Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Heron's Nest Farm]

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.

Are you actually having a gelatinous scoby form in your tub?

How often do you start over? I find the sludge starts getting a bit much!

 

[Beekissed]

Are you actually having a gelatinous scoby form in your tub?

How often do you start over? I find the sludge starts getting a bit much!

When I was still using the two bucket system I would have a build up of sediment/feed dust in the bottom bucket and it was a great place for the scoby to feed and go undisturbed until I'd add water, but it never got stirred or fed out. Occasionally I would take some of it out and dump it on the ground for the birds. Strong, thick, and a tad gelatinous in parts.

Now I use a single bucket I don't have to manage all that...I just pour my water in the bucket first, stir up the remaining ferment left in the bucket, then add fresh feed and stir it in real good. The two bucket system was great when I was feeding a lot of whole grains and feeding out almost the entire 5 gal. at one feeding to meat birds each day, but the single bucket is working out great for laying mash. I just mix my FF dryer, so no need for straining or anything and I leave some of the old FF in the bucket to inoculate the new when I refresh, so it works in much the same way as the two bucket system.

 

[glib]

my scoby is very similar to kombucha scoby, white disks which are chewy and uniform except for the bits that get trapped in. not a surprise since it was started with ACV, which has similar ferments to kombucha, but I have seen a lot of wine vinegar scobys which look disgusting, various shades of browns, slimy and blobby.

 

[Regin]

I make up several 5 gal buckets at a time. Adding some starter from an old batch.

Feeding 100 birds. I use 2 buckets per day.

 

[Tikkijane]

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. 

Chickens have only 28-32 taste buds compared to our 10,000. It is unlikely they would ever reject for taste because there is so little they actually CAN taste.

I have never seen them reject and not eat at all. Take a mouthful or two and be done? Sure.

Here's the thing: ff continues to increase ferment levels daily. I have never seen any studies that fermentation stops unless it freezes or gets pasteurized. That means the ferment is getting more nutrtionally dense, which, in turn, creates a need to eat LESS.

I don't have meaties, but I can tell you my birds, eating a few mouthfuls, are HEFTY. They are solid.

I have also noticed if my backslop batches last less than 3 days, they eat more and more and more. The longer the batch- the less they eat.

Folks want to say it's too sour for them or tastes too strong - they have *28-32* taste buds AND they eat raw DEAD THINGS like mice, snakes, moles, voles, etc. If they can catch it; they'll eat it.

Imo, it's not because they don't "like" it {I mean, come on, they'll eat styrofoam like it's the best thing ever} it's because it's super dense and super fermented so they need less of it to fill them up. {Think peanut butter compared to potato chips.}

 

[Tikkijane]

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. 

Yep. That's my thinking, too.

 

[katbriar]

Tikkijane- great post. Thanks!

 

[DesertChic]

Chickens have only 28-32 taste buds compared to our 10,000. It is unlikely they would ever reject for taste because there is so little they actually CAN taste.

I have never seen them reject and not eat at all. Take a mouthful or two and be done? Sure.

Here's the thing: ff continues to increase ferment levels daily. I have never seen any studies that fermentation stops unless it freezes or gets pasteurized. That means the ferment is getting more nutrtionally dense, which, in turn, creates a need to eat LESS.

I don't have meaties, but I can tell you my birds, eating a few mouthfuls, are HEFTY. They are solid.

I have also noticed if my backslop batches last less than 3 days, they eat more and more and more. The longer the batch- the less they eat.

Folks want to say it's too sour for them or tastes too strong - they have *28-32* taste buds AND they eat raw DEAD THINGS like mice, snakes, moles, voles, etc. If they can catch it; they'll eat it.

Imo, it's not because they don't "like" it {I mean, come on, they'll eat styrofoam like it's the best thing ever} it's because it's super dense and super fermented so they need less of it to fill them up. {Think peanut butter compared to potato chips.}

Thank you and @Beekissed for educating me! I will be approaching my FF with a much different perspective than I had just a few days ago.

 

[19disbre]

So you can't ferment something too much, correct?

 

[Latestarter]

Technically, you CAN... eventually you will have "spent" grains. The time required depends on several variables. As a general rule, a 5 gallon bucket of fermenting feed should be good for a week or more. The warmer/hotter the ambient temp, the less time and vice versa.