Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Leahs Mom]

Well, I'm thinking that baker's yeast might turn my chickens into a bunch of little Buff-colored hot air balloons, that they would just float away over the horizon and my little chicken experiment would be over.

OK, all kidding aside, I checked out baker's yeast on ask.com they said it's what we use to make bread rise. IOW....it makes gas. So I don't want chicken woofers going on in the coop. Can't think that it would be good for them.

(...like Harry Potter's cousin and aunt...

)

Thanks for bringing that up again. I cringe every time I hear of someone putting bakers yeast in their feed for their animals.

You have to think in terms of LACTIC fermentation. Same process as when you make pickles our sauerkraut. The lactic acid has to be dominant and the yeasts that are in the mix will come from ambient yeasts in the environment. This is not like adding baker's yeast. You want the lactic acid to have the upper hand - like in making yogurt.

If you wouldn't put baker's yeast in your home-made yogurt (or your pickles or your sauerkraut) then you shouldn't put it in your feed. We're not making a mix that we're going to bake, we're making a mix that we're going to eat raw.

 

[Beekissed]

I cooked up the first dozen eggs from my girls. I just cant get over how much color are in the eggs compared to store bought... I knew this because we had chickens when I was growing up, but I forgot how different it was. The eggs were great!!! I had a couple store bought eggs left so I took a few photos to compare. It was more apparent in person, but I think you can still tell.

A pic is worth a thousand words they say...and these pic certainly are! Nice big and high yolks there. Funny thing is that a lot of folks are used to those pale, watery eggs and think anything but that is awful....too rich! Too orange! Too thick! They have rooster schmutz in them! I saw a speck of blood...ewww!

Sadly, those kind of folks will never learn to appreciate the real taste of a healthy hen egg.....happily, that leaves more for us!

 

[Lacy Blues]

A pic is worth a thousand words they say...and these pic certainly are! Nice big and high yolks there. Funny thing is that a lot of folks are used to those pale, watery eggs and think anything but that is awful....too rich! Too orange! Too thick! They have rooster schmutz in them! I saw a speck of blood...ewww!

Sadly, those kind of folks will never learn to appreciate the real taste of a healthy hen egg.....happily, that leaves more for us!

 

[colburg]

Well, I'm thinking that baker's yeast might turn my chickens into a bunch of little Buff-colored hot air balloons, that they would just float away over the horizon and my little chicken experiment would be over.

OK, all kidding aside, I checked out baker's yeast on ask.com they said it's what we use to make bread rise. IOW....it makes gas. So I don't want chicken woofers going on in the coop. Can't think that it would be good for them.

I read a lot of posts in this thread of FF buckets bubbling. Actually the bubbles are a part of the conversion process and are a sign that the process is going well. The ACV is already putting out CO2, same as yeast.

Here's a couple of quotes from wikipedia, much better than what I typed and deleted. The red highlights are mine.

"The primary benefit of fermentation is the conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates, e.g., converting juice into wine, grains into beer, carbohydrates into carbon dioxide to leaven bread, and sugars in vegetables into preservative organic acids." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_(food)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_acid
Application in nutrition and animal feeds
Organic acids have been used successfully in pig production for more than 25 years. Although less research has been done in poultry, organic acids have also been found to be effective in poultry production.
Organic acids (C1–C7) are widely distributed in nature as normal constituents of plants or animal tissues. They are also formed through microbial fermentation of carbohydrates mainly in the large intestine. They are sometimes found in their sodium, potassium, or calcium salts, or even stronger double salts.
Organic acids added to feeds should be protected to avoid their dissociation in the crop and in the intestine (high pH segments) and reach far into the gastrointestinal tract, where the bulk of the bacteria population is located.
From the use of organic acids in poultry and pigs, one can expect an improvement in performance similar to or better than that of antibiotic growth promoters, without the public health concern, a preventive effect on the intestinal problems like necrotic enteritis in chickens and Escherichia coli infection in young pigs. Also one can expect a reduction of the carrier state for Salmonella species and Campylobacter species.

 

[Maggiesdad]

I cooked up the first dozen eggs from my girls. I just cant get over how much color are in the eggs compared to store bought... I knew this because we had chickens when I was growing up, but I forgot how different it was. The eggs were great!!! I had a couple store bought eggs left so I took a few photos to compare. It was more apparent in person, but I think you can still tell.

Great shots, and so true! i made the mistake of clicking on the big measuring cup and then clicking it again -

Now that's a close up! Wups, I believe you've got a bit of shell there around 8 oclock...

 

[galefrances]

I'd offer it free choice every now and again this winter in a separate container. That way, if they need it, they get it, if they don't, they won't partake.

If you notice them partaking too often and ignoring the feed, only put it out as a weekly amount. Make Saturday, or whatever day, bone and blood meal day.

As with any nutritional supplement, if it taste too good to them they won't stop until that is gone and they will ignore their regular nutrition, which is not ideal. High pro feeds are meant as a supplement to a more normal supply of protein.

Same with giving "treats" like BOSS and wild bird feeds...high pro mixes that, if given daily, gives them more protein than they can utilize in a healthy manner. Birds need it because they fly and have to move constantly to gain their daily food...chickens do not.

Bee: Are there any research studies that you can direct me to regarding high protein intake in chickens with normal renal function? It's something I'm curious about. Also, what is considered too much protein their diet?

 

[Miss Lydia]

A pic is worth a thousand words they say...and these pic certainly are! Nice big and high yolks there. Funny thing is that a lot of folks are used to those pale, watery eggs and think anything but that is awful....too rich! Too orange! Too thick! They have rooster schmutz in them! I saw a speck of blood...ewww!

Sadly, those kind of folks will never learn to appreciate the real taste of a healthy hen egg.....happily, that leaves more for us!

I have a friend who was raised on fresh eggs growing up but when I gave her a doz of my eggs she said she couldn't eat them she was too use to store bought.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

I read a lot of posts in this thread of FF buckets bubbling. Actually the bubbles are a part of the conversion process and are a sign that the process is going well. The ACV is already putting out CO2, same as yeast.

Here's a couple of quotes from wikipedia, much better than what I typed and deleted. The red highlights are mine.

"The primary benefit of fermentation is the conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates, e.g., converting juice into wine, grains into beer, carbohydrates into carbon dioxide to leaven bread, and sugars in vegetables into preservative organic acids." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_(food)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_acid
Application in nutrition and animal feeds
Organic acids have been used successfully in pig production for more than 25 years. Although less research has been done in poultry, organic acids have also been found to be effective in poultry production.
Organic acids (C1–C7) are widely distributed in nature as normal constituents of plants or animal tissues. They are also formed through microbial fermentation of carbohydrates mainly in the large intestine. They are sometimes found in their sodium, potassium, or calcium salts, or even stronger double salts.
Organic acids added to feeds should be protected to avoid their dissociation in the crop and in the intestine (high pH segments) and reach far into the gastrointestinal tract, where the bulk of the bacteria population is located.
From the use of organic acids in poultry and pigs, one can expect an improvement in performance similar to or better than that of antibiotic growth promoters, without the public health concern, a preventive effect on the intestinal problems like necrotic enteritis in chickens and Escherichia coli infection in young pigs. Also one can expect a reduction of the carrier state for Salmonella species and Campylobacter species.

Well, yes. But personally (yours truly) doesn't get gas (can't believe I'm talking about flatulence here...personal flatulence to boot!

) that is, I don't get gas from saurkraut or yogurt or kefir, kombuchi or kimchi.......all 'fermented' foods. Neither does baked bread give me gas, either. However....eating unbaked bread dough is a different story.........up...up and away.... And it seems unbaked grains with bakers yeast might do the same. But today is the day that I have designated for the 'right to be wrong'. And then again, I'm not a chicken.

 

[Beekissed]

Society has been brainwashed and crippled when it comes to food choices. I know plenty of country folks who are the same way....have grown so used to eating out of the store that they have forgotten the appearance and flavor of real food. Real chicken is darker, smells like something when cooked, has a chewy but still succulent flavor and texture...but try getting some of the old country folks to eat some of it now. "It's so tough that I can't chew it!!!" Really? 'Cause I'm having no trouble at all!

If you'll notice, all the food has become geared towards being too lazy to chew....all the hard candies are now made into "gummies", sticks of gum are tinier than ever and soft(remember when gum was hard?),chicken is soaked until it is white mush in your mouth, beef is tasteless, mushy, greasy and pale, eggs are pale and runny, bread is so soft that you can squeeze it and it instantly becomes dough again...no flavor, no texture and no real substance. All of it.

Heaven help a society that is too lazy to chew their food.....

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Society has been brainwashed and crippled when it comes to food choices. I know plenty of country folks who are the same way....have grown so used to eating out of the store that they have forgotten the appearance and flavor of real food. Real chicken is darker, smells like something when cooked, has a chewy but still succulent flavor and texture...but try getting some of the old country folks to eat some of it now. "It's so tough that I can't chew it!!!" Really? 'Cause I'm having no trouble at all!

If you'll notice, all the food has become geared towards being too lazy to chew....all the hard candies are now made into "gummies", sticks of gum are tinier than ever and soft(remember when gum was hard?),chicken is soaked until it is white mush in your mouth, beef is tasteless, mushy, greasy and pale, eggs are pale and runny, bread is so soft that you can squeeze it and it instantly becomes dough again...no flavor, no texture and no real substance. All of it.

Heaven help a society that is too lazy to chew their food.....