind) that they get frosting in. There are smaller batches of fillings, etc that they will get in 2.5 gallon buckets. Call around and see what they have and how much they want for them. Some sell them for 50 cents or so, some free. I am a former chef and caterer so I use the plastic storage containers you get from a Restaurant supply. The one I have now holds 6 qts (1.5 gallons) and at less than half full, will keep 3-4 days of feed. I give about 1.5 cups for AM feeding and less than 1 cup for snack in the eves. I refresh my batch with about 4 cups dry with enough water to cover well, so that yields me well over 8 cups to feed out over 3-4 days.
It never seems to get moldy or change to any sort of funkiness. Mine always stays about the same smell and consistency. Toward the end of each batch, it gets super sour just like a really good sourdough bread.
I had a day of runny poos and I was feeding some lentils that I also attempted to ferment but they just kept smelling bad, like rotten. I thought the lentils would sprout soaking then rinsing, soaking again, rinsing for several days. My girls turned their noses up at them, but ate them anyway. Jules, any insight into why the lentils wouldn't ferment like any other grain, why they didn't sprout and I can't link lentils with runny poo, but...
I was going to add the lentils to my chick starter ff bucket and I am so glad I didn't if it would turn the rest of the batch stinky moldy smelling. Or would I have been better off adding them with the feed rather than trying to ferment them by themselves?

 

[urbanchange90]

This may be a dumb question, but could I use spent brewers grains to feed my chickens? I know a local brewer pretty well and he offered the idea but I wasn't sure if it was good for them, I'm new to this

 

[kpgoldstar]

This may be a dumb question, but could I use spent brewers grains to feed my chickens? I know a local brewer pretty well and he offered the idea but I wasn't sure if it was good for them, I'm new to this

I would so like to know this too since I have several breweries here in a really small town. Even if not for feeding, but in the compost bin for sure since my variety of materials is quite slim out here by the River.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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.

I got all my buckets from a small chain of Welsh pubs. They are 5 gallon pickle buckets. Both green and white. Sliced pickles come in the green ones, whole and spears come in the white. Probably just to make managing things easier.
I would think that any restaurant that sells a lot of burgers or garnishes their dishes with a pickle spear would go through a lot of them.
The place I get mine from had been throwing them away.

Right now I have about 20 of them.

I use them for extra feed that won't fit in the larger bins, grains, seeds, oyster shell, grit, sprouting and now I'll be using them for fermenting.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Trough, most definitely! Incidentally, it's my favorite for serving dry feeds as well.

Do you make your troughs or buy them?

 

[urbanchange90]

I work at a jimmy johns and we throw away pickle buckets (5 gallon white) like every other day. I've picked a few up myself

 

[Audio51]

I work at a jimmy johns and we throw away pickle buckets (5 gallon white) like every other day. I've picked a few up myself

I just went in to SaveMart Grocery and asked at the bakery. They give them away free but occasionally have some reserved for someone who called ahead. I would call around and see what you can find. I have 3 of the 2 1/2 gallons one that will be perfect for my 9 chickens.

My question is this: I want to use the 2 bucket method but don't know what size holes to drill in the top bucket. I am using layer crumbles with some scratch grains added and am concerned about making them too big and the feed running into the bottom bucket. I also don't want to make them so small that the liquid won't drain. Does any have a recommended drill bit size? And how many holes on the bottom. How many on the sides?

 

[beverly evans]

Quote:
Remember everyone, that Bee dresses out her hens and roosters so gets to see the results of her feeding! She sees if they are skinny or fat; if there are too many buttery fat globules hanging onto muscle, etc. and adjusts for it. So her break down is 1/2 cup per bird per day. So I counted up my 1/2 cups in a container and that is how much I dish out of the ff bucket each AM to my ladies. They come running when I come out of the house because I've spoiled them with treats, not because they are starving. btw my coop doesn't smell even with all the dampness, partly due to ff and partly to deep litter. I started my babies on ff and they go for it but walk in it a lot so still get the dry. win-win-win! : )