FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[subhanalah]

Good to know.   I have some scratch that got damp and I was afraid it would mold so I baked it 30 min.   

I have another project I'm going to implement.   Mulberry leaves are very protein rich.  I'm going to blitz them and add to the feed.  

http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/AGAP/frg/Mulberry/Papers/HTML/Mulbwar2.htm

Now that is quite interesting!  I just love mulberries...

I was wondering if you plan on taking cuttings and rooting them or using seeds.  We have wild trees here as well as some domesticated varieties.  My next question is how long it would take to grow a stand of trees into useful fodder producers. And when they reach a certain height, do you top them to keep them bush height or just let 'em keep growing?   Then there is harvest,and storage/drying  to consider. I read the info on the link  and didn't see that mentioned.  
Sooo cool!

We have lots of wild mulberries here. They volunteer quite freely and fruit at a very young age.

if you have access to fresh mulberry leaves, I recommend looking into buying silkworm eggs and hatching them out for your chooks. They are an INCREDIBLE food source and will help mimic some of that wild variance in insects.
Www.mulberryfarms.com

 

[winteree]

idk i'm still on the fence about fermenting the feed i was always taught by my grams never to feed a chicken anything rotten if the feed got wet or moldy i was told to throw it away or put it into the compost pile

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That is true. She was right.
If feed gets wet or moldy one does need to dispose of it.
But fermented feed isn't rotten or moldy.

 

[niqueie]

idk i'm still on the fence about fermenting the feed i was always taught by my grams never to feed a chicken anything rotten if the feed got wet or moldy i was told to throw it away or put it into the compost pile

Fermentation is a way of preserving food. Humans have and still do ferment many foods that create a benefit to our systems. The probiotics in yogurts and kefir was finally the thing that cured my baby of a terrible yeast diaper rash that she got from taking antibiotics for an ear infection. Yogurt and kefir uses a fermentation process to create those probiotic. The use of fermented foods is valuable in humans and chickens. You need to learn more about it obviously. We are not making our good feed rotten by fermenting it. That would be ludicrous. We are adding considerable value to the good feed that we have by the fermentation process.

 

[winteree]

Fermentation is a way of preserving food. Humans have and still do ferment many foods that create a benefit to our systems. The probiotics in yogurts and kefir was finally the thing that cured my baby of a terrible yeast diaper rash that she got from taking antibiotics for an ear infection. Yogurt and kefir uses a fermentation process to create those probiotic. The use of fermented foods is valuable in humans and chickens. You need to learn more about it obviously. We are not making our good feed rotten by fermenting it. That would be ludicrous. We are adding considerable value to the good feed that we have by the fermentation process.

Peace bro.

i didn't slap your mother i just don't know anything about fermenting feed the video i saw on youtube looked liked the feed was moldy to me but i guess he and i were wrong.

 

[LindaB220]

Now that is quite interesting! I just love mulberries...

I was wondering if you plan on taking cuttings and rooting them or using seeds. We have wild trees here as well as some domesticated varieties. My next question is how long it would take to grow a stand of trees into useful fodder producers. And when they reach a certain height, do you top them to keep them bush height or just let 'em keep growing? Then there is harvest,and storage/drying to consider. I read the info on the link and didn't see that mentioned.
Sooo cool!

I paid $10 ea for 2 6" high rooted plants on Ebay. Too late to plant in the fall so I overwintered in house. They are 12" high now.

After I ordered them I found out that I have a huge one over where my coop will be. Twenty or thirty years old. And yes I will be taking cuttings. I plan to cut back about 6-7' ea yr. No taller. The birds will get most of the big trees. But what's interesting is the leaves are incredibly good for them also. 27% protein. I won't give them a lot. Kind of like comfrey. Just a little will bump up the protein on lower grade grains.

 

[winteree]

That is true. She was right.
If feed gets wet or moldy one does need to dispose of it.
But fermented feed isn't rotten or moldy.

yeah i just saw a recipe for the fermented feed I'm getting some meat bird at the end of the year I'll try is out with them.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Peace bro. i didn't slap your mother i just don't know anything about fermenting feed the video i saw on youtube looked liked the feed was moldy to me but i guess he and i were wrong.

There is so much good info in this thread ... Besides all the trial and error and tips from people here there are all kinds of links to other resources and research reports and stuff a person can get overwhelmed. But the basics are very simple. Add some water to some feed, wait & stir. Then you'll have a good fermented base to work with and keep going by adding more feed & water to it.

I had no idea fermentation was such a big deal in other places until I started researching it here. Fermentation was almost a lost art in the USA until pretty recently.

 

[winteree]

There is so much good info in this thread ... Besides all the trial and error and tips from people here there are all kinds of links to other resources and research reports and stuff a person can get overwhelmed. But the basics are very simple. Add some water to some feed, wait & stir. Then you'll have a good fermented base to work with and keep going by adding more feed & water to it.

I had no idea fermentation was such a big deal in other places until I started researching it here. Fermentation was almost a lost art in the USA until pretty recently.

i'm going to see about trying later on this year

 

[niqueie]

I just ran across this tip and thought it would be of help to those who worry about chlorine or chloromine in city water supplies. If you crush up some cheap vitamin C tablets it ties up the chlorine in the tap water and makes it safe.