Fermented Feeds

[chiknhurder]

Why not just jump right in and ask a few questions. I couldn't read it all, but I did read enough at the beginning to get a good idea of what to expect. People are delighted to answer questions about things they are passionate about.

I did ask questions.... in another thread.

 

[LindaB220]

I did ask questions.... in another thread.

Don't give up. Keep asking questions. That's how we learn.

 

[chiknhurder]

Don't give up. Keep asking questions. That's how we learn.

If it's one thing I'm not, Linda, it's shy. I've been keeping chickens for a year now and have learned a lot from this form as well as people I've met that have been keeping them for many years.

 

[CashandTracy]

I just started my first attempt at fermenting feed. I used ACV with mother, BOSS, oats, and total equine feed that my horses wouldn't touch for my hen batch, for my chicks I used the ACV and chick starter. I started it yesterday evening.

For my hen batch the grain is floating on top of the water, will this be ok or will I have problems with mold?
With my chick batch it smells like sour ACV, is that ok?
How will I know when it is ready to feed?

Thank you!

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,

Maybe you have too much water but donʻt worry about it too much. Stir it in. Itʻs really rare that it goes bad. Go with it. Iʻve never used ACV so I donʻt know about that. Just grains, feed and water with 1 cm of water on top. Once you get it going, thereʻs no real need for the water on top and you can even make it thicker like thin mashed potatoes, or peanut butter as Beekissed says. I usually have a little water ontop in my feeding pitcher because I pour water to clean my wooden spoon.

kden, Puhi

 

[kpgoldstar]

I just started my first attempt at fermenting feed. I used ACV with mother, BOSS, oats, and total equine feed that my horses wouldn't touch for my hen batch, for my chicks I used the ACV and chick starter. I started it yesterday evening.

For my hen batch the grain is floating on top of the water, will this be ok or will I have problems with mold?
With my chick batch it smells like sour ACV, is that ok?
How will I know when it is ready to feed?

Thank you!

Your hen batch is fine. My BOSS and grains usually float too. You won't have problems with mold if you stir it at least every 12 hours, even more when you are first starting out. It will usually be ready to feed in about 3 days depending on many conditions. I live where it is warm all the time so mine ferments fairly rapidly. Is your bucket covered or sealed, open to air? Where are you keeping it?
Your chick batch is good too. I have never used ACV in my FF, just chick starter and water. Your FF should eventually smell like sourdough bread. Most people start out with it very wet and need to strain off the water at each feeding. As you go along you may find that you want a drier mix, more like grout or cooked oatmeal.
I make enough FF to feed my girls for about 5 days. When my bucket gets down to one or two feedings, I add in enough dry food and water to again feed 5 days out. This is called backslopping. The FF remaining in the bucket is enough to ferment the new addition of feed and water so it is again ready in about 12 hours. I do 2 feedings a day. Main portion in AM and a small snack in the afternoon when they get let out of the run to free range. I have been using the same bucket for over 6 months, it is a continual process. Mine always smells sour, like really sour sourdough bread or pickles. Never smells yeasty or like alcohol.

 

[LindaB220]

I just started my first attempt at fermenting feed. I used ACV with mother, BOSS, oats, and total equine feed that my horses wouldn't touch for my hen batch, for my chicks I used the ACV and chick starter. I started it yesterday evening.

For my hen batch the grain is floating on top of the water, will this be ok or will I have problems with mold?
With my chick batch it smells like sour ACV, is that ok?
How will I know when it is ready to feed?

Thank you!

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Stir it daily usually in 3 days or so it's ready. The smell tells you it's ready. How much ACV did you add and how much starter and water. For small containers 1/2 gal or so you won't need but about 1 T. ACV. If you added a lot more just bump up more feed and more water. Don't throw it out. The chick feed is different in smell sometimes than grains. Don't worry. After a few tries you get it perfect. Then you're gold. This is probably the most important thing to do for your chicks. Healthier, saving money and easy.. It offsets the heavy water carriers because they won't drink nearly as much Good luck.

 

[CashandTracy]

Aloha,

Maybe you have too much water but donʻt worry about it too much. Stir it in. Itʻs really rare that it goes bad. Go with it. Iʻve never used ACV so I donʻt know about that. Just grains, feed and water with 1 cm of water on top. Once you get it going, thereʻs no real need for the water on top and you can even make it thicker like thin mashed potatoes, or peanut butter as Beekissed says. I usually have a little water ontop in my feeding pitcher because I pour water to clean my wooden spoon.

kden, Puhi

Your hen batch is fine. My BOSS and grains usually float too. You won't have problems with mold if you stir it at least every 12 hours, even more when you are first starting out. It will usually be ready to feed in about 3 days depending on many conditions. I live where it is warm all the time so mine ferments fairly rapidly. Is your bucket covered or sealed, open to air? Where are you keeping it?
Your chick batch is good too. I have never used ACV in my FF, just chick starter and water. Your FF should eventually smell like sourdough bread. Most people start out with it very wet and need to strain off the water at each feeding. As you go along you may find that you want a drier mix, more like grout or cooked oatmeal.
I make enough FF to feed my girls for about 5 days. When my bucket gets down to one or two feedings, I add in enough dry food and water to again feed 5 days out. This is called backslopping. The FF remaining in the bucket is enough to ferment the new addition of feed and water so it is again ready in about 12 hours. I do 2 feedings a day. Main portion in AM and a small snack in the afternoon when they get let out of the run to free range. I have been using the same bucket for over 6 months, it is a continual process. Mine always smells sour, like really sour sourdough bread or pickles. Never smells yeasty or like alcohol.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Stir it daily usually in 3 days or so it's ready. The smell tells you it's ready. How much ACV did you add and how much starter and water. For small containers 1/2 gal or so you won't need but about 1 T. ACV. If you added a lot more just bump up more feed and more water. Don't throw it out. The chick feed is different in smell sometimes than grains. Don't worry. After a few tries you get it perfect. Then you're gold. This is probably the most important thing to do for your chicks. Healthier, saving money and easy.. It offsets the heavy water carriers because they won't drink nearly as much Good luck.

Thank you very much everyone!

I have them in a spare bathroom with the temp holding at around 75F, they both have lids on them, but not tightly sealed. I pretty sure I added too much ACV since I used 1/4 cup in a 2.5gal bucket that I only filled 1/2 way. I'll just add more to the bucket to offset the ACV.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[CashandTracy]

Thank you very much everyone!

I have them in a spare bathroom with the temp holding at around 75F, they both have lids on them, but not tightly sealed.  I pretty sure I added too much ACV since I used 1/4 cup in a 2.5gal bucket that I only filled 1/2 way. I'll just add more to the bucket to offset the ACV.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I ended up tossing both batches, they started smelling like beer, the Chick batch grew yeast!

The chicks love it so far, but I have to practically have to force the hens to eat it, picky little bittys.

Do I always add feed to it or can I do an all grain FF (the hens pick the oats out) and give it as a supplement?

 

[pdirt]

I ended up tossing both batches, they started smelling like beer, the Chick batch grew yeast!

The chicks love it so far, but I have to practically have to force the hens to eat it, picky little bittys.

Do I always add feed to it or can I do an all grain FF (the hens pick the oats out) and give it as a supplement?

Growing yeast isn't necessarily good or bad, but getting alcohol smell isn't good. There's a chance you could have salvaged the batches by mixing in small amounts of it to a properly fermented batch until it was all used up.

You could just try again, or you could add a small amount of a starter. Any of the following would work: live sourdough starter, a splash of live fermented sauerkraut or pickle juice (not too much due to the salt), buttermilk (make sure it says "live cultures" on the package), milk or water kefir or perhaps even a probiotic capsule (opened and mixed in). You wouldn't need much, perhaps 1/4-1/2c per 2.5 gallon bucket, mix well. Once you get a batch going well (with or without a starter), you should be able to just keep adding feed and water without the need for more starter, as the microbial balance has been already established. Yogurt isn't the best starter due to the fact that l. thermophilius (the bacteria that makes milk into yogurt) requires about 110F to culture properly, great if you live in Death Valley, but otherwise...

You can ferment just about anything you want...feed, oats, grains, etc. You probably wouldn't want to ferment soy by itself without a starter because if the soy was sold as animal feed, it was most likely heat treated, which would have killed any of the beneficial microorganisms on it. Fermenting soy as mixed into a formulated feed or simply with grains would be just fine because the beneficial bacteria would be present on the grains.

Here's what I did with FF at first...I made a very small batch (1/2 gallon) and fed it to them as a treat in the afternoon. I did this for about 4-5 months, not that you'd have to to do that way or that long. It doesn't really matter what I feed them (well it does to an extent) as a treat in the afternoons, they just get excited as to whatever it is. Then I started feeding them about 2/3 of their daily feed intake as FF and they gobble it up. Mind you, when we put them up for the night, I block access to their dry feed. When I come out at 7 or 8am to feed them the FF, they've been up for a few hours and are hungry. I feed them the FF and just before leaving for work, I unblock their dry feed and also let them out to range. They eat much less dry feed this way.

I also found I had mixed in WAY too much alfalfa pellets into their last 2 batches of FF and they didn't like it. I diluted it a LOT with more water and regular feed and they are now once again gobbling it up.