FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[omalicha]

I just gave my chickens FF for the Ist time. They looked at it and looked totally baffled hahahahahah... Was so funny . I felt they were thinking " what on earth is this?"

.... I checked on them 15 mins later and they were all eating it up. An hour later the entire food is gone ! Wow.

The FF don't stink like I thought. It was not even disgusting and this is my 4 th day fermenting. Did everyone have such outcome or did mine not ferment well?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I just gave my chickens FF for the Ist time. They looked at it and looked totally baffled hahahahahah... Was so funny . I felt they were thinking " what on earth is this?"

.... I checked on them 15 mins later and they were all eating it up. An hour later the entire food is gone ! Wow.

The FF don't stink like I thought. It was not even disgusting and this is my 4 th day fermenting. Did everyone have such outcome or did mine not ferment well?

The smell of the ferment depends on what your product is and the spores in the air. Mine has phases of smell. Sometimes (at first), kind of like a creamy dough smell, sometimes slight butter milk or sour kraut, but never as bad as kimchi. Mine rarely takes 4 days and I am in I mild (coastal) climate. Are you able to see bubbles? Your ferment should be fine.

Glad your chickens enjoyed!

 

[Tikkijane]

Wha
What's the depth please? Can day olds still use the same gutter if you were brooding? Or u need to make another one entirely

I would not use anything of ANY depth with really young chicks. They can actually get stuck in in. I'd use anything that's flat. And with chicks {not with mama} I feed 24/7. Chicks with mama pretty much the same deal until they are out free ranging.

 

[Leigti]

I have 10 ft of gutter and I'm feeding 150+..... I have it in 3 sections. My suggestion is to make a section for the littles and put it somewhere that the bigs can't get to it but the littles can.

Once their nutrition level evens out, they'll grab a few mouthfuls and move on, which yes, allows everyone to get fed. You may get mobbed at first, so wear eye protection, and for goodness sake, don't fall down!

Wow, that's a lot of chickens. This morning I fed them in a 5 foot section and it actually worked pretty well. It's low to the ground so the little ones could reach it. My little ones are two months old. So for now I think I'll keep the one 5 foot section. If a problem comes up I will put up another 5 foot section. They also free roam in my yard during the day so they come and go out of the run area and eat.

 

[Tikkijane]

Does anyone have a link handy that shows increased ferment levels with time? When I moved phones, looks like I lost some of the good stuff I had saved....

 

[ldawntaylor]

Hi,

I've been reading through this thread for a few days. I can't say I know much of anything about fermented feeds except what I've read on this site.

But, I do know a little about nutrition - in people. I work in the kitchen of a health and rehab facility. When there is an injury, or severe weight loss then we increase protein in particular. But, that protein is then reduced when the injury heals or the weight returns to normal. It is a temporary change to the diet.

I may be wrong, but I believe that concept is the same for all living things because the protein is the main building block to tissue or muscle growth/repair.

It is my understanding that the purpose of fermenting feed is to make the proteins more available to the body. So, it is something I am going to try. In fact, I've had some of the scratch feed fermenting for the last three days. It is bubbling nicely and has a certain odor to it that I associate with fermentation. So, I'll be feeding from it later today.

Just as a side note, for a person eating meat is just a short cut to getting protein. Our bodies make protein from amino acids and we find those in a number of sources. For example, eat some corn and some lima beans and you have all the amino acids your body needs. But, you don't get all of the amino acids from just corn or just lima beans.

Oh, I know, this is old hat for those who remember their high school science classes. But, I suspect it is helpful to remember.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi,

I've been reading through this thread for a few days. I can't say I know much of anything about fermented feeds except what I've read on this site.

But, I do know a little about nutrition - in people. I work in the kitchen of a health and rehab facility. When there is an injury, or severe weight loss then we increase protein in particular. But, that protein is then reduced when the injury heals or the weight returns to normal. It is a temporary change to the diet.

I may be wrong, but I believe that concept is the same for all living things because the protein is the main building block to tissue or muscle growth/repair.

It is my understanding that the purpose of fermenting feed is to make the proteins more available to the body. So, it is something I am going to try. In fact, I've had some of the scratch feed fermenting for the last three days. It is bubbling nicely and has a certain odor to it that I associate with fermentation. So, I'll be feeding from it later today.

Just as a side note, for a person eating meat is just a short cut to getting protein. Our bodies make protein from amino acids and we find those in a number of sources. For example, eat some corn and some lima beans and you have all the amino acids your body needs. But, you don't get all of the amino acids from just corn or just lima beans.

Oh, I know, this is old hat for those who remember their high school science classes. But, I suspect it is helpful to remember.

I can't imagine that science classes have changed much since my high school or even college days. But, NOTHING was taught to me regarding balancing amino acids for a full protein complement. I'm sure this is brand new brain fodder for most folks. I used to keep an amino acid chart inside one of my cabinet doors.

Are you only fermenting scratch, or also fermenting a blended feed? I ferment their layer or multi-flock, and toss their scratch in the coop or run so they can "scratch for it"!

 

[ldawntaylor]

At the moment I'm only fermenting their scratch feed. I want to find a feed that doesn't have the animal or fish protein before I try that.

I guess my science teacher just really liked his subject.... Plus, the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist one. Being SDA at the time, anyway, meant that eating even fish was frowned upon. Also, my parents were foster parents so each place we lived my mom had to supply the foster agency with data supporting the vegetarian diet being healthy and why. Scientific studies referenced and all.

The array of proteins is amazing. Some are useful to the human body, some are not. I don't remember how many amino acids there are but only some of them are part of the protein needed for the body to make tissue and such.

 

[Leigti]

At the moment I'm only fermenting their scratch feed.  I want to find a feed that doesn't have the animal or fish protein before I try that.

I guess my science teacher just really liked his subject....  Plus, the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist one.  Being SDA at the time, anyway, meant that eating even fish was frowned upon.  Also, my parents were foster parents so each place we lived my mom had to supply  the foster agency with data supporting the vegetarian diet being healthy and why.  Scientific studies referenced and all.

The array of proteins is amazing.  Some are useful to the human body, some are not.  I don't remember how many amino acids there are but only some of them are part of the protein needed for the body to make tissue and such.

Most chicken feeds do not have fish or animal protein in them. Chickens are not vegetarian. They need animal protein of some kind. If they are free room in the make it bugs etc. but if not they need it somewhere.
It took me a while to find chicken feed with animal protein in it

 

[lazy gardener]

At the moment I'm only fermenting their scratch feed. I want to find a feed that doesn't have the animal or fish protein before I try that.

I guess my science teacher just really liked his subject.... Plus, the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist one. Being SDA at the time, anyway, meant that eating even fish was frowned upon. Also, my parents were foster parents so each place we lived my mom had to supply the foster agency with data supporting the vegetarian diet being healthy and why. Scientific studies referenced and all.

The array of proteins is amazing. Some are useful to the human body, some are not. I don't remember how many amino acids there are but only some of them are part of the protein needed for the body to make tissue and such.

That explains why you got a superior education in nutrition.