Fermented Feeds

[Don P]

immediately after uncovering from water. So only feed what they will eat in an hour. If it sits out the mold will increase more each hour.
You may not see it but this is live food once fermented.
Yeast will grow too but it is not as much a problem, they can eat it.

 

[Jkshriver]

I feel like it was molding in the bucket. My 8 chickens don't let anything sit long enough to mold once I feed it to them.

I guess I'll just make enough for one feeding at a time.....boo!!! Tedious!!!

 

[Don P]

I make up 3 batches at a time, one each day is used up in full. Then I add more feed to what is left in the jar and add more water. I rotate the jars each day and stir them and cover with more water. If you do not keep them covered with water you will grow yeast it is probably not mold. The key is keeping water 2" over the top of feed as is swells up and expands.

You don't want it sitting there for 5 -6 -7 days fermenting anyway because the ferment will sour too much. Too acidic

 

[RichnSteph]

Ok everyone....

I am very new to fermenting my feed and I have one big question......

How fast does mold grow on it?

I live in extremely hot and humid weather. My first batch was turning out great, but after what seemed to be a short time (2 days or so) I noticed what I think is mold forming on the top of the FF/liquid. It could have been just a film of some sort....I'm wondering if anyone knows about this or has experienced the same thing! Not sure if keeping it inside instead of outdoors would help, but my wife and kids complained that it stinks

Thanks everyone!

I had a similar issue when I was feeding FF. I just stirred the fuzzy stuff on top back down into the feed and fed it. I kept a 5 gallon bucket going for months and just added new dry feed and a little water to it when it began to get low. Ours also had a very strong smell of sour dough bread to it that to me wasn't unpleasant, the wife thought it smelled nasty though.

Hmmm... I'm going to have to start a new batch I think and let all the new birds try it out.

 

[allpeepedout]

Thanks to this and the meat birds thread, I just served up my first batch of fermented feed to 10 wk old chicks and a very senior flock. Everybody went crazy for it.

I used chick starter, BOSS, whole oats, some bird seed, cracked corn, and no innoculant. It started fermenting nicely on its own and at this early day-3 stage, has what is to me a pleasant sweet-sour smell. It was just slightly bubbly and getting the chalky film on top.

Now to figure out quantities, make some trough feeders, and set up some buckets / strainers.

Thanks to everybody on the thread for all the good information. I look forward to the benefits and am delighted that the chooks seem so happy with their new feed.

 

[rIrs roost]

Sorry if this has already been answered but I'm a slow reader lol. I have read most of this tread and haven't seen it yet . This may be a dumb question but I wanted to know if it was ok to just put the lid on my jar and shake the ff up instead of stirring it up? I'm new to this so I hope it's not to stupid of a question. Thanks.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

It's going to be way too thick to shake up. Plus, you don't want to put a lid on tightly enough to shake the jar--if you forget to loosen it after, the gas build up could make for disastrous consequences...

 

[rIrs roost]

Thank you amypaperlady. I know that may have been a dumb question lol. I did start thinking that I'd be in trouble if I forgot to loosen the lid. This site has been so much help to a newbie like me. I'd like to thank all of the other members too for all of their great advice too. I've learned a lot just by reading other treads. There's some very valuable information on here.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

Keeping the FF for a week is no problem and actually better. The most important thing is to stir often so the yeast doesn't grow on the surface. It starts to stink if you don't stir and smell sweet if you stir three times a day. So keep stirring! Other than that, you can't go wrong. Love the recipe a few posts up. So do the chickens. make it interesting with new kinds of grain.

Put oyster shells in the FF for layers and keep until fully fermented. The acidity after a week with help dissolve the calcium and make it readily available to be taken up in the hen's body.

Aloha, Puhi

 

[Beekissed]

Ok everyone....

I am very new to fermenting my feed and I have one big question......

How fast does mold grow on it?

I live in extremely hot and humid weather. My first batch was turning out great, but after what seemed to be a short time (2 days or so) I noticed what I think is mold forming on the top of the FF/liquid. It could have been just a film of some sort....I'm wondering if anyone knows about this or has experienced the same thing! Not sure if keeping it inside instead of outdoors would help, but my wife and kids complained that it stinks

Thanks everyone!

It's not mold, merely yeast...just stir it in and serve it out. In hot weather you'll see that yeast forming pretty quickly, come cold weather you rarely ever see it unless your feed stands for days without getting stirred.

Here's a link to a site that can answer this and many other questions for you...somewhere on there it will explain the difference between yeasts and molds and how they look.

https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Found it....

Fuzzy white mold, with some colors thrown in: https://www.google.com/search?q=fuz...RqQGNgYGYCA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg&biw=1138&bih=501o

If you’re still convinced I’m an escapee and my oars aren’t in the water, please do go and read this whole page, which has a variety of information sources: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them/2310#post_12893023.