Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Miss Lydia]

I hatched out two chicks this last week and decided I wanted to brood a couple more with them. The ones I hatched out were roos, and I am really trying to increase our pullets/hens. So, I picked up four more today. I didn't even think to look at their butts. Two were a couple days old and the other two were 1-2 weeks old. On the way home, I could tell when one had pooped. It was very stinky. Then, when I got them home, 3/4 of them had poop on their behinds or had pasty butt. I put them in some warm water baths and cleaned them up. They stink quite a bit as well, in the brooder.

I am looking forward to having them on FF so they don't stink and don't get pasty butt. The last chicks I brooded never stunk and never had pasty butt. They were fed FF from the beginning.

These chicks are awful cute, despite the smell. I hope at least two of them are pullets. I don't want/need roosters.

Wheres the pics of the lil cuties?

 

[SeattleLeah]

I fermented my first batch and my chicks (ages 3 days - 3 weeks) took about 5 minutes to realize it was food and then went into a frenzy over it! My main reason for fermenting is to reduce the poop smell. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the process was!

Im going out of town for 5 days and there is no way I am convincing my boyfriend to keep this up. Is there a way to store fermented feed for future use? Can I pre make 5 days worth of food, store it in the fridge and have my BF ration it out each day? Also, can I keep the container with the mother juices in the fridge so i can continue fermenting with it?

thanks so much and Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Costa Rica Art]

I fermented my first batch and my chicks (ages 3 days - 3 weeks) took about 5 minutes to realize it was food and then went into a frenzy over it! My main reason for fermenting is to reduce the poop smell. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the process was!

Im going out of town for 5 days and there is no way I am convincing my boyfriend to keep this up. Is there a way to store fermented feed for future use? Can I pre make 5 days worth of food, store it in the fridge and have my BF ration it out each day? Also, can I keep the container with the mother juices in the fridge so i can continue fermenting with it?

thanks so much and Merry Christmas everyone!

I don't see why you couldn't do that. You don't say how many chicks you have but something like a half gallon ice cream container would feed several chicks, perhaps upwards of 10 or more chicks. If you put up say 7 containers I would think you would have it covered, should he need extra then the extra containers would cover the situation. I ferment my FF for 3 days/72 hours and plan on setting up to add an extra fermenter to go for 4 days/96 hours. I see no reason that keeping the FF in the fridge would be any problem as the cold slows down the process and even if the FF completely finished fermenting it should still be OK. Your starter should be fine too.



Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

[SeattleLeah]

Thanks for the response. yes, I only have 9 chicks, most under 3 weeks so a rather small amount of feed should be plenty. I will give it a try!

 

[3 NH reds]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 3 NH reds

Fed the dogs their fermented food yesterday. I will need to give it time to see if it helps but today the hound comes up to see me after she had been gold mining in the cats box, Today is fridge clean out so I can just count on the gas attacks and her looking back to see what is going on

That ff has alot to work on there.

Mine love to come up and give kisses right after they have been out cleaning up the chicken poo.

Well it has been over a week and it is helping the dogs. Even after the fridge clean out and scraps I have not had any gas bombs from them and the fur is looking bright. Now to see if this helps the shedding. I back slopped by adding new dog food to the old soup mix and got a brick of food that is hard to scoop so I have to remember to start fresh.but I will use the old juice

 

[kian]

I think I read (several pages back and now I can't find it!) that some people don't think using yeast to ferment the feed is a good idea. Can anyone tell me why? It does make the whole process go faster, but I'd like to hear the reasons for *not* using it.

Thank you so much!!

 

[texasmomma]

There is one member here using yeast because he can't get the ACV where he is. If you want a lacto fermented product, then you will use the ACV. There are reports of some people having problems with the yeast, aside from that one member who cannot get it.

 

[kian]

Thank you! I have been using yeast (seems everything is alright) but I also have regular ACV. I should try it with the cultured ACV, just have to get up to the health food store!

Thank you for the reply! I didn't know if it was a health issue or a preference or a little of both, or what

 

[texasmomma]

Thank you! I have been using yeast (seems everything is alright) but I also have regular ACV. I should try it with the cultured ACV, just have to get up to the health food store!

Thank you for the reply! I didn't know if it was a health issue or a preference or a little of both, or what

There is a great post around here from Leahs Mom about why you want the ACV instead of the yeast. Lemme see if I can find it...

 

[kian]

Ok, I think I've found the info. Thank you for remembering it was Leah'sMom who posted it! I did a search on her and baker's yeast.

If I understood what I read, the baker's yeast adds nothing nutritionally so you're not getting the same benefits as you would if you used lacto-bacteria. So while I'm getting more feed in the sense that a little ferments/swells up to a lot, it's probably not doing what I think it should be doing.

Either that or the birds are getting drunk and that's why they love it so much!