fermenting chicken feed.

[Cheriegarden]

I have begun fermenting my store bought organic chicken feed and noticed, after about a week of using it, that there is some greenish stuff on the bottom of the jar of food. The fermentation is smelling great, sweet...but what is that greenish stuff on bottom?

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Can you provide more details? At what point are you finding the green stuff? You said you are using it for a week. Are you keeping the fermented feed refrigerated at this time or are you keeping it in the fermentation jar/bucket for that long?

To me (from what I can gather so far), it sounds like you are making more than you need. You shouldn't be using the same batch for more than a few days, and I keep mine refrigerated after it is done fermenting. So for example, make a smaller batch that your flock will consume within about 3 days (the amount of time it takes to make a new batch), so that you constantly have a new supply ready. That way, it won't go bad. There should not be anything green and I would dispose of feed that does have that because it could be mold.

 

[Cheriegarden]

Can you provide more details? At what point are you finding the green stuff? You said you are using it for a week. Are you keeping the fermented feed refrigerated at this time or are you keeping it in the fermentation jar/bucket for that long?

To me (from what I can gather so far), it sounds like you are making more than you need. You shouldn't be using the same batch for more than a few days, and I keep mine refrigerated after it is done fermenting. So for example, make a smaller batch that your flock will consume within about 3 days (the amount of time it takes to make a new batch), so that you constantly have a new supply ready. That way, it won't go bad. There should not be anything green and I would dispose of feed that does have that because it could be mold.

I was taking out a portion and adding more grain to jar with fresh water. It was working fine....until today. I stored it in my pantry, out of the sunlight. I did throw it out and am starting a tiny batch and will use it all at once, with new jars rotating each day. I had read that I could just take some out for the chickens that day, and replenish with new feed for the next day.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I was taking out a portion and adding more grain to jar with fresh water. It was working fine....until today. I stored it in my pantry, out of the sunlight. I did throw it out and am starting a tiny batch and will use it all at once, with new jars rotating each day. I had read that I could just take some out for the chickens that day, and replenish with new feed for the next day.

Oh okay. Yeah I've never heard of doing that. The only thing I've heard of is re-using the water you strain from the feed. That is okay to do, although I've found it to be unnecessary.

If I were you, I would start making fresh batches every 3 days. I don't think it is safe to just keep taking small amounts of the feed out because the food can spoil, and it sounds like it did in your case.

This video is fairly similar to what I do: