FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LindaB220]

So, about the heat, can you leave it outside and still get a good ferment and not ruin it? It's getting frakking HOT down here in SETX ( like upper 80's alreay and soon to be 90s all day) and I'd like to try to ferment some later in the summer when i have to switch to TX Natural layer crumbles (bc H&H is fab but I can't drive 2 hours to get it every few months) and my hens don't seem to like Tx Natural.

Also I am getting a grandpa's treadle feeder soon and I am wondering, if I put a layer of sticky plastic in the feed bin of the feeder, would that protect it if I use fermented feed? I don't want to damage the galvanized feeder. I also don't want to have to build another feeder because I've gone through 3 feeder building teaks in the last month or so.

Keep it in the shade? It should be ok. I have mine in the coop with morning sunshine and it's high 90's out of Shreveport.

 

[Beekissed]

So, about the heat, can you leave it outside and still get a good ferment and not ruin it? It's getting frakking HOT down here in SETX ( like upper 80's alreay and soon to be 90s all day) and I'd like to try to ferment some later in the summer when i have to switch to TX Natural layer crumbles (bc H&H is fab but I can't drive 2 hours to get it every few months) and my hens don't seem to like Tx Natural.

Also I am getting a grandpa's treadle feeder soon and I am wondering, if I put a layer of sticky plastic in the feed bin of the feeder, would that protect it if I use fermented feed? I don't want to damage the galvanized feeder. I also don't want to have to build another feeder because I've gone through 3 feeder building teaks in the last month or so.

I really don't know if it will work in a treadle feeder...you can try it but I'm doubting it will have the desired effect. A simple trough is an easy, easy build, especially if using rain guttering or even wood planks (the easiest, IMO). Takes all of about 10 min. to put one together and they are tough, easy to fill and clean, easy for all ages to eat from and you'll not have any feed waste.

Here's a few of what I have made and used.....this large one and the small chick feeder below it are both made from a simple hog trough style "V" trough....just two boards screwed together to form a "V" and then smaller pieces of boards screwed on the ends for end caps and as "feet" to keep the trough from tipping over.







This larger trough is an old miter box that I put end caps on and screwed onto a few 2x6s...it puts the trough at chest height on the adult birds.




This little one is a chick feeder in the classic "V" with a piece of fencing zip tied on the top to form a lid that can be closed to keep the chicks from taking a bath in the feed.




This is rain guttering....about $7 for an 8 ft section and a few bucks for end caps and waterproof caulk.....you can get a few trough feeders out of this large piece of guttering. Just screwed onto 2x4 pieces so it can't tip.

 

[TwoCrows]

Ok....so it is day 3 on my experiment with fermenting layer and starter feed. They both smell good but yeasty. No mold. Still sloppy and juicy looking. So is this it? Do I need to do anything to feed it?

I did go ahead and slop some of the layer in to a small tub this morning for the layers. I hope it is good to feed at this stage, as wow, they completely ignored their little mixed seed snack I give them first thing in the morning and were fighting over this tub of sloppy mash! I guess it is a hit!

But just want to clear it with you all to be sure there is not something else I should do with it before feeding.

Thanks everyone for all the help! I am sure I will have more questions about this, and I will try the fermented starter on the chicks this morning as well.

 

[birdlady79]

After the food is fermented, can you keep it in fridge? Or will that ruin it?

 

[LindaB220]

After the food is fermented, can you keep it in fridge? Or will that ruin it?

No don't put it in the fridge. It will go dormant and you'll have to start over on the fermenting.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

We picked up our first order of the custom feed on Wednesday, so added some to the existing buckets of feed I have fermenting. I gather it's nice to transition birds to new feeds over a few days/week, so I added graduated amounts to several buckets. I've use a 5 bucket system, so it will only be 5 days before I get them transitioned to the new feed, so I hope it isn't a shock to their systems.

It smells good, it seems a little denser in the FF bucket. I'm not sure yet what final the ratio of feed to water will be so it's possible to stir it but is still as dry as possible ...

Basically, I'm back to tweaking. And now I'm remembering all the questions I had about "how much feed to water?" and "how long will it take to ferment?" and all that. Only my own eyes, my own hands, and my own nose can answer those questions.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

No don't put it in the fridge. It will go dormant and you'll have to start over on the fermenting.

I was thinking for people in really hot areas who are looking for ways to cool their flock down, that maybe portioning up a day's worth of feed the night before and refrigerating it would be nice for the birds. That way the feed would be nicely fermented (before refrigeration), but cool when served. I gather the feed would stop fermenting further when it got too cold. From what I understand about people who ferment outdoors where they have low night-time temps, having a cold phase of each 24 hour day doesn't stop the fermentation process entirely, but fermentation pauses it when it is cooler.

 

[MelTX]

I really don't know if it will work in a treadle feeder...you can try it but I'm doubting it will have the desired effect. A simple trough is an easy, easy build, especially if using rain guttering or even wood planks (the easiest, IMO). Takes all of about 10 min. to put one together and they are tough, easy to fill and clean, easy for all ages to eat from and you'll not have any feed waste.

Here's a few of what I have made and used.....this large one and the small chick feeder below it are both made from a simple hog trough style "V" trough....just two boards screwed together to form a "V" and then smaller pieces of boards screwed on the ends for end caps and as "feet" to keep the trough from tipping over.







This larger trough is an old miter box that I put end caps on and screwed onto a few 2x6s...it puts the trough at chest height on the adult birds.




This little one is a chick feeder in the classic "V" with a piece of fencing zip tied on the top to form a lid that can be closed to keep the chicks from taking a bath in the feed.




This is rain guttering....about $7 for an 8 ft section and a few bucks for end caps and waterproof caulk.....you can get a few trough feeders out of this large piece of guttering. Just screwed onto 2x4 pieces so it can't tip.

Thanks Bee! I may try that. I hear about all these people softening pellet feed and their girls go nutz over mash and fermented wet style feed but mine won't. And since they have a huge backyard to freerange in full of grass and bugs, I don't think they are hungry enough to HAVE to go for the feed. Of course with my new $220 grandpa feeder they won't go near it.

I'm just worried they wont eat any new food and just try to fill up on grass and bugs and then I'll have no eggs.

Then again I'm probably overthinking and worry-warting since people have raised laying hens on nothing but a bit of corn tossed out and whatever the hens could free range out of livestock troughs and such.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

We are loving our PVC troughs for our FF! They are set up high for the older birds ... our broody-raised chicks are more of a challenge because of all the broody scratching that goes on. So for those we try to feed them away from the shavings as much as possible ... we're still working on good solutions for them!

 

[EmeraldSkye]

I've been reading this thread on and off for a few weeks now, and I do have my girls on FF (I have four hens). I wanted to contribute to say that at first I took their FF out to them in a medium-sized ceramic trough-like bowl (it's the smaller one here: Bowls). They would eat it but they would leave some, and maybe come back to it. I discovered that when I tipped the food out onto the ground (I was thinking it was too wet and the liquid needed to drain off) they were more enthusiastic about eating it. So, now I just take the food out to them, "dust off" a patch of dirt - moving aside things I don't want them to eat like straw or poop, and then pour the feed into a pile on the ground. They are happy to eat it that way and don't leave any behind. I also make sure that I don't put it in their favorite dust bathing spots.

I do take them some in the mornings and evenings. But they aren't as into it in the mornings, probably because I have some hanging dry feed in their predator-proof run that they have access to all day, and especially when they get up in the morning they have it available so by the time I go out to let them out in the mornings into their larger space they have already had breakfast. They will eventually eat what I put out for them though. When I take them some of the FF in the evenings, they go after it right away. Maybe I should just take it to them in the evenings and skip the mornings. There really isn't a right and a wrong way to do this, though, as long as they are eating what I do give them.