Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Leahs Mom]

Just curious if anyone else's skin burns when you get the ferment juice on it? Sometimes I scoop out w/ a colander instead of a shovel and when I do my hands will go under the water level, it causes my hands to have a burning feeling and they get red (no sore or blisters). I have a wheat allergy so am not sure if it is the ferment or the wheat, wondering if anyone else has this reaction.

I'm pretty sure it's because you lacto-ferment yours. The way you ferment, your liquid is very acid (high lactic acid content in the liquid...low ph). If you have any tiny abrasions or scratches it will burn.

 

[Wyleiria]

How do you ferment "dry"? Mine always comes out like slop and I have to drain forever at each feeding. I thought you needed like an inch of water on top to seperate the feed from the grain? I would love to just have it moist without all the water to drain, but wouldn't it just go moldy? I use crumbles in my feed mix too, if I use pellets, would it be easier to drain?

 

[ChaoSS]

You don't need water on top. Thick oatmeal is the consistency you want.

 

[mithious]

@mithious

I thought you are supposed to use non chlorinated water maybe that is the issue? I use grower crumbles, BOSS and alphalpha pellets in mine here in Georgia. It is very hot here my FF is outside in the shade but I haven't had any issues yet...

I do, we have well water For people as well as livestock. I keep my FF in the cabin, as we have bear issues but the windows are open and a fan on pulling cooler air from the woods side of the cabin. I am really concerned about the injured bird in the cabin and the one Dominique cockerel that is in that one coop. There are 15 in it and he is the only one with the watery squirts as well as the injured one in the house.

I AM going to have the well water checked also but I really am not leaning towards that as an issue

Kassaundra, you did @ me, it showed up in my email, just not on the forum?

The two that are having the worst issues with their poop are the newest ones I got as chicks this spring. The standard bred ones. They are about 4 months or so now.

I read about some gut issue, can't remember the name, but did post to the thread on emergencies ect about it, no answer though. It was brought up on a link someone there put up. It's a bacteria, I think? from bad food or bad meat? That's why I was wondering if my FF was "off" or bad?????

 

[NiaAbbott]

Hi everyone! I started feeding my birds FF yesterday. I think everything came out well, my five layers love it, my CX's looked at me like I was crazy though, which is the opposite of what I was expecting... it took them forever to eat it. also, what does everyone put it in? I used old rectangular tupperware (I hadn't actually thought about what to put it in until feeding time) and my CX's pretty much just bathed in it :/ and do I really cut the amount I feed them in half? I already feel like I starve the guys... (i feed by weight)

 

[Kassaundra]

I do, we have well water For people as well as livestock. I keep my FF in the cabin, as we have bear issues but the windows are open and a fan on pulling cooler air from the woods side of the cabin. I am really concerned about the injured bird in the cabin and the one Dominique cockerel that is in that one coop. There are 15 in it and he is the only one with the watery squirts as well as the injured one in the house.

I AM going to have the well water checked also but I really am not leaning towards that as an issue

Kassaundra, you did @ me, it showed up in my email, just not on the forum?

The two that are having the worst issues with their poop are the newest ones I got as chicks this spring. The standard bred ones. They are about 4 months or so now.

I read about some gut issue, can't remember the name, but did post to the thread on emergencies ect about it, no answer though. It was brought up on a link someone there put up. It's a bacteria, I think? from bad food or bad meat? That's why I was wondering if my FF was "off" or bad?????

I meant to quote, but since it didn't quote, I went back and @ you to signify whose post I was responding to.

 

[3 NH reds]

Hi everyone! I started feeding my birds FF yesterday. I think everything came out well, my five layers love it, my CX's looked at me like I was crazy though, which is the opposite of what I was expecting... it took them forever to eat it. also, what does everyone put it in? I used old rectangular tupperware (I hadn't actually thought about what to put it in until feeding time) and my CX's pretty much just bathed in it :/ and do I really cut the amount I feed them in half? I already feel like I starve the guys... (i feed by weight)

This is my 1st year with jumbo rock cornish and they are not the pigs I thought they would be, they leave food when they get full. As far as what amount to feed them I just estimate the amount of FF I give them and feed that amount less of regular feed. Mine are almost at the end so I am increasing the fermented corn to get them plump but I still check the weight once a week to make sure all is well

 

[mommacassey]

Hi everyone! I started feeding my birds FF yesterday. I think everything came out well, my five layers love it, my CX's looked at me like I was crazy though, which is the opposite of what I was expecting... it took them forever to eat it. also, what does everyone put it in? I used old rectangular tupperware (I hadn't actually thought about what to put it in until feeding time) and my CX's pretty much just bathed in it :/ and do I really cut the amount I feed them in half? I already feel like I starve the guys... (i feed by weight)

I don't have meat birds, but I didn't cut back on the amount I was feeding when I started FFing. I ferment the starter/grower feed with some scratch in it, and occasionally a handful or two of sunflower seeds. Whenever they leave food from one day to the next, I just give them a little less the next day. Right now I'm using a section of vinyl gutter like others have suggested--look at the pictures in the thread for what I mean. Before I got it, though, I used a small Tupperware container for my smaller chicks and a large dog food bowl for the older ones.

I have a production red that is still in the bad habit of jumping into the feed while she eats, but she's done that since she was eating dry starter crumbles. When she gets bigger and doesn't fit in the "trough" as well, I believe she won't do it as much. (I hope!)

 

[Latestarter]

How do you ferment "dry"? Mine always comes out like slop and I have to drain forever at each feeding. I thought you needed like an inch of water on top to seperate the feed from the grain? I would love to just have it moist without all the water to drain, but wouldn't it just go moldy? I use crumbles in my feed mix too, if I use pellets, would it be easier to drain?

You don't need, or shouldn't need to "drain."

1. Just place everything that you want to include in your food mix into the bucket.... crumbles, pellets, scratch mix, raw grains, etc (I recommend NO meat/pure protein items as they will stink to high heaven when the ferment starts!

You can add those items to the feed if you wish as you're putting it out for the birds.)
2. Fill the bucket with water (straight from the hose or tap is just fine!) until the feed mix is covered. I use warm water from the sink just because fermentation works better warm.
** Some folks add "something" (ACV, Yoghurt, Kefir, pickle juice... whatever) to start the ferment, but it is NOT necessary! All you need is water, feed, exposure to air, and 3-4 (warm) days.
3. Give a few good deep stirs to make sure everything is mixed and wet. If you need more water, add it... if it's too wet, don't worry, most of the moisture will get absorbed anyway.
4. I Add more water to just cover what's in the bucket (the feed will absorb it and "grow" in height inside the bucket, so make sure you don't start with too much feed in there).
5. Cover, do NOT seal, the bucket with a towel, you WANT air flow! (If you seal the bucket, you may have an explosion and one heck of a mess to clean up

)
6. You do NOT have to worry about mold as the lacto bacteria eat it like it's dessert. The only time mold should/would cause an issue is if you let the bucket set for weeks untouched, with no new grains/water added. Water is necessary, and as the grains get fermented, they need to be (used) replaced with more/new grains to keep the ferment going.
7. When your bucket is almost empty... say one more serving left, start all over back at step 1! Because you are starting with some already fermented feed (called back-slop) in the bucket, your feed will ferment overnight (or in about 12 hours vice 4 days) and be ready to be served up to your birds @ their next meal time. If you have a lot of birds, you could have more than one bucket going at a time. Or use a bigger bucket,,, like a trash can

Just make sure it's not a metal trash can as metal interacts with the ferment and vice versa.

If this is a new start to fermenting, the bucket needs to sit for 3-4 days to really get going, then stir it if you wish and scoop it out for the birds. Some folks give it a good stir once or twice a day, others do nothing at all. (I have noticed with mine that the top portion is a lot dryer than the bottom, so I push the top down and pull the bottom up (stir it) while I'm scooping it out for the birds.) Some make sure the mix is always covered with water, others (I) don't. As someone already stated, it should be the consistency of thick oatmeal. Mine is sometimes a little dryer than that, sometimes a little wetter than that. The birds don't care either way and attack it (and me, and the bucket, and the scoop, as I'm scooping it out for them) just the same.

Hope this helps. You can also check out: http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/ it's a lot shorter than reading this entire thread (although there's some really good info/nuggets if you have the time to spare to read it through

 

[Nofowlplay]

Going to a Firehouse Subs :yiipchick today for a food grade 5 gallon bucket, it will smell like pickles for awhile but that's ok. It's only $2.00. I want to try a small batch of the ff.:yiipchick