FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

Sheesh, I really don't get why me asking a few questions is taken as me saying fermenting feed isn't good. Did anyone read that I am feeding fermented feed to my chicks? I am really curious about how the fermentation process affects any probiotics in the feed. Its fascinating! Don't you guys think?! My little Chickie's are doing great and so far we've had no pasty butt issues! I think people are getting defensive for no reason. Let's All be friends ok?! lol

Yeah...you're right. It's just that whole "my farmer friend says it's not natural" that got my goat. Not your fault and I was just suddenly irked by this vision of some Monsanto proponent and feed company lap boy out there in the good ol' boy network trying to belittle the small backyarder with a good idea. Again...my mind is working on short sleep and low judgement today.

Writing checks my body and mind can't cash.

 

[redfordchick]

Yeah...you're right.  It's just that whole "my farmer friend says it's not natural" that got my goat.  Not your fault and I was just suddenly irked by this vision of some Monsanto proponent and feed company lap boy out there in the good ol' boy network trying to belittle the small backyarder with a good idea.  Again...my mind is working on short sleep and low judgement today.    Writing checks my body and mind can't cash. 

I actually just suggested in the comments forum that they add a section for organic/holistic approaches. Lol. So I can see why you would think that but that's not me at all. I tried so hard to get organic chick starter and really couldn't. I hope I can find organic layer by the time they need it. I really don't even want to feed the one bag I have of grower, as its mainly corn and soy. Ugh!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Good luck with that endeavor....I've never been able to get that established here. In fact, it's been an uphill slog to even keep from being roundly attacked when suggesting just all natural farming practices. It's getting a little better but when I first came I was jumped on nearly every day for such things. You should have seen them laugh at me for adding ACV to the chicken's water....now you can't throw a rock on here unless you hit someone who does that. But...just six short years ago on here it was not the norm.

That's probably why I seem to come out fists swinging on some days, as it's been a tough fight to lay down the ground work on such things. I finally saw a turning point when I started the thread about the Gnarly Bunch and things sort of took off from there, both for FF and for more natural methods of managing flocks, though too many have still not grasped the importance of yearly culling to complete the picture.

 

[jbkirk]

Tks, I have found "ACV" and "Mother" listed in reading these threads. But I do not know what they are. I am a regular consumer of Kefer and thought that rinsing the bottle out with the water I am using to start the FF there would be a few pro-biotic cultures ready to grow!

ACV is apple cider vinegar

 

[Clucken2]

Thank you all for your reply. My first batch of FF is set up and cooking. My guess is my girls will like it. I will be monitoring their egg laying but really with the inevitable warmer weather- who is to know all contibuting factors! Since my original post with the question about FF, I have taken time to review the fabulous amount of info already posted. What a wealth of info I have stumbled on! Tks again

 

[tuner06]

Hello all
I started with ff about a month ago. I started a new Batch two weeks ago.
What dose it mean when it stops. For the past 2 weeks I stir it everyday and for
The last few days I never see any bubbles in it. Dose that mean anything.
Thanks for any info.

 

[redfordchick]

Hello all
I started with ff about a month ago. I started a new Batch two weeks ago.
What dose it mean when it stops. For the past 2 weeks I stir it everyday and for
The last few days I never see any bubbles in it. Dose that mean anything.
Thanks for any info.

Ok, so one of 2 things happened. Either you were not feeding it, to give it new feed to ferment and keep the culture going, or it was exposed to extreme temperatures that killed the culture. If you started it and did not continue adding more feed to ferment, it runs out and will stop bubbling. Same concept as a sourdough starter I would think. Once it starts bubbling, just a few days in, you are supposed to start feeding it to your chickens and you add more feed back to the ferment to keep it going. Hope that helps. I've killed many a sourdough starters, lol.

 

[Tikkijane]

I've been feeding fermented starter since I got my chicks a week ago, it took a few days to get bubbly and now it seems to be pretty active! They go crazy for it. Hard for me to tell if it is saving me money because I started this way so have no consumption rate of dry feed to compare to, but they really like it and seem to be growing like weeds- that's good enough for me. However, this is all interesting to me... I wonder if anyone has actually had the fermented feed analyzed. One bag of feed I have is really basic, the local feed store lied to me and said it was starter but it's grower, nothing added... So I went and bought Nutrena unmedicated starter, and started fermenting that too, makes me wonder what happens to the probiotics when fermented. I've seen some cool recipes of things to add to your feed, but ultimately that gets really expensive and you're messing with the overall analysis of the feed. Then, a friend of mine who is a Farmer said fermenting chicken feed is NOT natural... then I was super confused again. Seems like we kind of wing it and thankfully the animals are pretty forgiving and tolerant of our meddling. I'm trying to take a minimalist, naturalist approach... I like the concept of fermenting I just don't know if it's appropriate for every feed out there. I bake sourdough bread and brew Kombucha, and lactoferment some stuff too. I like making special mixes up as it's fun and makes you feel more involved, just alot of factors to consider.

"Natural" does not always equal "good." In addition to the many snakes that can kill you {natural}, mosquitos carry all kinds of diseases {natural}, not to mention toxic plants like foxglove, hemlock, oleander, ect {natural}. And then there's poison ivy.......

I've easily saved 2/3 on my feed bill, fwiw.

 

[Tikkijane]

I'm sorry....you are right.  I am being defensive.  Sometimes I've spent a week trying to put down fear mongering about this method and build a thin skin in the process, as it just frightens people and then they miss the good benefits of it.  I shouldn't be taking that out on you and I apologize most sincerely. 

It truly is a method I've enjoyed and many others like me, so it needs little defending by now and I don't know what gets into me sometimes....I guess I just can't stand so many folks who won't try something new and different or even take the time to learn about it before pronouncing it as "not natural" or "dangerous because it will grow mold". 

Please forgive me as my passion overrules my good judgement and even more often, my tongue. 

See, I didn't get that at all. I saw that you were asking appropriate questions as a means of discerning her way of farming to better understand her point of view.

Good gollee, we are truly well and totally screwed if we can't ask questions to better understand things.

I, too, know a good number of snobby, organic, crunchy people who are so entrenched in their belief that only their way is best, that they refuse to even listen and/or consider someone else might be doing something they hadn't thought of.

And saying "it's not natural," from an all organic person/farmer is very much akin to having someone look down their nose at you {we're so ignorant and uncivilized

}

Feeding fermented chicken feed hasn't quite gone mainstream. I hadn't even heard about it a few years ago, and then took a substantial amount of time reading, researching, and following this thread. There is a ton of research links to the benefits of fermented food linked on this thread.

It's all good.

 

[Tikkijane]

Good luck with that endeavor....I've never been able to get that established here.  In fact, it's been an uphill slog to even keep from being roundly attacked when suggesting just all natural farming practices.  It's getting a little better but when I first came I was jumped on nearly every day for such things.  You should have seen them laugh at me for adding ACV to the chicken's water....now you can't throw a rock on here unless you hit someone who does that.  But...just six short years ago on here it was not the norm. 

That's probably why I seem to come out fists swinging on some days, as it's been a tough fight to lay down the ground work on such things. I finally saw a turning point when I started the thread about the Gnarly Bunch and things sort of took off from there, both for FF and for more natural methods of managing flocks, though too many have still not grasped the importance of yearly culling to complete the picture. 

True. The gap is, imo, that most people consider them pets and not livestock. Even though my flock is closing in around 100 birds, I consider myself in that category overall. I have and will process if I have to. I really need to just get some meaties, but with a potential move looming, I don't want to add that to the mix right now. {If I could get the younger guineas moved over and the run added, it might not be a problem.}

For many of us, culling is not on the agenda unless it's euthanizing.