Fermented Feeds

[romea]

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 believe the white fuzzy film is called "kahm yeast" and apparently, it is not mold.
however, for me this is a sign that the feed is fermenting too fast and/or turning too sour. when this happens, i usually scoop the white stuff off and don't replenish what i take out. i also rinse the feed before serving. once empty, i start anew.

 

[romea]

i have been feeding fermented food on and off and am currently on the "off" - again. personally, i find that cleaning the dishes and balancing several food bowls into the garden twice a day for 50 chickens (2/3s are youngsters) becomes a bit too labour intensive.

my chickens are used to FF and love it - however, if i don't serve several bowls at once, the adult hens will polish the dishes and the bantams or pullets will only get some crumbs - if they are lucky.

no matter how much food i serve in the individual bowl, it seems there is always one adult hen around to fend off smaller chickens. so unless i put out 10+ dishes - ideally in quick succession - mayhem happens. collecting and cleaning all those dishes every day is also rather tedious.

does anybody have an easier feeding and cleaning suggestion for a large, mixed flock?

 

[Beekissed]

i have been feeding fermented food on and off and am currently on the "off" - again. personally, i find that cleaning the dishes and balancing several food bowls into the garden twice a day for 50 chickens (2/3s are youngsters) becomes a bit too labour intensive.

my chickens are used to FF and love it - however, if i don't serve several bowls at once, the adult hens will polish the dishes and the bantams or pullets will only get some crumbs - if they are lucky.

no matter how much food i serve in the individual bowl, it seems there is always one adult hen around to fend off smaller chickens. so unless i put out 10+ dishes - ideally in quick succession - mayhem happens. collecting and cleaning all those dishes every day is also rather tedious.

does anybody have an easier feeding and cleaning suggestion for a large, mixed flock?

Yep...a long trough. And no worries about cleaning. I never clean mine other than scraping excess feed left behind out onto the ground where they snap it up like it's something new.

All ages can get access to a long trough. Another thing to do is to wait until evening to feed...if they are out in your garden all day, they are eating plenty of things all day and an evening feeding gives a belly full to anyone that doesn't already have one. It saves on feed and it also causes the birds to be too hungry to think about dominating a feeder, as they have to snatch all they can get to even get some for themselves. This works. It will work every day of the year if you just try it. Mine stay fat and sassy on just one feeding per day, just enough feed in the trough that they can clean it almost all the way up....if too much is left behind that I have to scrape out the leavings the next day, then I just feed less. My goal is always to have a clean feeder...cleaned up by the chickens, that is.

 

[romea]

Yep...a long trough. And no worries about cleaning. I never clean mine other than scraping excess feed left behind out onto the ground where they snap it up like it's something new.

All ages can get access to a long trough. Another thing to do is to wait until evening to feed...if they are out in your garden all day, they are eating plenty of things all day and an evening feeding gives a belly full to anyone that doesn't already have one. It saves on feed and it also causes the birds to be too hungry to think about dominating a feeder, as they have to snatch all they can get to even get some for themselves. This works. It will work every day of the year if you just try it. Mine stay fat and sassy on just one feeding per day, just enough feed in the trough that they can clean it almost all the way up....if too much is left behind that I have to scrape out the leavings the next day, then I just feed less. My goal is always to have a clean feeder...cleaned up by the chickens, that is.

awesome! thank you for the info, the pics & the encouragement!!
your trough is especially nice... real wood, eh? ;-)) very... ahem... 'tasteful'...
i will do some research on alternative materials as i have no way of making such a beauty. i remember reading that people suggested using gutter but i am not sure i'd like the look of that. after all, it will be sitting in the garden for everyone to see.

roughly how long before sunset do you feed the FF?

 

[Beekissed]

I usually feed around 5 pm each evening, give or take. They usually snatch some feed and hurry back out to the pasture, as evening foraging is especially fruitful and they don't wish to miss it. They seem to really enjoy that the best, glean the most and it keeps them from lingering about the feeder much. They may eat a little more when they come in for roosting but not much. There's usually just a dab left in the feeder for when they get up in the morning but the trough is picked clean as a whistle by the time I see it again in the evening.

This is also one reason I never have to "train" my chickens to come into the coop...any time they spy me heading in that direction, especially towards evening, they come running from all points and race each other to the coop. Can't miss supper!

In the winter time I feed in the mornings instead(8 ish) and that trough is picked clean by the next morning. If it's not, I just feed less until the trough gets cleaned well each day.

Right now I'm barely feeding a flock of 24 large fowl due to the abundant forage to be had....they eat about 3 cups of feed each day, if that...usually a little less. Too busy filling up on their more natural diet to be interested in grain based feeds....this saves me huge on feed each year.

 

[romea]

I usually feed around 5 pm each evening, give or take. They usually snatch some feed and hurry back out to the pasture, as evening foraging is especially fruitful and they don't wish to miss it. They seem to really enjoy that the best, glean the most and it keeps them from lingering about the feeder much. They may eat a little more when they come in for roosting but not much. There's usually just a dab left in the feeder for when they get up in the morning but the trough is picked clean as a whistle by the time I see it again in the evening.

This is also one reason I never have to "train" my chickens to come into the coop...any time they spy me heading in that direction, especially towards evening, they come running from all points and race each other to the coop. Can't miss supper!

In the winter time I feed in the mornings instead(8 ish) and that trough is picked clean by the next morning. If it's not, I just feed less until the trough gets cleaned well each day.

Right now I'm barely feeding a flock of 24 large fowl due to the abundant forage to be had....they eat about 3 cups of feed each day, if that...usually a little less. Too busy filling up on their more natural diet to be interested in grain based feeds....this saves me huge on feed each year.

i went back to feeding fermented and am stressing less about it... ;-))

since you, too, are feeding a mixed flock, what do you ferment to feed the various groups? layer or grower food?

 

[moomoodiddy]

How does temperature affect the fermenting process? I am not willing to keep the ff inside, so I am wondering if it would be okay to keep it in extreme weather.

 

[romea]

obviously you would have to define "extreme weather". also rather obviously, the warmer the surrounding, the faster the fermenting process - and vice versa.

 

[moomoodiddy]

such as close to freezing or getting in the 90's, I know that it affects the speed and getting in the freezing temps and too high will denature the enzymes but I was wondering if there was a broader range to go by besides the room temperature range.

 

[Blosing101]

I am new to FF, can someone help me with the basic dry recipe. I read through this thread and some articles and started this. It has some laying crumbles, homemade scratch (cracked corn, little whole corn, wild bird seed, sunflower seed, safflower(sp) seed, crimped oats, and very little roasted peanuts ). I did the 2 bucket deal with one having wholes. I put a few tblsp of ACV with the water. What do you guys think? Any advice? Thank you all!!!!!