FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

LOL. love it--"cheesecake crusts". I put mine in there for the chicks quite moist and then every few hours break up the pancake they made!

Kathy

As they age they will consume the feed they trampled without our intervention, but when they are just little I just stir it up for them and it makes a kind of crumble and they eat it like it's something new. I only do that once per day. After a week, the CX no longer need it...they are strong enough to peck the particles even when they are compacted.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Quote: Agreed. My CX are in their own lil coop my garden, they are on FF and have 3 weeks left to go. I also notice poo just isn't there! When birds are processed, going to bury their entrails, wait 3 days or so--do one last plow, remove coop and plant garden.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

This was the first day when they got home....






These were taken last week when they were a week old....also the video.

Very cute!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I have a quick question--my FF is in 2 - 2 gallon glass jars. I do 2 and alternate days for refreshing purposes. This setup is in my guest bathroom along with a 20 gallon aquarium mealworm farm. I would like to move the FF outside in a large lidded storage chest I keep in the run. We are about 45 at night now--will my FF still be active if I do this? As for the mealies, I'm moving to tub behind shower curtain instead of countertop--so many beetles now it grosses me out!

 

[Beekissed]

I have a quick question--my FF is in 2 - 2 gallon glass jars. I do 2 and alternate days for refreshing purposes. This setup is in my guest bathroom along with a 20 gallon aquarium mealworm farm. I would like to move the FF outside in a large lidded storage chest I keep in the run. We are about 45 at night now--will my FF still be active if I do this? As for the mealies, I'm moving to tub behind shower curtain instead of countertop--so many beetles now it grosses me out!

It should be fine if you mix large enough batches..I'd suggest going to a large bucket. The larger batches in the cooler temps will allow the scoby enough time to ferment the whole batch with its slower metabolism caused by the cooler temps. Mine is in the coop and has been there for some time now with temps in the 30s and 40s, but since my ferment is so strong and healthy, I can mix large batches~add the water first to make sure all the particles from your back slop is mixed thoroughly throughout the liquid, then the feed~and still have good fermented feed to dish out by the next day.

Refresh when you still have feed left in the bottom of the bucket but can see the bottom when you are stirring...that should give you enough good fermented feed left to inoculate the fresh batch.

 

[grampsjim]

Could one use a packet of bread yeast to start the fermenting process? Just curious.....I'm finding this very interesting!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I tried bakers yeast a couple times but found it unnecessary.

I still do use kefir and gro2max (mostly lacto bacillus and related bacteria) but not very much. It does ferment very fast though so, without doing an experiment, I'm supposing it helps.

Since I have about 4 buckets going I can do the experiment with a couple more buckets. I'm completely out of my organic grower and have to use local conventional crumbles. I'm not as happy with the consistency but my supplier couldn't get any of the Nature's Grown last week, Hopefully I'll be back on the FF track by Thursday.

 

[Aacre]

Could one use a packet of bread yeast to start the fermenting process? Just curious.....I'm finding this very interesting!

Are you looking to get it to ferment faster? I don't know if it will ferment faster or not with yeast, but it only takes 3 days to get the feed fermenting nicely, from what I found (using nothing but feed and water). After that, I just keep some of the backslop to keep the fermenting process going when I add new feed. It's really worth trying out! I find that my chickens look a lot better. Their feathering looks better, they seem happier/satisfied, and they are nice and juicy. Before, it seemed like they weren't getting enough food, or they weren't as interested in it.

 

[ak rain]

Bee I'm trying to understand your brooder.
Is heat pad under birds? Or attached to wire frame above birds? It looks great
Sylvia

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Quote: Ok, thanks BeeKissed--I will go to bucket, makes sense, thank you so much!