Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[mstricer]

You can get it at Walmart Heinz makes it just look on the bottle, it will say the Mother's on it. I posted a picture of the bottle a few pages back

 

[colburg]

How often do you all suggest to clean the dishes that you feed ff in? Do you do it more often in summer than winter? Just curious as to how long you can let the dish go before giving it a thorough cleaning...

Ummm, never. 7 months and counting with feeding FF and the thought of cleaning their tray hasn't crossed my mind.

Of course, if they don't lick it clean one day, they'll get less and less feed every day until it is clean.

 

[countrygirl74]

Ummm, never. 7 months and counting with feeding FF and the thought of cleaning their tray hasn't crossed my mind.

Of course, if they don't lick it clean one day, they'll get less and less feed every day until it is clean.

Ok, just curious if I wasn't doing the right thing by cleaning it often. I have been cleaning the dishes about once a month or so, only because I am using glass bowls that I bring in anyway because it freezes overnight. However, some days they don't eat much, and one day last week I didn't have to bring them food for about 4 days! They just kept whittling away at it until it was finally empty and then I cleaned and it and refilled it. I would imagine in the summer when I plan on getting a permanent feeder outside that I will clean it a lot less - just didn't know if after time or during certain temps if it would end up eventually not being healthy for them but it seems to just dry right up!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

This is what I use to feed my flocks. Is this what you are using?

Yes. : )

This is what I use for my layers and my meat birds. My hubby made them out of PVC pipe and they work perfectly.



ETA: He has actually made a bar going down the middle that seems to keep the meat birds from getting into it. The hens...they think it's a roost bar after they have had their fill!!

Great idea!

I use rubber feed pans also. the birds walk in them sometimes(especially right after i fill it) but my layers get to free range too so they eat throughout the day. I imagine meat birds would be much messier!


After feeding this morning there was a lot of slop left in the bucket so i let our old cow taste it then put the bucket upside down to drain while i fed the cows. when i went back by later the spot on the ground was licked almost down to dirt! apparently she loves it too, lol.

X2

My birds stand in the FF bowl and eat it, they fling it all over the ground. LOL The chickens spend all day eating up the tidbits that got dropped on the ground.

How often do you all suggest to clean the dishes that you feed ff in? Do you do it more often in summer than winter? Just curious as to how long you can let the dish go before giving it a thorough cleaning...

Hardly ever. The birds keep them pretty cleaned out.

~ Aspen

 

[countrygirl74]

Ok I know the ansers are in this thread somewhere but can it go all in one post?

My question is what is in FF? and the complete directions? I will scan thru this to see what I come up with

Everybody's feed is different - some ferment their own mix of grains, some ferment crumbles or pellets, etc. I personally ferment our organic grower mash.The type of mash I get seems more "grainy" and has peas, etc. in it. I find it very easy to strain. I tried crumbles and hated it but I think most people do crumbles and it works out fine. There are many different "bucket" systems for making FF too. I only use 1 bucket because I have a small flock of 8 right now but going to be adding another 8 or so pretty soon - I think the 1 bucket will still suffice, but we'll see. I don't event really know how much food I pour in... I just keep enough food in the bucket that when I have about 2 inches of water over the feed, the bucket is about 1/2-3/4 full. I started my FF by adding about 1/4 cup unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (with the mother - had Braggs brand on hand) and 1/4 cup plain Kefir. Some people do one or the other or nothing at all and just allow the fermentation to happen on it's own. It needs air, so you don't put the lid on or seal the bucket. Some people cover with a towel... I just lay the lid on the bucket to where it's slightly off. In colder temperatures, the ferment takes a little longer. Mine wasn't actively doing anything for a couple days until I put it closer to a heater vent (our house is fairly cold in the winter) and then it started right up. You should see it kind of bubbling. You also need to stir it a couple times a day. Garlic and/or oregano, pumpkin seeds, etc. can also be added for health and natural preventative for worms. I usually just give mine whole pumpkins so I personally haven't added much to my feed. When it's time to feed, I have a really big strainer scoop. It picks up the feed and lets the water drain out and I just scoop it into their feeder dishes. You will have to experiment on how much to feed - if they eat it all right away, provide them more - if they leave some in the dish, you know you don't have to feed quite as much. After feeding, just add some more feed to your bucket and stir up! Just add water as needed - you should never have to add anymore "starter" (vinegar, etc.) I used to feed twice a day while I was figuring everything out. At first they ate a lot - they loved it!!! But now they have slowed down considerably and I usually put feed in their dishes in the morning and they have plenty for the whole day. Some days when I check at night it's gone, but most of the time, there is a small amount left. I used to use closer to 100lbs of feed in one month - last month I used 50lbs!! Like I said, they might eat a lot at first but they should eventually even out and start absorbing all the nutrients so that they don't need to eat as much. All my chickens are very healthy - haven't had any issues. I'm getting new chicks next week and will be starting them on FF - it will be my first time using it with chicks. I hear they LOVE it.

Thought I would add this.... http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

 

[Mikedero]

Awesome reply thank you very much

 

[Lacy Blues]

Everybody's feed is different - some ferment their own mix of grains, some ferment crumbles or pellets, etc. I personally ferment our organic grower mash.The type of mash I get seems more "grainy" and has peas, etc. in it. I find it very easy to strain. I tried crumbles and hated it but I think most people do crumbles and it works out fine. There are many different "bucket" systems for making FF too. I only use 1 bucket because I have a small flock of 8 right now but going to be adding another 8 or so pretty soon - I think the 1 bucket will still suffice, but we'll see. I don't event really know how much food I pour in... I just keep enough food in the bucket that when I have about 2 inches of water over the feed, the bucket is about 1/2-3/4 full. I started my FF by adding about 1/4 cup unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (with the mother - had Braggs brand on hand) and 1/4 cup plain Kefir. Some people do one or the other or nothing at all and just allow the fermentation to happen on it's own. It needs air, so you don't put the lid on or seal the bucket. Some people cover with a towel... I just lay the lid on the bucket to where it's slightly off. In colder temperatures, the ferment takes a little longer. Mine wasn't actively doing anything for a couple days until I put it closer to a heater vent (our house is fairly cold in the winter) and then it started right up. You should see it kind of bubbling. You also need to stir it a couple times a day. Garlic and/or oregano, pumpkin seeds, etc. can also be added for health and natural preventative for worms. I usually just give mine whole pumpkins so I personally haven't added much to my feed. When it's time to feed, I have a really big strainer scoop. It picks up the feed and lets the water drain out and I just scoop it into their feeder dishes. You will have to experiment on how much to feed - if they eat it all right away, provide them more - if they leave some in the dish, you know you don't have to feed quite as much. After feeding, just add some more feed to your bucket and stir up! Just add water as needed - you should never have to add anymore "starter" (vinegar, etc.) I used to feed twice a day while I was figuring everything out. At first they ate a lot - they loved it!!! But now they have slowed down considerably and I usually put feed in their dishes in the morning and they have plenty for the whole day. Some days when I check at night it's gone, but most of the time, there is a small amount left. I used to use closer to 100lbs of feed in one month - last month I used 50lbs!! Like I said, they might eat a lot at first but they should eventually even out and start absorbing all the nutrients so that they don't need to eat as much. All my chickens are very healthy - haven't had any issues. I'm getting new chicks next week and will be starting them on FF - it will be my first time using it with chicks. I hear they LOVE it.

Thought I would add this.... http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

I will just add one thing. Sometimes your ff may get to smelling like something might be wrong with it (bad smell versus a yummy yeasty smell). Don't toss it. On occasion I find that I need to add just a little bit more vinegar so that it smells "right. "

 

[KenzHenz Hatch]

How much would you say a layer needs a day if this is the only feed you are giving them? Thanks

 

[KenzHenz Hatch]

I hope you can find the fishmeal somewhere nearby! We actually have to travel about 45 minutes to get ours, because the only place we can find it is at Uncle Luke's Feed Store in Troy. Maybe there is a similar store in your area?

I mix the fishmeal right into the feed whenever I make it up, as part of the whole recipe. I use an Excel Spreadsheet to figure out how many pounds of each grain/supplement I need to get the protein/fat levels that I want. We include Fertrell's Poultry Nutribalancer also at the recommended rate. I try to use as little of the fishmeal as possible, because of the cost.

For Example - In one of my Broiler Chick Feed recipes, which is almost 20% protein, I use the following for a 50lb batch of feed...

15lbs of Organic Corn
9lbs of Organic Garbanzo Beans
7.5lbs of Organic Wheat
6lbs of Organic Oats
6lbs of Flax Pellets (the only non-organic ingredient, but at least it is non-GMO!)
3.75lbs of Organic Fishmeal
1.5 lbs of Poultry Nutribalancer
3/4 lb of Wheat Germ
1/2 lb of Thorvin Kelp

We have a small feed grinder that we use to lightly grind or crack the corn, beans, Flax Pellets, and Oats. Then we mix them with the whole Wheat and supplements and powders. This mixed feed is what I put in the Fermenting buckets to soak.

Now I realize this is a bit more complicated than just fermented grains, but it is what works for us right now. The Flax Pellets, BTW, can be found as "Linseed Pellets" at some Feed stores also, and they also help with the protein, being about 34% protein themselves. You could probably be just fine with some Organic Corn, Beans or Lentils, and whatever other grains like Wheat, Oats, Barley, that you can easily find, grind them a bit for chicks, mix in some fishmeal (maybe 3-4lbs per 50lb batch) and then ferment the mixture!

Hope this is helpful!

How much would you say a layer eats a day of this if you only feed them this?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

How much would you say a layer needs a day if this is the only feed you are giving them? Thanks

My chickens are eating about 1/2 - 3/4 a cup of feed daily, per chicken. My ducks are probably closer to 2 cups per day..no sure on that tho.

My geese eat max. 1 cup of FF per day..sometimes more depending on the weather, etc.

~ Aspen