Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Doubleatraining....do you have any sourdough starter? That is what I am fermenting with or you can just sit it outside for awhile without the lid and you can capture wild yeast.

 

[doubleatraining]

No, no sourdough starter. I need to find some eventually but that won't help my current batch. I've got the lid cracked but I can leave it off today if you think that will help.

 

[Kassaundra]

No, no sourdough starter. I need to find some eventually but that won't help my current batch. I've got the lid cracked but I can leave it off today if you think that will help.

My same ferment water has been going for about 1 year now and I started it w/ plain water and grains. I didn't know about the acv until I had been fermenting for some months so then I put an apple in each bucket.

I read the beet pulp articles, but my brain isn't firing on all cylinders today (this is the day after my 24 hr shift at work) so was it saying to add 3% of your feed as beet pulp? Does beet pulp come in bags like grain at the feed store??

 

[doubleatraining]

My same ferment water has been going for about 1 year now and I started it w/ plain water and grains. I didn't know about the acv until I had been fermenting for some months so then I put an apple in each bucket.

I read the beet pulp articles, but my brain isn't firing on all cylinders today (this is the day after my 24 hr shift at work) so was it saying to add 3% of your feed as beet pulp? Does beet pulp come in bags like grain at the feed store??

Hmmmm just drop an apple in the bottom??

LOL I understand I got off at 8 from a 24hr shift and have to be at the PT job tonight at 6pm for 12hrs. You can add up to 3% and for horses/cows/etc you can add a LOT more. You can buy it in shreds or pellets....it soaks up a LOT of water. I don't plan on measuring out 3% I figure a handful here or there...whatever looks even.

 

[ladyokie]

Hello,
This is my first time posting on this thread. I just started feeding fermented feed this past week. For my chicks and young ones I am giving fermented oats for now. They also have Starter/grower always available. My layers I mixed oats and layer feed half and half and I am feeding that twice a day with more dry layer available just in case. They do free range daily.
My question, the layer feed and oats mixture is getting a grayish film on it after sitting. Looks like mold. Now I have read through a lot of this thread and am I understanding correctly that the film is safe to just stir back into the mix? I don't want to feed them something that will make them sick or worse.

Also, thank you for all the great articles. Now I am going to call about beet pulp tomorrow and alfalfa cubes. When I told my hubby about this he just said, "This is supposed to lower the feed bill right?". He was laughing when he said it. He is the first one to insist on the best feed available for all the critters.

 

[Beekissed]

It won't make them sick...it is mold but it's the good kind. That is the fermented cultures that contain all the wonderful probiotics that are so good for the birds. Keep us posted on what you think about the FF and how they do with your flocks!

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

I started fermenting my grain (mix of oats, rolled barley, white wheat and cracked corn) and Purina Flock Raiser feed this morning and tonight when I took the lid off to give it a stir....it was literally boiling!! It was so cool to just sit there and watch it.

I'm wanting to start hardening my CX off but when nighttime temps are getting down into the low 20's I just can't bring myself to raise that light up just yet. The last thing I want it for them to pile because they got too cold. Stupid weather!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

I started fermenting my grain (mix of oats, rolled barley, white wheat and cracked corn) and Purina Flock Raiser feed this morning and tonight when I took the lid off to give it a stir....it was literally boiling!!

It was so cool to just sit there and watch it.
I'm wanting to start hardening my CX off but when nighttime temps are getting down into the low 20's I just can't bring myself to raise that light up just yet. The last thing I want it for them to pile because they got too cold. Stupid weather!!!

Farheneit (sp)?????? Holy crap, it's May!!!!

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Farheneit (sp)??????  Holy crap, it's May!!!!   

LOL...yep, Fahrenheit!! I know..it was warmer at night in March than it is right now.

 

[crazychickenwom]

Been lurking on this thread since the beginning and took the plunge into fermenting feed beginning last night. After seeing all of the little chicks (1 week old) piling on top of all of the nasty poo I knew I could not put it off any longer, I needed to do better for these babies!

I am beginning small, a 3 gallon and 1 gallon bucket. I know that this won't last for long but I just didn't have any clean enough 5 gallon buckets, even after attempting to scrub them for an hour. My motto, if I won't eat out of it, neither will they! I am moving the babies out to the unused side of the coop today, with a heat lamp of course, until they are a little bigger and ready to go in the tractor. My question is how do I know when it is time to let them in the yard? Do I wait the typical 4 or so weeks like you do a laying hen or can they go earlier? Our temps this week are going to average 75 - 80 daytime and lowest nighttime temp is said to be about 54. I have already noticed that they don't like it as warm in the brooder as the layer chicks of the same age.

Thank you all for the great information and helping me keep my future freezer meat happy and healthy!


*Edit for spelling*