FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Talking about a bucket of FF exploding out of the confines of the bucket, it happened to me this week when I mixed up my first batch of fermented beet pulp. I used pellets and covered them with warm water with a shot of ACV. Next morning the stuff had expanded WAY more than I thought it would! Yikes! Popped the lid right off! I had to transfer some of it into a smaller scrub bucket.

But it's doing great! It smells like sauerkraut. The little darlings eat it, but they aren't wild about it like their regular FF, which they'd eat all day long if I kept serving it, I've discovered. At least now I know when they are well and truly hungry the fermented beet pulp will be all gone, too.

Lots of fiber in that beet pulp, so they won't want it as much as they will the proteins. You'll have to post a pic of your fermented beet pulp!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Well the girls have eaten their first really batch of FF. I left some in the bottom of the jar and add more to it this morning. Keeping an eye on it all day so I don't have the same problem as the first time. Growing out of the container. My 6 girls seem to love this stuff. Happy chicken momma.

I usually make enough ff to feed out about 4-5 days. I only have 4 girls who are just 19 weeks old. My bucket is a 6 qt bakery type plastic container. My ff is nearly to the top when newly replenished. I feed out about 2 cups in the morning and anywhere between 1/4 and 1 cup in the evening depending on how many kitchen scraps they got in the AM and how full their crops are. I don't replenish the ff every feeding. I keep feeding from the same bucket until I get down to about 3 cups left, or where I won't have enough for the next 2 feedings. Then I add about 6 cups dry feed (just chick starter) and enough water to fully absorb. It is back to full ferment by the next morning or night, whenever I decide to replenish.

It makes it less time consuming not to have to add feed and water every single time I feed my small flock. Here is a pic after replenishing my ff, and it will make it nearly to the top of the bucket in about 12 hours and will be nice and fluffy!

 

[LindaB220]

Have I got a story for you The infamous Beet Pulp Squirrel Story.... I laugh out loud every time.

http://www.allcreaturesanimalhealth.com/site/view/212994_EquineNutritionArticles.pml

Go down the page and you will see on line eight "Beet Pulp Safety Warning" The Famous Beet Pulp Squirrel Story! Its a PDF and well worth the read.

deb

Priceless !!!

 

[Beekissed]

Priceless !!!

Ditto!

Well written and I can see every bit of it...wish I had a squirrel now.

 

[azygous]

Here's my fermented beet pulp. (And my twenty-year old cat Thor) It looks and smells like purple sauerkraut. It's incarcerated in the shower stall in case it tries to escape again.

 

[chickengirl1193]

Here's my fermented beet pulp. (And my twenty-year old cat Thor) It looks and smells like purple sauerkraut. It's incarcerated in the shower stall in case it tries to escape again.[COLOR=005CB1] [/COLOR]

My aunt feeds soaked beet pulp pellets to her horses and just one cup of pellets expands so much... I think if you buy the shreds they dont expand as much. But she feeds her quarter horses only 2 cups of pellets soaked. A little goes a long way!

 

[kpgoldstar]

Here's my fermented beet pulp. (And my twenty-year old cat Thor) It looks and smells like purple sauerkraut. It's incarcerated in the shower stall in case it tries to escape again.

Thor is a cutey!! He sure doesn't look 20. Good thinking keeping that in the shower...

 

[pegm]

OMG Perchie,

I sent this on to be enjoyed by my friends, with the proper warning to be prepared beforehand so their tears do not run down their leg.

And Bee, yep, now I want a squirrel.....that will pass tho....

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That squirrel story is amazing.

 

[azygous]

I just got done reading the squirrel/beet pulp saga. Funny doesn't even come close to describing it! Reminds me of Gerald Durrell pandemonium animal tales.

It's nice to know I'm not the first one to have ever been taken in by expanding beet pulp. There oughta be a warning on the package. Never mind. I wouldn't have read it.