FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[JLaw]

Sounds like i'm doing my ff wrong... water on top and to mix i cheat and use a paint mixer on a corded drill.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Sounds like i'm doing my ff wrong... water on top and to mix i cheat and use a paint mixer on a corded drill.

Water on top is fine, but not necessary...paint mixer on a drill is fine, but not necessary...

 

[JLaw]

Water on top is fine, but not necessary...paint mixer on a drill is fine, but not necessary...  

Ok will keep doing it then. Easy to mix and never too dry. And now that i have my draining set up not hard there eather. 3 screws in a bucket to keep colander from falling through as i pour ff in it.

 

[Beekissed]

Some folks just like making a chore out of it.

We just discussed this a few pages back!

 

[DufferChick]

Beekissed is the Bee's Knees!

I've got two batches of fermented feed going, and have "replenished" each a few times as I'm slowly introducing it to the flock and figuring out how to do it. This time, I decided to mix one of the batches as dry as I could ... and WOW is that easier to deal with! I just didn't add as much water when I added fresh feed to replenish it. The drier batch is fermenting just fine ... it burps when I scoop it, it smells "right," etc. Also nothing "bad" is happening on top.

Easier is better.

I am also fermenting layer feed using a drier mix - peanut butter consistency. I also add some supplemental grains, like BOSS, etc to the fermented feed. Works great! the chickens like it! They no longer prefer the unfermented, dry layer feed.

 

[LindaB220]

Bee, I'm sure I've read it before but my mind is not a sponge so I'll ask. In FF do you use whole or rolled oats and barley. Is there anything that we can't put in FF because of hulls.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I'm sure I've read it before but my mind is not a sponge so I'll ask. In FF do you use whole or rolled oats and barley. Is there anything that we can't put in FF because of hulls.

I've used it on whole and crimped oats and also on steamed barley. The only grain that doesn't seem to soften up and even the CX turned down was wheat.

 

[Audio51]

Why not go a little thicker than that, even? You don't have to keep water over the mix, so just mix it to a peanut butter consistency so you won't have to sieve it at all. No straining..just plopping a dollop in the feeder and you are done. If you want to drain it even further than that, you can drill holes in the bottom of your feeder to let it drain any excess so you won't have to do it yourself. It works, it's fast and it's cleaner on the chooks.

Take a gander at these clean chicks eating thicker mash...

I must have missed these pictures before. I have been saying to myself on a regular basis "Self...you need to ask Bee to post a picture of her feed trough". Glad I looked back thru here. I have been using a round plastic feed pan and the dominant hen gets right into the middle of it and does not like to share. I have been putting out a couple of flower pot saucers and putting a few scoops into them so the others could eat, but this looks much easier. I will be picking one up as soon as I can!

 

[LindaB220]

I've used it on whole and crimped oats and also on steamed barley. The only grain that doesn't seem to soften up and even the CX turned down was wheat.

But you do use wheat don't you? Some other way?

Never mind. You use layer mash don't you?

 

[Beekissed]

But you do use wheat don't you? Some other way?

Never mind. You use layer mash don't you?

I've used the wheat in the past, both when I fed dry and with the FF...both times the birds always left it to the last and sometimes they wouldn't eat it at all. That's the only grain I've ever given my birds that they didn't want to eat. I'm assuming it was due to the extremely hardened hulls...they won't even soften in the mix after having been in there for weeks. The meaties wouldn't even eat them and they will eat the shoe strings right off yer shoes!

I'm sure wheat is ground into the layer at some point.