Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[BellaFarfalla]

Our last round of meat chickens for the year are arriving next week. Fermenting isn't something we have tried before, but I have recently heard about it and am very excited to try it. How far in advance can I start the fermenting process? They should be here next Wednesday. So I can I start the feed today or tomorrow, or should I wait until the weekend. I heard it only takes 3-4 days to be ready. We are going to be feeding them fryer grain from a local grain Co-Op store. Thanks!

 

[chickngranny]

did you start your grain fermenting using UP/ACV?

 

[Turk Raphael]

Our last round of meat chickens for the year are arriving next week. Fermenting isn't something we have tried before, but I have recently heard about it and am very excited to try it. How far in advance can I start the fermenting process? They should be here next Wednesday. So I can I start the feed today or tomorrow, or should I wait until the weekend. I heard it only takes 3-4 days to be ready. We are going to be feeding them fryer grain from a local grain Co-Op store. Thanks!

I'd start it now...not wait.

 

[Tikkijane]

How much FF should turkeys get daily?

 

[fasschicks]

WOW, this thread is long and awesome! I don't have time to read all of it, but I want to make sure I get the gist of this process. I have a small flock of 10 laying hens and really would like them to be as healthy as possible. Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly:

1 - Get a container (glass, plastic - no metal) and put in some feed and cover it with water

2 - Let it sit for 3-4 days and make sure to stir every day and as the water is absorbed, keep adding a little more until feed is covered

3 - On day 3-4, take out enough food for your flock....feed morning and night

4 - Every day after, keep adding another day's worth of feed to the backslop and continue to add water until feed is covered

5 - Keep doing this cycle over and over and over again.....

I do have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer:

-- How many days worth of feed do you put in the first time you start the FF process?

-- I plan to use a sieve to scoop out food every day. I assume with this method I will not get all the grain out. So, it is my assumption that there could be pieces of grain that could be in there indefinitely if I use this process? Is that okay? Is there a point where I just need to dump it all out and start new?

-- We do small weekends away and every once in a while go on a week long vacation. On the weekends away, we just make sure there is enough food and water out and don't have anyone stop by. If we go away for a week, then our neighbor stops by each day to collect eggs and check on the girls. What do most folks that feed FF do when they go away for a couple days or a week? I don't want burden my neighbor or friends with the whole FF thing (especially if they only stop by 1 time a day). Do chickens adapt well to going back/forth between FF and dry feed?

Would love to hear your thoughts and need to know if I got this process correct. Can't wait to try it! Thanks!

Wendy

 

[lazy gardener]

My rotation method would be easy for someone to maintain, if it were necessary. I rotate 2 containers, each one is big enough for a day's worth of FF. So, when I feed out a container, I just scoop 2 quarts of dry feed into the container, set it in my laundry sink, fill with water to within an inch of the top, give it a stir, and cover it lightly. It'll be ready to feed out the day after tomorrow. But, in answer to your question, my girls will eat ANYTHING that happens to fall into their run or coop. They'll even eat the dreaded pellets, scarf them up like they are candy. So they could easily be maintained on dry feed. The only time they get that routinely as a main ration is during the winter months when the daily high doesn't get above 20*F. Yet an other reason to prefer FF over dry: Much less likely to attract rodents.

 

[armorfirelady]

-- How many days worth of feed do you put in the first time you start the FF process?

I have a 2 gallon glass jar I use for FF. When it gets to about 2 inches from the bottom I add more grains and water.

-- I plan to use a sieve to scoop out food every day. I assume with this method I will not get all the grain out. So, it is my assumption that there could be pieces of grain that could be in there indefinitely if I use this process? Is that okay? Is there a point where I just need to dump it all out and start new?
If there is a piece of grain thats been in there forever I dont notice it. I use a slotted sppon and scoop the FF into a porcelin cup to feed out. I havent dumped out & started new. This baatch has been going for over a year now

-- We do small weekends away and every once in a while go on a week long vacation. On the weekends away, we just make sure there is enough food and water out and don't have anyone stop by. If we go away for a week, then our neighbor stops by each day to collect eggs and check on the girls. What do most folks that feed FF do when they go away for a couple days or a week? I don't want burden my neighbor or friends with the whole FF thing (especially if they only stop by 1 time a day). Do chickens adapt well to going back/forth between FF and dry feed?

When I am gone for longer than a week a friend feeds the hens. They still get the FF. Its so easy for him to use. I only feed once a day from spring till there is snow on the ground. They get fed once in the evening so he can feed them & collect eggs at the same time.

 

[Tikkijane]

WOW, this thread is long and awesome!  I don't have time to read all of it, but I want to make sure I get the gist of this process. I have a small flock of 10 laying hens and really would like them to be as healthy as possible.  Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly:

1 - Get a container (glass, plastic - no metal) and put in some feed and cover it with water

2 - Let it sit for 3-4 days and make sure to stir every day and as the water is absorbed, keep adding a little more until feed is covered

3 - On day 3-4, take out enough food for your flock....feed morning and night

4 - Every day after, keep adding another day's worth of feed to the backslop and continue to add water until feed is covered

5 - Keep doing this cycle over and over and over again.....

I do have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer:

-- How many days worth of feed do you put in the first time you start the FF process?

-- I plan to use a sieve to scoop out food every day. I assume with this method I will not get all the grain out.  So, it is my assumption that there could be pieces of grain that could be in there indefinitely if I use this process?  Is that okay?  Is there a point where I just need to dump it all out and start new?

-- We do small weekends away and every once in a while go on a week long vacation.  On the weekends away, we just make sure there is enough food and water out and don't have anyone stop by.  If we go away for a week, then our neighbor stops by each day to collect eggs and check on the girls.  What do most folks that feed FF do when they go away for a couple days or a week?  I don't want burden my neighbor or friends with the whole FF thing (especially if they only stop by 1 time a day).  Do chickens adapt well to going back/forth between FF and dry feed?

Would love to hear your thoughts and need to know if I got this process correct.  Can't wait to try it!  Thanks!

Wendy

1} It does not need to be covered by inches of water.

2} It's actually better NOT to backslop and refresh every day. Let it go until you have about a single serving left; then backslop and refresh {add water first, to distribute the SCOBY}. Over time, the ferment can weaken, which results in hungrier birds and less optimal feed.

3} Not sure on meaties, but with regulars, some folks leave out the amount they would feed for those few days and call it good. If I had to leave, I'd leave my full coolers outside and whoever was feeding {we have a ton of other animals} would use that and make more as needed.

 

[LindaB220]

1} It does not need to be covered by inches of water.

2} It's actually better NOT to backslop and refresh every day. Let it go until you have about a single serving left; then backslop and refresh {add water first, to distribute the SCOBY}. Over time, the ferment can weaken, which results in hungrier birds and less optimal feed.

3} Not sure on meaties, but with regulars, some folks leave out the amount they would feed for those few days and call it good. If I had to leave, I'd leave my full coolers outside and whoever was feeding {we have a ton of other animals} would use that and make more as needed.

In case Wendy didn't see it in your signature, I'm posting your link for the quickest, easiest way to do it.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I keep looking at the last picture of the shovel for stirring the big 33 gallon container of fermented feed. I'm not that big yet, but I do have a 3' long 2x2 board that stirs my 5 gallon bucket easy. I'm thinking of doing like Beekissed did and put an ice chest in the coop and make it in that. The birds can't get to it and it will keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. I don't have snow so I'll be able to do it year round.

 

[Tikkijane]

In case Wendy didn't see it in your signature, I'm posting your link for the quickest, easiest way to do it.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I keep looking at the last picture of the shovel for stirring the big 33 gallon container of fermented feed.  I'm not that big yet, but I do have a 3' long 2x2 board that stirs my 5 gallon bucket easy.  I'm thinking of doing like Beekissed did and put an ice chest in the coop and make it in that.  The birds can't get to it and it will keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.  I don't have snow so I'll be able to do it year round. 

I really love the paddle. It's available in a variety of handle lenghts, too. I hadn't been able to find anything else big enough in regular housewares, so it was time to go commercial. If I end up having to go with garbage cans instead of coolers, I can always get a longer handled paddle. Yay!