FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LindaB220]

Amen and thank you for your trying to help others, LJ, as it is much appreciated. All those who contribute in a positive and teaching manner on this thread are deeply appreciated for the time you take out of your day to help a complete stranger.....over...and over....over and over and over....and over again.

I just love you to pieces.

 

[LindaB220]

We're referencing the study that measured the nutritional boosts gained from fermentation that I posted a while back and we discussed here a bit. That study measured the nutrition of grains that had been fermented for different periods of time compared to unfermented grains. They found a nutritional boost after 24 hours, more of a boost after 48 hours, and even more of a boost at 72 hours. But the study didn't measure past the 72 hour point.

A little history: There is a traditional fermented grain "recipe" which is often used to feed human infants in certain areas of the world. People worried about the nutrition of feeding this recipe to infants ran tests on it and discovered the nutritional boosts.

If you "refresh" your batch every time you feed, then there are going to be different levels of "boosting" happening to individual morsels depending on how long the SCOBY has been working on them ... some fermented for 24 hours (if that's how often you refresh), some fermented indefinitely ... but even after 24 hours there is a boost in the nutrients in the grains, and of course all the "good stuff" in the liquid.

It's just a consideration for people trying to decide if they are going to have the never-ending/always-refreshing bucket, or separate "daily" buckets, or whatever system they're setting up.

For example, I'm using a 5 bucket system, each filled with 2 gallons of feed (about 12 lbs) and about 2.25 gallons of water. I feed enough that I use an entire 5 gallon bucket of feed each day -- I completely empty it. Technically I could put out at least one more bucket for the number of birds I've got going, but I'm not organized for that at the moment. I "backslop" when I refill the bucket by taking a couple spoonfuls from the most-fermented bucket. I cycle through the 5 buckets in order, so my feed is fermenting for no more than 4 full days maximum.

I thought about setting up a huge batch of feed in a food-grade barrel so it could be "bottomless," but then it would be difficult for me to stir and I'd be upside down in the barrel every day ... I imagined that wouldn't work so well for me, though other people make it work just fine.

And how many birds do you feed that 5 gallon bucket to?

This is good information.

 

[LindaB220]

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/im-using/

Tikkijane, love , love love the article and your website. Immediately shared it on FB. Good going.

 

[LindaB220]

I just ordered one of these ... http://www.homedepot.com/p/Mortrex-...204676674?keyword=Mortrex+concret+mixing+tool

It's a hand-powered concrete mixing tool designed to mix concrete in a 5 gallon bucket while standing upright over the bucket.

I just don't do well when I'm turned upside down. And my arms don't work great so get burned out mixing 5 buckets in a row.

They also sell big rubber troughs ... convenient for something like this because they have a drain.

Really big coolers also have a drain ...

I like the idea of something wider than it is high, so you can more easily mix to the very bottom of the feed.

Good tool. I remember someone on the meatbird thread bought an electrical paint stirrer. Both good ideas.

 

[Beekissed]

Tikkijane, love , love love the article and your website. Immediately shared it on FB. Good going.

X 10 !!!!! Me too! Well written and entertaining and captures the simplicity of it all.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

And how many birds do you feed that 5 gallon bucket to?      This is good information. 

I'm only about half feeding about 110 birds. I haven't ramped up to feeding 100% FF. Though they aren't eating much of the dry feed ...

 

[Tikkijane]

Tikkijane,  love , love love the article and your website.  Immediately shared it on FB.  Good going. 

Thank you. I write about chickens a lot more than I ever thought, lol. I'm annoyed that I never did write up the second old coop and run because now I've lost all those pictures (and years of everything else-literally everything else ) with this last computer rebuild. Boooo! I think my next post is going to be on my redneck brooder, lol. :hop

 

[Tikkijane]

 X 10  !!!!!   Me too!  Well written and entertaining and captures the simplicity of it all. 

Thanks! There are lots of other long and complicated posts/articles on fermenting, so I thought I'd go rogue. My apron/saddle post is a bit meandering, though.

 

[kpgoldstar]

OK.. So, I put water in the feed. I am concerned that I put too much water in there? Is that possible? I read on a website to make sure the water was about an inch and a half to two inches about the feed, but a few pages back on this thread I think I read that it should be runny oatmeal consistency? Somebody let me know so I can relax or get rid of the extra water in it!

This is turning out to be a great project for me.

Allow that amount of water for the first couple of days. Wait to see how much water your feed absorbs and swells. You may find out you need to add even more water! It really depends on the feed and your conditions. Once you get to about day 3 you will know if there is too much water. Just strain it out to feed, than add more dry food to absorb what you still have in your bucket. Don't get rid of the water.

 

[kpgoldstar]

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/im-using/

Love it!