FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[islandgirl82]

I also feed it once each day and they have run of the whole yard most of the time but I may give them extra if I need to coax them back into the run earlier than they would normally go in on their own. I had been leaving a feeder of dry food out for them when I first started them on the ff and they picked at it here and there but not enough to make a dent so I took it out as it was just taking up valuable real estate in the coop.

I wouldn't be feeding the moldy food either.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

I feed twice a day, and still occasionally offer dry grain as well. The feed I mix/use is whole seeds & grains with cracked field peas & pelleted alfalfa; the same mix is sometimes given dry. (mixing it myself saves me about $12/cwt on organic feed and leaves the option of sprouting open in wintertime) They don't 'pig out' like they do when it's fermented, but they do eat it. Except the alfalfa, the pellets are too big for them. When fermented, they stay at the feeder until it's empty - about fifteen minutes. When dry, the same portion takes them about six hours to consume and they will pop back in to the hen house to nibble throughout the day. With the FF, they still eat all day, but they're chasing bugs instead of visiting the feeder. They still get free-choice flax seed dry because it sticks to the sides of the bucket... the spoon... the feeder....

I would not feed *any* moldy grain because of the risk of aspergillis. I used to give them the crusts of bread that had grown (obviously penecillium) mold, but since we gave up store bread years ago, that doesn't happen anymore. Because the offending element is a toxin produced by the mold, and not the mold itself, I suspect fermentation would not be adequate to render it 'safe'. Just my opinion, and I'm known to always err on the side of caution!

 

[ChaoSS]

So, no moldy food. I guess I'll throw it out or give it to the dogs, the chickens might pick through it but I doubt they'll eat it if they shouldn't.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

So, no moldy food. I guess I'll throw it out or give it to the dogs, the chickens might pick through it but I doubt they'll eat it if they shouldn't.

Chickens... will eat most anything they think tastes good (or moves!). If they weren't willing to eat food contaminated with aspergillis, it wouldn't be anything for the people feeding them to worry about.
Is the mold clumped up? Can you carefully go through it and remove the moldy areas? Dispose of that part in the trash or bury in the compost pile, and let them have the rest?

 

[NickyPick]

I feed once a day - mornings. I've got about 50 chickens and several troughs. There is usually a little left in the troughs when I get home at 4 pm, but by the time the chickens get put up at dusk, they're usually pecked clean. The hens spend the day in my horse pens. I've been mixing 50lb bags of rolled oats, barley and scratch grains and fermenting that in a large rubber garbage/feed can. Just add a couple of buckets worth a week and stir with a shovel and it's good to go. In the winter, I add fish food for extra protein for the molters and the bugless months.

 

[lazy gardener]

Chaoss: Re: moldy feed: the mold produces toxins. I'd not feed it to your dogs either. You never know which kind of mold is growing, and it could be a variety which produces the lethal toxins. I've heard of more than one dog being killed by eating moldy feed. The one thing you can do with this feed to at least get some benefit from it is to put it in an active compost pile.

To the poster who was concerned about not being able to feed FF 2x/day: That's not necessary. My flock gets FF in the morning- enough so that there's some left over. That way, the gals at the bottom of the pecking order don't go hungry. Their feed is gone by 10 AM. By the end of the day, when it's time for them to be shut in for the night, I toss them a quart of dry pellets. They devour them. So, it's not like FF has to be an all or none approach. If chickens are hungry, they'll eat. And i find that they are ALWAYS hungry. Just like feeding dogs... you don't want to feed them every time they tell you they're hungry b/c they'll eat until they are so fat that they can't move, or until they vomit. (at least in my experience.)

 

[Aphrael]

To the poster who was concerned about not being able to feed FF 2x/day: That's not necessary. My flock gets FF in the morning- enough so that there's some left over. That way, the gals at the bottom of the pecking order don't go hungry. Their feed is gone by 10 AM. By the end of the day, when it's time for them to be shut in for the night, I toss them a quart of dry pellets. They devour them. So, it's not like FF has to be an all or none approach. If chickens are hungry, they'll eat. And i find that they are ALWAYS hungry. Just like feeding dogs... you don't want to feed them every time they tell you they're hungry b/c they'll eat until they are so fat that they can't move, or until they vomit. (at least in my experience.)

The eating until they are so fat they can't move is SO true. At least with my chickens it is. They are gluttons. I was leaving dry feed available in addition to giving FF because I was worried about them getting enough, because every time I go in the yard they swarm me like they are famished. But after processing some older birds and seeing the giant layers of fat, I realized they are just incorrigible beggars and not really hungry. Also, with the feed available all day, I found they were going in over and over and eating all day long, rather than out free ranging for healthier snacks like I want them to.

So, now the free choice feed is completely removed. Now I give them a measured amount of FF in the evening before bed. (Enough that they don't completely clean it up that night so I know even the lower ones get their fill.) In the morning they get sprouts/fodder (currently wheat and BOSS), and then they get to free range for goodies all day long. If it is really cold or rainy and they don't want to go out, then I'll toss goodies (scratch, dry feed, whole grains, etc.) into their barn and covered run to occupy them.

 

[RoseMarie1]

So, no moldy food. I guess I'll throw it out or give it to the dogs, the chickens might pick through it but I doubt they'll eat it if they shouldn't.

catfish might like it if you have a creek near you.

 

[LindaB220]

Fermented feed question here.

Actually two questions

First, is anyone feeding a mix of fermented feeds and un-fermented feeds? I know some people say once their birds taste the fermented stuff they don't want to go back to dry, but I can't feed twice a day at the right times, I'm not home at the right times, sometimes I really just don't have time to deal with it on certain days. So, anyone feeding a little ferment once a day and leaving the dry feeder in the run?


Second, I keep reading that the ferment will kill mold. Can I dump moldy food into the ferment or does it need to be thrown out? I threw away a bag of food recently that was moldy, a second bag had just a few moldy spots in it, the rest was given to the birds, and a third bag will likely have some mold in it when I open it. I accidentally left these bags outside and it rained on them, this wasn't a manufacturer issue. Can I feed some food to them with some mold on it if I ferment it first or is this a bad idea?

You can leave the dry in if you want and just feed a larger portion at night when you get home. They won't starve. I throw scratch out about 20 min before I feed and they gobble it up. Then the feed is out the rest of the day. I feed about noon.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

I feed once a day - mornings. I've got about 50 chickens and several troughs. There is usually a little left in the troughs when I get home at 4 pm, but by the time the chickens get put up at dusk, they're usually pecked clean. The hens spend the day in my horse pens. I've been mixing 50lb bags of rolled oats, barley and scratch grains and fermenting that in a large rubber garbage/feed can. Just add a couple of buckets worth a week and stir with a shovel and it's good to go. In the winter, I add fish food for extra protein for the molters and the bugless months.

Not much protein in there!