Fermenting feed for layers?

[off-grid hen]

Going to start this soon for my girls, just trying to see if it will be ok at the temps in my closet, about 60 degrees.

 

[DaniellePage]

I do mine in a dark corner of the kitchen (60-70 degrees) it does great! - i just crack the lid on the container and pow- ready the next day from mother and in 3 days from scratch. The 3 ate about 2 cereal bowls a day for the first week. Now I guess they got used to it or are converting better now because it's more like 2/3 bowl a day pluss 1/2 cup dry feed (they started eating it again along with the FF).

 

[weaversfarm]

Wow, this is a lot for someone who has never done it to digest. I have a bottle of Heinz ACV. Says it is all natural with 5% acidity.


Do I have to make the Mother before I ferment the feed or will the fermentation of the feed develop the Mother? I have no stores in my area that sells the Bragg vinegar with the Mother. I do want to try this because of the benefits it has not only for the chickens, but for the pocketbook as well. Could someone please enlighten me on the vinegar and Mother part of this?

 

[WRVgirl]

^^^

That's a good question. I'm raring and ready to get started with this fermenting process, but I can't seem to find any ACV except the ones that they sell for cooking...

Will that work, or where can I find the ACV I need?

 

[WRVgirl]

Actually I just found the unpasteurized with the mother acv at Walmart it's with all the other vinegars and I almost missed it, but I saw the big cloudy bottle

 

[Bogtown Chick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/99102/make-your-own-apple-cider-vinegar/10

 

[tadkerson]

Weaversfarm,

The vinegar you have in the picture has been pasteurized and all of the bacteria have been killed in the bottle. The mother part of unpasteurized vinegar is a bacterium called Acetobacter pasteurianus. There are different strains of this bacterium that can tolerate different levels of acid in the vinegar. You have to remember that if you ferment the feed the available carbohydrates that are in the feed are reduced. The sugars are converted to vinegar by the bacteria- the longer the food is fermented the more sugars are converted to vinegar. The vinegar can be used to make energy by a chicken but I do not know what the conversion rate is for the reaction. There will be a loss of energy available for the bird in the feed. I know there will be an energy loss when the sugars are converted to vinegar (acetic acid) whether this will be enough to be a major effect on the caloric content of the feed ?????. I estimate one in 19 calories will be lost due to fermentation.

If I was going to feed my birds fermented feed, I would add extra dried molasses to the feed just before I feed the birds.

The whole idea behind the fermentation is to acidify the intestine of the birds. This could be done easily by putting acetic acid in the birds drinking water.

Tim

 

[weaversfarm]

I just ordered 2 bottles of Braggs Vinegar with "Mother" and I am soooo happy!! Once it gets here and I can actually make some fermented feed, I will be back!!

 

[pupsicle]

I was skeptical about this whole thing, but I mixed up a batch and the kiddos LOVE it. I didn't have more than a slurp of ACV left in the house, so I used that, a couple spoons full of yogurt with probiotic cultures (it happened to be unflavored soy yogurt) and a couple tablespoons of unsulfured molasses. After three days, it smelled a lot like sourdough starter does when it starts to grow the right yeasts, so I assumed it was time. I've been feeding the three 14-week-old chicklets a quart a day, and am adding another quart of crumbles + some warm water every evening.

I really was surprised at how quickly they took to it. They go straight to it now and avoid their dry feed altogether.

 

[WRVgirl]

Yep! Mine too! Have them their first batch earlier and they wouldn't touch their dry stuff when I cooped them!

So glad they didn't turn their noses up at it