FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[CrisAnderson27]

I give mine free choice for layers. Meat birds need restricting (after two weeks) as you know. I don't think you'll have a lot of trouble getting them to eat. Mine would eat everything they could fit in their beaks when the feed wasn't accessible.

Free choice for the FF? Nice! I'd very much prefer that. Just leave enough to cover a day out, put any leftover back in the bucket when I close the coop up at night.

I did find the feeder inconvenient to use with ff and started feeding dry after they got a little bigger. They were also on pasture.

What feeder were you using? I'm going to make a trough style I can hook on the wall about 8" up for now.

I've got three French Toulouse goslings arriving Wednesday, along with 18 hatching eggs (6 Ayam Cemani, 12 Blue/Black/Splash Americana lol).

Anything that makes feeding easier and more effective makes me happy.

 

[CindyinSD]

Free choice for the FF? Nice! I'd very much prefer that. Just leave enough to cover a day out, put any leftover back in the bucket when I close the coop up at night.



What feeder were you using? I'm going to make a trough style I can hook on the wall about 8" up for now.

I've got three French Toulouse goslings arriving Wednesday, along with 18 hatching eggs (6 Ayam Cemani, 12 Blue/Black/Splash Americana lol).

Anything that makes feeding easier and more effective makes me happy.

Are you talking about the Suskovich style feeder, made of PVC pipe with a slice cut out along the length? Pouring the feed into that wouldn't work very easily with ff. You need to make it fairly thick or they get it all over their faces and pick at one another. I bought the materials but didn't get it made. I had some round galvanized feeders to use in winter when wet food freezes, so I just used those. (Don't put ff in galvanized--it will corrode them--not good.)

BYW, I studied up on this and best I could discover, fermenting does not increase protein nor decrease carbs. It merely turns some of the starches and sugars into vinegar--same macro-nutrients. (Growing fodder also doesn't significantly increase protein, and may reduce it if you take the seeds beyond sprout stage.) The advantage in fermenting is that it may make the food more easily digestible and it will provide microbes. Whether this helps chickens already free ranging, I'm not sure. It does save on feed as they don't waste so much. Also, mine really love it fermented.

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Are you talking about the Suskovich style feeder, made of PVC pipe with a slice cut out along the length? Pouring the feed into that wouldn't work very easily with ff. You need to make it fairly thick or they get it all over their faces and pick at one another. I bought the materials but didn't get it made. I had some round galvanized feeders to use in winter when wet food freezes, so I just used those. (Don't put ff in galvanized--it will corrode them--not good.)

BYW, I studied up on this and best I could discover, fermenting does not increase protein nor decrease carbs. It merely turns some of the starches and sugars into vinegar--same macro-nutrients. (Growing fodder also doesn't significantly increase protein, and may reduce it if you take the seeds beyond sprout stage.) The advantage in fermenting is that it may make the food more easily digestible and it will provide microbes. Whether this helps chickens already free ranging, I'm not sure. It does save on feed as they don't waste so much. Also, mine really love it fermented.

Good to know! I was concerned about even HIGHER protein. I'm literally just trying to get through these bags I already have...then I'll switch out.


That's the type I meant, yes. I did mix mine in the same 1:1 water:feed ratio the 'cheat sheet' above recommended. It's already cream of wheat thick...and my understanding is it will just get thicker. I guess we'll see how it goes. New territory here for me for sure lol.

 

[Perris]

The paper cited below shows that fermenting has a beneficial effect on the morphology of the chicken's gut, increasing the surface of the intestine that absorbs nutrients, and thus improving the feed conversion rate. "In conclusion, the results of the current experiment indicated that fermented feed with probiotic would be beneficial economically since the broiler feed conversion ratio had been improved (2.4% in T2; 4.1% in T3; 5.3% in T4; 5.3% in T5 and 7.7% in T6)" [where T1 was the control group on dry feed, T2 group were on 1:1 wet feed, T3 on 25% ff, T4 on 50%ff, T5 on 75% ff, and T6 on 100% ff.]
Saad et.al., J. Trop. Agric. Sci. 39 (4): 597 - 607 (2016) here

 

[CindyinSD]

....... the broiler feed conversion ratio had been improved (2.4% in T2; 4.1% in T3; 5.3% in T4; 5.3% in T5 and 7.7% in T6)" [where T1 was the control group on dry feed, T2 group were on 1:1 wet feed, T3 on 25% ff, T4 on 50%ff, T5 on 75% ff, and T6 on 100% ff.]
Saad et.al., J. Trop. Agric. Sci. 39 (4): 597 - 607 (2016) here

Thanks for the info, Perris! I'm trying to understand the bits I changed to red and green. It seems like they changed the comparison in-between the red and the green text. On the red it looks like they mean one part feed & one part water. After that they go to "25% ff," which sounds like 1/4 ff and 3/4 dry/regular feed. I'm guessing what they meant was 1/4 water & 3/4ths feed and so on, but that's just a guess. How do you read it?

 

[Perris]

Yes that's right Cindy. If you click on the word 'here' in my post it'll take you straight to the journal article, where it is all explained fully.

 

[aart]

(2016) here

 

[CindyinSD]

Thanks! really interesting article!

 

[Perris]

I thought so too - hence shared it!

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Just thought I'd take a minute to share something I worked out while trying to determine the best way, and what amount...to feed these ladies. It's certainly no revelation...but it seems to keep them from making a mess, and makes feeding and cleanup somewhat easier I think.

I mix 1:1, exactly as the link said. It took FOREVER to start...like 4 days to even begin bubbling. But it's well and set now.

Anyhow, hope this helps someone out.