Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Arielle]

Ok, I've heard enough that I need to ask now. Several people have said they make their own yogurt and it saves them a bunch of money.

Would you guys share your recipes please? Do I have to have raw milk? I'm surrounded by dairy farms but I think raw milk is illegal in my state and I don't have my own milk goats (much to my daughter's chagrin). When I've tried to make it before, using powdered milk, it didn't save me any money at all, in fact, I think it cost more that way. I would like to make it somewhat thick as that makes it easier to serve. I understand pectin is used to this so if anyone knows how much, how long, etc.... I'm all ears!

The original information I used was found here on BYC, I googled for it. I modified the process as I hate waste. I used the microwave to sterilize my quart size mason jars. THen pour that hot water into a small cooler, fill with mixture, put in cooler, repeat. I'll see if I can find it again for you.

I like that it is not as sour as commercially available ones. ANd as I am trying to go low carb for a while and yogurt has more sugars than I can have right now, I take a probiotic in pill form. I have often wondered if this probiotic would multiply in these FF systems.

Off to find that recipe for you.

 

[armorfirelady]

Okay guys I want to start this today, but what I'm wondering is, currently my main coop is eating more then 12 lbs of feed a day. 20 chickens (boys and girls) and a pair of midget white turkeys. What would I start their feeding at. How do you measure out the gallon of feed?

They will eat a LOT less. I would try filling what you normally feed them in about half full. Watch how much they eat. If they clean it out quickly then add some more.

I like mine fed so that they have some in the bottom of the bowl when they go into roost at night. That way if I am not up early then they have something to tide them over till I get out to feed them. Others only give them enough so that the bowl is clean yet they are full.

I do find that the change in temps changes the amount the eat this winter. Several times I have had to refill the bowl midday because it was already empty. I assume its from the temps in the single digits. On warm sunny days they rather be out in the yard.

 

[colburg]

Okay guys I want to start this today, but what I'm wondering is, currently my main coop is eating more then 12 lbs of feed a day. 20 chickens (boys and girls) and a pair of midget white turkeys. What would I start their feeding at. How do you measure out the gallon of feed?

I have several small 1 gallon buckets from work so it's easy to measure out a gallon.

Starting out is kind of a guessing game, and everyone's different. I want my feeders empty at about noon or so, and I refill once a day about an hour or 2 before sunset. The feed can stay in the feeder overnight with no problems.

To start, you can aim high, 2 gallons/day, or aim low, 1 gallon/day and adjust from there. If it's gone when you feed again the next day and they don't have acces to free range, add a little more. If there's quite a bit left, decrease it.

I've also found that the amounts they eat varies over time. I started mine when they were 4 weeks old and they were eating about 1.5 gallons/day. Now they're 7 months old and they eat 1.5 gallons/day, but they now free range on 15 acres.

Best answer is to just start and adjust, and don't give up. It's great once you've fine tuned your system.

I did my first FF feeding this morning. The older birds liked it but the teens loved it! I do have another question though...

When I was pouring the feed today it had a Very strong smell. Very yeaty but almost kind of a pukey odor, is that normal?? Lasg night i built a fire and the bucket was a few feet away. I checked on it after about an hour and had to move it because it was almost overflowed! It had barely been working previously so it really surprised me. J am just wondering if maybe it soured the feed or something?


im using crumble feed, corn and oatmeal added so a 3 gal bucket feeds all my birds for one day. The feed breaks fown a lot though so when im done draining I'm left with a large collander full of feed and around a gallon of starter.

Not sure about the pukey smell, but the yeasty part is fine. How long has it been fermenting? Once mine hits 5-6 days, it has a decent ACV smell along with the sourdough smell.

 

[Costa Rica Art]

Ok, I've heard enough that I need to ask now. Several people have said they make their own yogurt and it saves them a bunch of money.

Would you guys share your recipes please? Do I have to have raw milk? I'm surrounded by dairy farms but I think raw milk is illegal in my state and I don't have my own milk goats (much to my daughter's chagrin). When I've tried to make it before, using powdered milk, it didn't save me any money at all, in fact, I think it cost more that way. I would like to make it somewhat thick as that makes it easier to serve. I understand pectin is used to this so if anyone knows how much, how long, etc.... I'm all ears!

This video is basically what I do,

, I heat the raw whole milk (2liters, 3X weekly) to 100 degrees as the lady does, I mix in my starter which the first time was regular natural yogurt with active ingredients, now I use the yogurt I make as a starter. But I differ in how I keep my batch warm. I pour the batch into 2 jars, place them in a small picnic cooler and add 110 degree water up to just below the tops of the jars, close that up and let it set for 6 to 8 hours then refrigerate. The yogurt that I am making now comes out nice and thick and creamy. The raw milk I get is from grass fed cows and has all of its cream in it which is less than the grain fed cows in the states. Perhaps leaving the cream in the batch is how it becomes thick for me. For my daily glass I pour the amount of yogurt I want into a blender along with fresh fruit and give it a whirl, nice and smooth and so yummy. Some one talked about their taking probiotic pills, a friend of mine in Vancouver has to take some expensive probiotics so he experimented with what he bought, (These two cultures, CL1285 & LBC80R, which come as a sour milk, are very specific bacteria which have been tested by many Universities), which was costing him $180 a month but then he used it with a starter to make yogurt and it is exactly the same (tested in a local laboratory) as what he was paying high dollar for, perhaps you could crush one of your pills and add it to a batch of yogurt you are making and have the same results.

 

[Costa Rica Art]

WOW CRA, that's a lot of food. I know our systems, feed, and free ranging may be different, but I'm feeding 36 layers and 2 roos about 1.5 to 2 gallons of feed per day, and once things green up and the bugs come out, I'll probably cut that to 1 or less per day.
I barely even use a lid anymore. When I do put one on, it's only a large plastic tote lid that lays over 2 5 gallon bucketfulls.

I don't know about hte rest of it, but adding the ACV or yogurt is only a 1 time thing. Once it starts fermenting you'll never need to add anymore as long as you backslop.

Arrg! I don't know where my head was but I measured what I am feeding and it amounts to somewhere between 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 gallon of strainer FF. Being that it is the dry season here I am not leaving the FF in the strainer as long, between 10 and 15 minutes now unless I am adding yogurt to the trough then I strain for 20/30 minutes. The yogurt I add has been blended so it is more like heavy cream.

 

[mstricer]

Is 12 hours enough to ferment, for the first day

 

[mstricer]

I have a 5 gallon bucket and put 10 lbs of feed in it, is that too much?

 

[armorfirelady]

I have a 5 gallon bucket and put 10 lbs of feed in it, is that too much?

When you add water and start to ferment its going to start growing......so watch it so it doesnt overflow the bucket. 10 lbs seems like a lot oof food for a 5 gallon bucket. You will just have to watch and see.

 

[Bleenie]

Quote:
Thanks for responding. Maybe it's just the vinegar & yeast smells together that threw me.

I filled the feed pan at about noon today, I think it was close to 2 gallons but not 100% sure. It's now freshly empty at almost 5pm. Does that seem like a lot of feed being eaten? I have about 15 adult/juvenile birds eating from it. I did read what was written about adjusting the amounts over time, but just wanted to ask here. They were eating 2 feed scoops of dry crumble a day... the scoop i use is one of the square-ish blue ones from the feed store.

 

[mstricer]

Quote: Lucky for me I haven't added any water yet I will remove half of it. How much ACV do I need to add?