FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[RichnSteph]

One thing my FF is doing lately is after about a week it's smelling so off that i'm throwing it out and the birds won't eat it either. i use Scratch n Peck crumble and a pellet mixed, stir it daily, blah blah etc. It smells sour good until it starts smelling like dog vomit and i have to throw it out and the hens won't eat it anyway

So i guess that i'll just have to make a new batch every week. shrug.

I had the same problem with mine in a 5 gallon bucket that was usually 3/4 full. It would get so bad that the chickens just wouldn't eat it and I'd toss it into my BSF bin for the grubs to eat. Eventually I just quit making it since I was tossing a lot of feed. What I started doing a few weeks ago is making a much smaller batch in an empty protein powder container. I'll feed about half of the batch in the morning, top it off with fresh feed and water, put it in a spot that gets some good sun during the day (the container is black and heats up nicely) and then it's ready for the feeding the next morning. Our birds are once again inhaling the FF before they head out to free range for the day. I feed them regular feed in the evenings.

RichnSteph

 

[ReillyJ]

I had the same problem with mine in a 5 gallon bucket that was usually 3/4 full. It would get so bad that the chickens just wouldn't eat it and I'd toss it into my BSF bin for the grubs to eat. Eventually I just quit making it since I was tossing a lot of feed. What I started doing a few weeks ago is making a much smaller batch in an empty protein powder container. I'll feed about half of the batch in the morning, top it off with fresh feed and water, put it in a spot that gets some good sun during the day (the container is black and heats up nicely) and then it's ready for the feeding the next morning. Our birds are once again inhaling the FF before they head out to free range for the day. I feed them regular feed in the evenings.

RichnSteph

Thanks, RichnSteph

that is exactly what i'm going to do! i found they eat it well that way and mine just doesn't go on forever and ever now like it used to, not gonna sweat it!

 

[vpatt]

I have my ff in a 3 gallon bucket. I have it about half full and add feed and water back every day or two. I wonder how it can be fermented with such a fast turn around but they eat it and seem to like it. I feed it at least twice a day sometimes three times. Once in a while I switch out the third meal with seeds and scratch. I thought for a while they weren't cleaning it all up...but I think that is just the normal residue left over in the bottom of the feeders. I was thinking of switching over to a 5 gallon bucket. I did notice that when I rinse out the feeders that the chickens hang around the water spigot. So I think they may be eating some of that residue after all. My 3 babies love the ff, too.

 

[lazy gardener]

One thing my FF is doing lately is after about a week it's smelling so off that i'm throwing it out and the birds won't eat it either. i use Scratch n Peck crumble and a pellet mixed, stir it daily, blah blah etc. It smells sour good until it starts smelling like dog vomit and i have to throw it out and the hens won't eat it anyway

So i guess that i'll just have to make a new batch every week. shrug.

ReillyJ: I'm not a FF expert, but have been using it for almost 2 years. Are you letting it ferment for a whole week before feeding it? How many birds are you feeding? I'm feeding 16. My FF is renewed every day. I actually use 2 containers, so that when one is emptied, (I hold back about 1/2 cup, or what ever is stuck on the bottom and sides of the container. Then, that container gets re-filled with feed and warm water) I can then start feeding from the second container. At most, my ferment is 3-4 days old by the time they get it. I know the benefits may not be as great as they would with a longer ferment, but I also found that when it gets smelling real strong, they won't eat it. So, I'd suggest that you cut back the amount you are fermenting at a time, and do your renewal when there is a smaller amount of culture left in your container. An other plus of doing small batches, is that I often just carry the ferment bucket out and slop it into their dish straight from the bucket. No scooping involved. I find that 3 gallon buckets... like "little friskies" is packaged in are perfect. I also have a 1 gallon ice cream bucket that I use. (I bought the ice cream specifically for the bucket... one of the few times when the kids were happy to see me buying something for the chickens!)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm feeding about 50+ mature birds and am using three 5-gal buckets. I go through 2 buckets about every 3 days.
Most of the birds are free ranging but in the dead of winter, there's very little in the line of forage.

 

[n3kms]

I know some folks on here do some long ferments and have healthy birds. But almost everything else that you ferment, like sourdough or kefir has to be refreshed every day or two or refrigerated to keep the good bacteria healthy and growing. What I do is feed down till not much is left and then mix up a new batch which gets an overnight ferment. I usually feed on that for 2 days and then repeat. It's all I have ever fed mine since I got them as chicks back in April. They have been healthy and I get 12-14 eggs a day right now from 16 pullets. Hope to start some meat birds in the spring.

 

[Beekissed]

We are doing a little higher volume than sourdough or kefir and the whole mix isn't sitting in a long term ferment...as soon as it's refreshed, the very next day it's getting fed out, so all we are feeding has a good healthy and thriving bacteria feeding on a whole bucket of fresh feed over a 2 wk time period. It's not old ferment that has run out of things to consume....it has a whole bucket of fresh feed, whereas when one refreshes sourdough one might only return a cup or two of flour back into the mix, while the original mix is still deeply fermented as it's been being used for weeks, months and even years. This is no different, just a bigger vessel. A larger volume, larger amounts being fed out, larger amounts being added back to refresh the bucket, so it works out much like a sourdough mix.

If we were using unhealthy bacteria it would never ferment a whole bucket quickly enough to feed out the next day.

 

[vpatt]

I forgot to bring my ff inside last nite and its in the teens this morning!! I guess they may get regular feed for breakfast. Usually it is fine even with low temps but I'm not sure about the teens. Sigh

 

[knjinnm]

Did your FF freeze? If so let thaw then use it.

 

[vpatt]

Did your FF freeze? If so let thaw then use it.

It was partially frozen. I gave them some dry feed and brought the ff inside for a couple of hours. I have already given them some of the ff. Yesterday I switched it to a five gallon bucket. I didn't think about it being heavier to lift, but I guess I can use the exercise.

They were all huddled under the porch earlier.......I think just like us the sudden changes in temps are harder to deal with.