Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[lazy gardener]

I would not want to do it that way. I think that eventually the ferment would be over mature, and you'd actually end up loosing the nutritional benefits. What you're suggesting, is that when the feed is getting low in the barrel, you add more feed and water? I think it would depend on how well you stirred it up from the bottom. If it never got used up from the bottom, I'd not be comfortable with that. But, I'm interested to hear from the folks who do use a large bulk of Ff on a regular basis. How many birds are you feeding?

 

[Beekissed]

After reading some of this thread, I thought of an idea, could you put a 50 lb bag into a 55 gallon drum and then just take out what you need each day and the longer it is in their the more it will ferment? Also feed sinks correct?

There's a lady here that's been doing whole grains like that for some time now...big 55 gal. trash can full and she just adds when it gets lower, so there are many of her grains that have been in there for a long, long time...years, I imagine. She doesn't report any problems, but hers are whole grains and not ground feed, so not sure.

All you can do is try it out and see how you like it. Be sure and let us know how it goes,as that is what this type of thread is for...for learning about what works and what doesn't.

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
It all depends on how many you are feeding. Kassaundra has hers in a 32 gallon trash can and uses a shovel to stir. She feeds a lot so replenishes more often. I use a 5 gallon bucket and feed my 14 birds in about 5 days or so. I'll go bigger when I increase my flock. This works for me now.

 

[DesertChic]

After reading some of this thread, I thought of an idea, could you put a 50 lb bag into a 55 gallon drum and then just take out what you need each day and the longer it is in their the more it will ferment? Also feed sinks correct?

I'm curious to hear what those experienced with large volume FF have to say about this too. I ferment on a much smaller scale in 5 lb buckets because I have a small flock, but I've noticed that there's a certain "cut-off"point when my birds start to reject the feed, presumably because of the flavor. Days 1-4 they love the stuff, and day 5-6 they begin to seem less than enthused with the feed. At that point I flood the remaining FF with water and give it a good stir before adding additional grains, plus red pepper flakes, garlic, cinnamon, more apple cider vinegar, and when I can, whey from yogurt. When I feed them this "re-mix" the next morning they dive into it with gluttonous delight.

 

[JJSS89]

I'm curious to hear what those experienced with large volume FF have to say about this too. I ferment on a much smaller scale in 5 lb buckets because I have a small flock, but I've noticed that there's a certain "cut-off"point when my birds start to reject the feed, presumably because of the flavor. Days 1-4 they love the stuff, and day 5-6 they begin to seem less than enthused with the feed. At that point I flood the remaining FF with water and give it a good stir before adding additional grains, plus red pepper flakes, garlic, cinnamon, more apple cider vinegar, and when I can, whey from yogurt. When I feed them this "re-mix" the next morning they dive into it with gluttonous delight.

Well a 55 gallon drum would be HUGE to do 50 lbs, I've done 40 lbs at a time in 18 gallon Rubbermaid totes

 

[Beekissed]

I can feed out of a bucket for up to and past 2 wks~and I have a very strong mother so it starts out pretty strong anyway~and never see a difference in how the chickens eat the feed. They eat what I give them and their needs fluctuate~not with the age of the ferment~but with the season, the temperature, the available forage, etc.~and then the feed is adjusted upwards or downwards accordingly. But it seems to have nothing to do with the age of my ferment.

Could it be that the nutritional levels are rising the longer it ferments so that they need less total feed, as opposed to a taste thing? If a chicken can eat pepper flakes, cinnamon, etc. in their feed without turning away, it's not likely a stronger ferment is going to turn their noses up.

Try feeding them less of it when you see them leaving feed behind and this is a win/win situation...you feed less, it costs less and they thrive just the same. If you see them leaving feed AND losing condition, then you may have a concern on your hands.

 

[19disbre]

Yea I should of mentioned a 50 lb bag of feed should only last about 3-5 day maybe more because they are free range, I just happen to have a nice clean food grade 55 gallon drum made of plastic so I thought of that, I heard one guy said you can fit like 300 lbs of feed into a 55 gallon drum so I am sure it will be big enough. I still need to figure out how much fermented feed they will eat what I said above is based of .25 lbs per bird per day of dry feed, that is if they are not free ranged and the food is not fermented so I don't know how accurate that is

 

[katbriar]

Also, if you're back slopping, you don't need to keep adding vinegar. See if they like it longer if you don't. I noticed my birds did.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Chickens don't really taste chili. Their receptor cells are "insensitive" to it.

We throw our habeneros and even ghost peppers to the hens and it doesn't bother them. Of course I don't do too much for fear of upsetting their system.

We use a mix of several herbs, including capsaicin for intestinal health. We are working on an additive for sale using the organic herbs we are farming, in addition to the peppers.

I think it's great you are adding the chili pepper flakes to the food!

 

[Beekissed]

Yep. And it's just as likely they don't "taste" strong ferment as opposed to a light ferment unless someone is loading things down with additional ACV. A four day ferment is nothing much different than a 1 day ferment in terms of taste to a chicken, it just smells stronger to us, so I think people automatically assume it will be off putting to the chicken as well. I've dumped out scoby on the ground that was months and months old and stunk to high heaven and the chickens will come along and lick that stuff off the ground. They will scratch at that place and keep eating until all the grass is gone, in an attempt to eat that strong smelling scoby. They seem to enjoy it even more than their FF.