Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[TexasLisa]

if it takes like a week for your chicks to go through the fermented feed, will it go bad...? say if i made too much?

It won't go bad. Make sure to stir it once or twice a day.

Lisa

 

[armorfirelady]

 
if it takes like a week for your chicks to go through the fermented feed, will it go bad...? say if i made too much?

It won't go bad.  Make sure to stir it once or twice a day.

Lisa

When I go on vacation I make a 5 gallon bucket for my friend that watches the hens. Even when I used commercial feed it was fine. As long as it's stirred and water added as needed. I only had a small batch go bad once because my friends son forgot to add water and stir it for several days & temps were in the 90s. But that's only time.

 

[Triple Willow]

@aatx... On the medicated starter... I wouldn't bother using it UNLESS you have a history of coccidiosis on your place. I believe the best way to avoid coccidiosis is to keep your birds off of bare dirt in your coop and run as best you can. Use the deep litter method and you should be fine. Also stress such as a predator attack can lower their immunity and let coccidiosis take over. Then it will spread through your whole flock. Should coccidiosis show up don't panic. It is usually easily treated. But no I wouldn't bother using it without a history of coccidiosis on my place. The fermented feed will really help in preventing coccidiosis and other sicknesses.

An ice cream bucket is a good size container to start with. I start mine with a little buttermilk. It gets the fermentation going fast, about 8 hours or so. As far as how much feed you will go through, hard to say. With bantam chicks I doubt you will use much. 50# should last a long time.

I don't recommend adding feed to the container every time you take some out. The longer the feed is in the container the better it will be fermented. I mix up two five gallon buckets of fermented feed at one time. I don't stir it after it is mixed up, only scoop it out to feed. I leave about 2 inches of ff in the bottom of the buckets - never empty them completely. With the 2 inches of ff in the bucket I add water to fill the bucket about half full. I stir the water and the 2 inches of ff mixing it well. Then I start adding the feed stirring as I go. I usually end up adding a little more water. I leave it pretty wet with maybe an inch of water standing on the top that will be absorbed by the feed. This way the ff come out with a thick oatmeal consistancy. It is so thick that it would be really hard to stir, but I never bother stirring. Feed all of that out and start all over. It takes my feed about 4 hours to ferment and rise.

 

[Triple Willow]

@aatx... it is not necessary to grind the feed up. I use layer pellets and they disolve down to mush in a matter of minutes. Chicks raised by a hen outside would be eating bugs and all sorts of things.

 

[aatx]

@aatx... On the medicated starter... I wouldn't bother using it UNLESS you have a history of coccidiosis on your place. I believe the best way to avoid coccidiosis is to keep your birds off of bare dirt in your coop and run as best you can. Use the deep litter method and you should be fine. Also stress such as a predator attack can lower their immunity and let coccidiosis take over. Then it will spread through your whole flock. Should coccidiosis show up don't panic. It is usually easily treated. But no I wouldn't bother using it without a history of coccidiosis on my place. The fermented feed will really help in preventing coccidiosis and other sicknesses.

This will be the first time chickens have been on the property - at least in the 30+ years it has been in the family. They will be sharing the run with goats, but all I've read indicates coccidiosis is breed specific. There are wild birds, of course, in the area. Coop will be deep litter. Run is pasture/grass like.

Yes, I think FF will be my first choice if it works out for me and the chicks. If not, I would probably go with medicated vs non just as a small bit of help/insurance, although I know neither one is a guarantee.

 

[aatx]

@aatx... it is not necessary to grind the feed up. I use layer pellets and they disolve down to mush in a matter of minutes. Chicks raised by a hen outside would be eating bugs and all sorts of things.

Thanks. On some of the threads I had read (probably the silkie one as that is where I have actually read the entire thing) there were reports of chicks starving because the pieces of food were too large for them. It seemed to vary by brand and since I had an unused coffee grinder... well, I had thought it might be safer at first to grind it down small for the itty bitty bantams.

 

[Triple Willow]

This will be the first time chickens have been on the property - at least in the 30+ years it has been in the family.  They will be sharing the run with goats, but all I've read indicates coccidiosis  is breed specific.  There are wild birds, of course, in the area.  Coop will be deep litter.  Run is pasture/grass like.

Yes, I think FF will be my first choice if it works out for me and the chicks.  If not, I would probably go with medicated vs non just as a small bit of help/insurance, although I know neither one is a guarantee.  

Sounds like you are going to have a nice setup for your birds. You and your birds will love the ff. You won't regret it and it is really easy.

 

[Triple Willow]

Thanks.  On some of the threads I had read (probably the silkie one as that is where I have actually read the entire thing) there were reports of chicks starving because the pieces of food were too large for them.  It seemed to vary by brand and since I had an unused coffee grinder...  well, I had thought it might be safer at first to grind it down small for the itty bitty bantams.

I've never delt with bantams but I'm sure that's possible. Each of us just have to make individual decisions for what's best in out own situation. Good luck. You will love your birds.

 

[LindaB220]

This will be the first time chickens have been on the property - at least in the 30+ years it has been in the family. They will be sharing the run with goats, but all I've read indicates coccidiosis is breed specific. There are wild birds, of course, in the area. Coop will be deep litter. Run is pasture/grass like.

Yes, I think FF will be my first choice if it works out for me and the chicks. If not, I would probably go with medicated vs non just as a small bit of help/insurance, although I know neither one is a guarantee.

When you get your chicks place a container with a half shovel full of dirt with grass from the area that your coop will be in the brooder. Beekissed told me to do this and my babies are 5 wks old and healthy. Never had chickens on this place before in over 50 yrs. I fed mine unmedicated.

 

[Beekissed]

@aatx... it is not necessary to grind the feed up. I use layer pellets and they disolve down to mush in a matter of minutes. Chicks raised by a hen outside would be eating bugs and all sorts of things.

Yep...within a few days of hatch, I've given broody and chicks BOSS so she can show them the "bugs" in the litter. I have 2 wk old chicks and a duckling that are surviving fully on foraged foods right now and loving it. They don't even bother trying to come to the feeder for feed now because they have a bonanza of more edible foods for chicks out there under the leaves and popping out of the grass....just saw that duck~what a forager!~snag a worm right under the feet of the grown hens and gobble it down before you could blink.