FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[EggSighted4Life]

Ya, mine like to clean out the goat barn. Stinks to lose birds like you did! I have some EE, they always start laying late for me and so far sporadic as well. So you ferment all that stuff together? Any ideal on nutritional values? I would think you would see some ill effects by now if it was too far outta whack.

Do you hatch your own chicks?

 

[NickyPick]

I tend to alternate with mail ordering and incubating. I did a chart way back when, with all the nutritional values, and it was good. Protein was an issue until I found the catfish food.

 

[omalicha]

Hi all. Dunno if am writing this in the correct place. I have meat birds, i feed them fermented feed . They are meant to be 5weeks today but they look small for their age. They eat a lot and healthy but why on earth do they look small and with very scanty feathers! Am thinking this is a bad stock!

 

[WPFarmstead]

Hi all. Dunno if am writing this in the correct place. I have meat birds, i feed them fermented feed . They are meant to be 5weeks today but they look small for their age. They eat a lot and healthy but why on earth do they look small and with very scanty feathers! Am thinking this is a bad stock!

What feed are you fermenting for them? Broilers (meat birds like cornish x) need more protein to develop correctly.

 

[redsix]

Hi all. Dunno if am writing this in the correct place. I have meat birds, i feed them fermented feed . They are meant to be 5weeks today but they look small for their age. They eat a lot and healthy but why on earth do they look small and with very scanty feathers! Am thinking this is a bad stock!

Are you fermenting chick starter and grower? They make a liquid chicken vitamin that can be added to their water, if you think that might help. Are you giving them chick grit?

 

[Mom2Sav]

Can I put my fermenting feed in a back room that doesn't have great insulation meaning in the winter it may be on the cool side (50's)? And will it take a lot longer to ferment? I live in MA and the winters can be somewhat cold. I am new to chickens and new to fermenting feed. I do make Kombucha and Kefir which does not have a smell. So I'm wondering if I'm going to want to keep it towards the back of the house where we won't smell it or maybe I won't even mind the smell. I'm pretty tolerant. Any thoughts or suggestions? I was going to do the continuous methods as it seems the easiest. Thanks.

 

[Beekissed]

Can I put my fermenting feed in a back room that doesn't have great insulation meaning in the winter it may be on the cool side (50's)? And will it take a lot longer to ferment? I live in MA and the winters can be somewhat cold. I am new to chickens and new to fermenting feed. I do make Kombucha and Kefir which does not have a smell. So I'm wondering if I'm going to want to keep it towards the back of the house where we won't smell it or maybe I won't even mind the smell. I'm pretty tolerant. Any thoughts or suggestions? I was going to do the continuous methods as it seems the easiest. Thanks.

You sure can. That's how I keep mine in the winter too...back room/pantry that is unheated but we manage to keep it around 45-50 in there. It does take longer to ferment, so make large batches and backslop to give it a jumpstart and time to develop.

 

[Mom2Sav]

You sure can. That's how I keep mine in the winter too...back room/pantry that is unheated but we manage to keep it around 45-50 in there. It does take longer to ferment, so make large batches and backslop to give it a jumpstart and time to develop.

Let's say it's 45 degrees, how many days do you think the first batch would take to ferment? We are getting the chickens within 2 weeks. I'm ordering the organic feed which may take a few days. And then I need to start the ferment. So I'm wondering if I should order the feed now? Any thoughts?

 

[Beekissed]

Let's say it's 45 degrees, how many days do you think the first batch would take to ferment? We are getting the chickens within 2 weeks. I'm ordering the organic feed which may take a few days. And then I need to start the ferment. So I'm wondering if I should order the feed now? Any thoughts?

Go ahead and order it now and just start your ferment in the warm part of the house, then when it's going, set it out in the cooler place. Shouldn't take more than 3-4 days if you do it that way, may take a tad longer if you start it out in the cooler place.

 

[bullets]

Hey everyone! I'm back with another question!

I had my original ferment going for weeks and was just refreshing the batch when it got low. One of my chickens started having problems last week and had to get him euthanized and a necropsy performed this week. I will speak more about what happened once I get the results back. But in the mean time I got paranoid and washed my ferment bucket out and completely started a new batch. I also have a new feed as well. Went from an 18% medicated started to a 22% gamebird grower for the new batch. My old batch had a slightly sour/sweet smell.I am on day 3 with the new batch and since yesterday it has started smelling very alcoholy. I never had that smell with the other batch I had going. I was hoping the smell would have dissapated by today but it smells the same if not even stronger than yesterday. Has anyone encountered this and what can I do to remedy it. Is it even bad? I haven't been feeding it to them. Just been giving them the dry. What do you think?