FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[bunsnpupsnchick]

I love making sprouts for the chickens so they can have greens, especially during the winter, but i don't always get to it...it can be quite the operation (Think many jars on the counter, lol).

So I bought a 40 pound bag of alfalfa cubes at the feed store (it was about $11 I think), to make sure they got greens through the winter on a regular basis. I started fermenting the alfalfa cubes. The chickens love it and eat it all up. I think for six chickens it might equal 1/2 cube a day...they get a heaping ladleful, maybe half a cup...These are fermented in a separate jar from the feed, but I dish it up together for them.

I keep the feed jar and the alfalfa jar next to each other on the counter so it is more easily managed. Recently just for fun I added some red pepper flakes and a couple of minced cloves of garlic to the feed jar. You could smell the garlic across the room as it added to the ferment!

I was debating about the cubes. Didn't think about fermenting those! Might have to get some. Hay for buns is to be something other than alfalfa as that's the basis for their food & if fed the hay it's too much for them. That's why I get timothy or orchard grass bales. I can ferment the cubes & feed to the chicks. Not sure if my bun will eat those. I gotta do something to satisfy their green-forage cravings.

I just filled 3 bowls (4 cups at least) of food last night & between my bun eating her share plus the chicks eating & billing the stuff out they need filled again. I cleaned out under the shelf & it was loaded with feed. It got mixed in with the loose hay-they can eat it & when clean up time comes it's in the compost bin. Going to find something to act like a placemat to see if that'll catch some of it.

 

[mobius]

I was debating about the cubes. Didn't think about fermenting those! Might have to get some. Hay for buns is to be something other than alfalfa as that's the basis for their food & if fed the hay it's too much for them. That's why I get timothy or orchard grass bales. I can ferment the cubes & feed to the chicks. Not sure if my bun will eat those. I gotta do something to satisfy their green-forage cravings.

I just filled 3 bowls (4 cups at least) of food last night & between my bun eating her share plus the chicks eating & billing the stuff out they need filled again. I cleaned out under the shelf & it was loaded with feed. It got mixed in with the loose hay-they can eat it & when clean up time comes it's in the compost bin. Going to find something to act like a placemat to see if that'll catch some of it.

The cubes dissolve in about say 20 minutes and I stir it just like the FF. Works the same. Finely chopped into 1/4 pieces, so no long pieces to get stuck in the crop, lots of leaves and seeds in there too! Smells very green when fermented!

Maybe a shallow cardboard box for a placemat?

 

[balloonflower]

I bought some alfalfa pellets that I just add into my ff. I don't care for the smell after three days, but add them a couple hours to overnight before feeding just to hydrate. I do rotating small batches, so it works well for me. And I use the pellets as bunny treats too.

 

[mobius]

I've always just made my lard on the stovetop. I want more control over its temp than a crock pot would give me. And yes, true pork lard is way better than the fake shelf stable stuff they sell in grocery now. I have made my own for cooking, plus purchase true leaf-lard from a local butcher who does it right for delicate flavors such as pie crusts.

My tips would be to chop the fat at least into strips first, plus you'll get nicer cracklins. It will render much more evenly that way. I've only done beef tallow once in a very small batch, so wish you luck!

Yes! This may be my next passion! Have been reading up on it today. Interesting things we learn from taking care of our animals! Good for people too, who knew? Not me. Fortunately I have a crockpot that can be fine tuned on temp (unlike many these days) and I am keeping an eye on it at the moment! It is rendering nicely. It is just under two pounds, so good starter batch! Almost bought the canned pork lard that you mentioned but fortunately rethought at the last moment and returned it to the shelf, after the butcher kindly wrapped up some beef suet for me. Yay!

chickens will get the cracklings in this batch

.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

The cubes dissolve in about say 20 minutes and I stir it just like the FF. Works the same. Finely chopped into 1/4 pieces, so no long pieces to get stuck in the crop, lots of leaves and seeds in there too! Smells very green when fermented!

Maybe a shallow cardboard box for a placemat?  

The bun pellets & timothy pellets smell good too. They both fluff up the chicken feed. Next time I'm out I'll check the cubes. Thanks.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

I bought some alfalfa pellets that I just add into my ff. I don't care for the smell after three days, but add them a couple hours to overnight before feeding just to hydrate. I do rotating small batches, so it works well for me. And I use the pellets as bunny treats too.

That's what I'm doing with the timothy pellets. I generally keep timothy or orchard grass hay available at all times.

 

[Upontheroost]

Here's a video on fermented chick feed:

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a video on fermented chick feed:

Why so sloppy wet? You don't need to keep the water over the feed to get LAB growth in the feed. No matter what anyone says, that's a fallacy. Most who are doing this are not keeping water over the feed at all.

" In the vocabulary of microbiology, lactic acid bacteria are “facultative” in that they that do not require oxygen, but are not inhibited by its presence; in contrast, certain other bacteria (for example Clostridium botulinum) are “obligate” anaerobes that require a perfectly anaerobic environment."

Please don't tell people their chickens will get sick if they don't cover the food with water as it's just not so. That's an untruth and it scares people away from FF rather than encouraging them to use it. The feed containers will not grow mold overnight and make the birds sick and mold will not contaminate the feed bucket, nor will it cause the feed to go sour or rotten....a highly fermented feed will smell sour or almost rotten in the summer months, but that is not caused by bacteria or mold growth at all, it's due to increased acetic acid which is the by product of fermentation.

Please, please get the fact straight before instructing others?

 

[azygous]

Here's a video on fermented chick feed:

OMG! What an unappetizing soggy mess! And what the heck is that white scum on top of the water layer? I've never in the years I've been fermenting seen anything like that. Yuck.

You shouldn't take as scripture just any old video you see on the internet. These sorts of folks aren't helping you.

I mix my FF very dry. Never any standing water on top. The consistency I feed is that of very stiff cooked oatmeal. A scoop of FF retains its shape in the dishes, does not settle into a soggy puddle. A frequently stirred FF won't be in any danger of molding or growing bad bacteria.

Listen to The Queen Bee of Feed of the Fermented. She knows what she's talking about.

 

[Beekissed]

OMG! What an unappetizing soggy mess! And what the heck is that white scum on top of the water layer? I've never in the years I've been fermenting seen anything like that. Yuck.

You shouldn't take as scripture just any old video you see on the internet. These sorts of folks aren't helping you.

I mix my FF very dry. Never any standing water on top. The consistency I feed is that of very stiff cooked oatmeal. A scoop of FF retains its shape in the dishes, does not settle into a soggy puddle. A frequently stirred FF won't be in any danger of molding or growing bad bacteria.

Listen to The Queen Bee of Feed of the Fermented. She knows what she's talking about.

That white stuff is just a yeast growth that has formed overnight. Sometimes it's the fine sediments that will float on the water AND yeast growth. It's nothing bad and most who don't cover the feed with water will see it on the top of their feed the next day after mixing a fresh bucket.

I'm certainly not the queen bee

....Kassaundra was fermenting her feed way before I was, but I've been at it long enough to know that water over the feed means nothing at all except soppy feed and messy poops.