Fermented food

[Peggyjom]

I am thinking about feeding fermented food. I am curious when my girls free range all day long I feed a small group of 8 hens about three cups of layer crumble a day or when they have cleaned it up. I do not like to leave a bunch of food out for them they wast an awful lot at times and I do have a sneaky weather Pygmy I don’t want to get into to it. They share the same tuff shed with a section boarded off for the girls food.
folks say they feed fermented once a day and only what they will eat in 20 minutes. I would prefer to feed about 3;00 pm since they race out to bug hunt and get a few snacks during the day from scraps and steal a little cat food here and there.
what time do you feed?
do you free feed?
are they free ranging all day?

 

[floppysquirrel04]

I’m not currently doing FF, but when I did I fed them in the middle of the day. I used a ladle with holes in it to drain water, and each bird got one scoop. That was probably about 2/3 cup. Feeding them encourages them to forage when they wake up in the morning and right before they go to bed, but they can also have a small snack of dried feed thrown on the ground in the morning for them to hunt for. Find out whatever works for you and your time schedules best.

 

[Saaniya]

I am thinking about feeding fermented food. I am curious when my girls free range all day long I feed a small group of 8 hens about three cups of layer crumble a day or when they have cleaned it up. I do not like to leave a bunch of food out for them they wast an awful lot at times and I do have a sneaky weather Pygmy I don’t want to get into to it. They share the same tuff shed with a section boarded off for the girls food.
folks say they feed fermented once a day and only what they will eat in 20 minutes. I would prefer to feed about 3;00 pm since they race out to bug hunt and get a few snacks during the day from scraps and steal a little cat food here and there.
what time do you feed?
do you free feed?
are they free ranging all day?

Hi ..I know that there's vast majority for fermented food for chickens work great . I personally give big until I EXPERIENCED Yeast Infection with my rooster who had Fermented food and Supplement that contains Fermented nutrition .
My rooster devloped oral thrush from eating fermented food and Supplement..oral thrush is nightmare for us but thank god he heal and Recover but it takes alot of time ( 2 months ) so pls don't try or take risk

 

[floppysquirrel04]

With FF you have to be really careful how you make it. The food has to always be completely submerged underwater. If it expands over the water line and it makes contact with air then bacteria will grow. I did back slopping, where you start with about 2-3 days worth of FF, let it ferment for 3 days, and fed their days worth to them. Once I took food out, I replaced it with more food, then mixed it up and added a little more water if needed. Because some of it was already fermented, it ferments the new food and water incredibly fast. About once every 3-4 weeks or if it ever smells bad, dump it and start a new batch. I only have 3 chickens right now, so I used a 1.5 gallon jar with a lid. Plastic seems to have a talent of storing bacteria well, so try to use something metal or glass with a towel over it to keep flies out if you can. The one I had wasn’t fully sealed, so air could get it which is necessary. I know a lot of people simply put it in plastic 5 gallon buckets with a thin towel and a large rubber band around it to keep it on. If you only have plastic, then start a new batch every 2-3 weeks. As stated above, it can have It’s issues if you let bacteria or flies get into it, but if it is made well it’s really healthy and the birds absolutely love it.

 

[Dephora]

Hi ..I know that there's vast majority for fermented food for chickens work great . I personally give big until I EXPERIENCED Yeast Infection with my rooster who had Fermented food and Supplement that contains Fermented nutrition .
My rooster devloped oral thrush from eating fermented food and Supplement..oral thrush is nightmare for us but thank god he heal and Recover but it takes alot of time ( 2 months ) so pls don't try or take risk

That is interesting that happened? Because frankly, Fermented feed done by lacto-fermentation as appose to yeast fermentation should have the opposite effects. As yeast would find the environment of food fermented using lacto-fermentation unhospitible. How were you fermenting your feed?

lactobacillus bacteria is what creates fermented feed not yeast. This is the same process that does pickles, yogurt, kimchi, kraut etc. None of which should introduce yeast into the body but in fact introduce good bacteria which FIGHTS off yeast over-growth. If done right.

To do Lacto-fermentation just put water over feed and wait, make sure the feed is totally submerged as not only to prevent mold, but removing an air source makes the feed more acidic so even less chance of yeast overgrowth or bad bacteria. You can add a small bit of the juice from kraut if you want but it will get there over time.

 

[Dephora]

I have a number of chickens. But looking at just 6 chickens, they eat around 2 and 1/2 cups of dried feed, unsure the amount once fermented but I have heard it doubles in size, it is drained and I reuse the juice but serve all the feed, has the consistency of mash, I put it in a big black tub, no waste. They also free range. I leave it out all day in the shade.

Their feathers are nice and shiny, never had one sick before, good eggs, nice meat even on the old birds, though they do turn into soup still lol. I have had chickens a few years now. I had some as gifts and that had foul smelling poops and loose stool, two weeks and their poop was totally different. To be honest my chickens poop is very hard and almost has no odor, the cecal is loose as usual but no smell.

 

[Saaniya]

That is interesting that happened? Because frankly, Fermented feed done by lacto-fermentation as appose to yeast fermentation should have the opposite effects. As yeast would find the environment of food fermented using lacto-fermentation unhospitible. How were you fermenting your feed?

lactobacillus bacteria is what creates fermented feed not yeast. This is the same process that does pickles, yogurt, kimchi, kraut etc. None of which should introduce yeast into the body but in fact introduce good bacteria which FIGHTS off yeast over-growth. If done right.

To do Lacto-fermentation just put water over feed and wait, make sure the feed is totally submerged as not only to prevent mold, but removing an air source makes the feed more acidic so even less chance of yeast overgrowth or bad bacteria. You can add a small bit of the juice from kraut if you want but it will get there over time.

Oh yeah it happens ..with me because I was using some fermented feed and suppliments . We all know candida lives in acidic environment.i belive my rooster immunity is low that's why he catch it. So when I take him to vet he said to stop every yeast extract things

 

[Dephora]

Oh yeah it happens ..with me because I was using some fermented feed and suppliments . We all know candida lives in acidic environment.i belive my rooster immunity is low that's why he catch it. So when I take him to vet he said to stop every yeast extract things

Sure candida can live in mildly acidic environments. But it thrives in alkaline environments. Which is why when your PH gets thrown off you are more likely to get a yeast infection... but sorry to hear about your roosters low immunity, you did a great job listening to your vet. Hope the rooster is thriving now.

 

[kerbotx]

I am thinking about feeding fermented food. I am curious when my girls free range all day long I feed a small group of 8 hens about three cups of layer crumble a day or when they have cleaned it up. I do not like to leave a bunch of food out for them they wast an awful lot at times and I do have a sneaky weather Pygmy I don’t want to get into to it. They share the same tuff shed with a section boarded off for the girls food.
folks say they feed fermented once a day and only what they will eat in 20 minutes. I would prefer to feed about 3;00 pm since they race out to bug hunt and get a few snacks during the day from scraps and steal a little cat food here and there.
what time do you feed?
do you free feed?
are they free ranging all day?

For my flock, I feed a wet mash first thing in the morning, a couple hours before they are let out to free-range for the rest of the day. When they go out to free-range, I dispense a little crumble in 2 pans for when they return for their afternoon rest (kind of a treat for them, & the rooster just loves his crumbles!) Then again in the evening, I might give them more wet mash to fill up on before going to roost. Also, there are 2 hanging feeders with layer pellets available free choice 24/7.

I feed them this way bc it seems to be what works best for us, and it's when the chickens are most enthusiastic about it. I'll do fermented feed for a while, then my girls seem to get tired of it. But they always appreciate their wet mash! Either way, it will save you some wasted feed, especially if you prefer crumble over pellets.

 

[CatsandCrops]

I do fermented feed in small batches using 4 plastic salad containers (the big ones organic lettuce mix comes in with lids). 3 bins are always fermenting while the 4th is the new "Starter". The day 3 bin gets fed to the girls after pouring some of the liquid into the starter bin (plus new water) and all the bins get rotated over until they are in day 3 spot. I like doing it this way so that if a batch goes bad for whatever reason, I'm not wasting a ton of feed, just 1 days worth. I typically ferment about 2 cups of dry feed for my flock of 9; they get fed it in the morning after they are let out into their run. They can't free range due to predators but have access to dry feed and water 24/7 - plus all the kitchen scraps and garden cuttings as they come.