Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

I don't understand....you have fresh water sitting in the top of your feed, the feed and then the bottom reservoir? How do you keep these all from mixing together if you stir your feed and have the appropriate number of holes drilled in the bucket? I'm not having any trouble all these months with ALL the water mixing and integrating with the feed as a whole.

 

[Ullie]

When I stir I'm not stirring the bottom

 

[notinoz2007]

thank you for your help bee. i will cut back on the veggies and put ff on ground. no dry crumble. also, about ferment smell... i did use mother acv to start it. and for the first 3 days had a rather pleasant smell. then i got busy, was only adding scratch which i think was ok having read some of the stuff other people put in. it now has a sour mash smell, like really sour stinky feet ( i have a son too, lol) i just wish it smelled more like sourdough i guess. i do love that smell. i'm just afraid to danger my flock by feeding them something i'm not sure of. i'm also afraid if i start all over and get the same results then i've wasted feed and time to fix something that wasnt broken.6 in one, half dozen.... werent we supposed to have smellovision by now? that would help, lol

 

[aoxa]

I don't understand....you have fresh water sitting in the top of your feed, the feed and then the bottom reservoir?  How do you keep these all from mixing together if you stir your feed and have the appropriate number of holes drilled in the bucket?  I'm not having any trouble all these months with ALL the water mixing and integrating with the feed as a whole. 

 

Should I take a video?

 

[Beekissed]

thank you for your help bee. i will cut back on the veggies and put ff on ground. no dry crumble. also, about ferment smell... i did use mother acv to start it. and for the first 3 days had a rather pleasant smell. then i got busy, was only adding scratch which i think was ok having read some of the stuff other people put in. it now has a sour mash smell, like really sour stinky feet ( i have a son too, lol) i just wish it smelled more like sourdough i guess. i do love that smell. i'm just afraid to danger my flock by feeding them something i'm not sure of. i'm also afraid if i start all over and get the same results then i've wasted feed and time to fix something that wasnt broken.6 in one, half dozen.... werent we supposed to have smellovision by now? that would help, lol

It's fine...mine smells like that and I feed it every day. No dead chickens yet.

It just means it has more yeast cultures working in the feed. This is a good thing!

 

[Beekissed]

Should I take a video?

PLEASE???? I don't have the right equipment to make a good video and these folks need one so badly.

 

[notinoz2007]

OH GOOD, i am soooo happy to read that! you are so wonderful for putting up with me, lol. thanks

 

[aoxa]

Should I take a video?

PLEASE????  I don't have the right equipment to make a good video and these folks need one so badly. 

I'll work on it tomorrow. I'm taking the day off, so it'll give me something to do

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: When I add water to the mix I stir it in real well so everything mixes in well. But I also let my FF in the bucket get half way down before normally adding more grains. By then whatever is left in the bucket leaves whats in there pretty moist. But I do like a thicker mix I dont have to drain. I just scoop out a couple of spoonfulls into their dish, stir up whats left, put the piece of tin foil back on as a lid & its good to go. Maybe a minute total? Also I dont leave water covering the top of the FF because I dont want to drain the FF. As long as I stir it twice a day I havent noticed any mold problems or bad smell anymore. I also only add water when I add grains. I used to add ACV with Mother each time and it got a funky smell after awhile. And like Bee I moved it into a cooler room instead of on the fireplace hearth. Much better results now & the dogs are no longer helping themselves.

 

[Beekissed]

When I stir I'm not stirring the bottom

When you stir, is water squishing out of the holes in the sides of your bucket? This is water from the bottom reservoir and throughout your mix that is sloshing back and forth. And I'd occasionally stir that bottom, if I were you. Some one had a nifty paint stirrer idea that you put onto a drill that will mix the bottoms of buckets if you have nothing to do it with. Me? When I was mixing entire buckets of FF, I just used a big ol' stick to mix it all up. Easy.