Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[silkiemomma42]

I have literally read this entire thread over the past few days. What did we do before smart phones? I started our first batch of FF for our peeps three days ago. There are 37 total peeps, 13 blue lace red wyandottes, 13 silkies and sizzles, 7 black jersey giants, and 4 mixed brown egg layers. The oldest around 5 weeks, the youngest around 2 weeks. I used my braggs to make a mother it is in a toasty closet. I used dumor unmedicated chick growth and starter, braggs, dry active yeast, hobby kibble supplement with high protein, and water. As they et older I plan to add cracked corn and oregano etc. These birds will mostly be layers and companions, they have taken rather well to the FF I hope this cuts down on their smell as its still a little too cold to go onto the coop. I miss my laundry room smelling like clean clothes. I gave chick grit and a few meal worms along with the FF and water with a splash of Braggs acv. Excited to note and post results. Thank you so much for this vast amount of information!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Hello, I just wanted to chime in and say that I really appreciate the wealth of information in this thread. I don't think my husband was too convinced about the fermented feed at first, but now that we've been using it for about 2 weeks he is totally on board! The layers outside love the stuff, and while it took the buckeye chicks in the brooder about 5 days to come around they now seem to prefer it too. And my injured hen who is being kept in the house right now goes absolutely gaga over it! I have to admit, I am completely sold on it after seeing the difference in her droppings after switching to the mash.

Next week we're getting 25 day old broilers and the current plan is to start them on fermented feed. Does anyone have any pointers, or advice on what we absolutely should not do, for feeding fermented mash to day olds? For those who start their broilers on mash, do you feed mash alone or do you also still offer dry starter as well?

With my hatchlings, I start them with just dry crumbles and as they are experienced at eating I gradually add ff chick starter and mix it into the dry to where the two are almost identical. That way they get the ferment without the wet. Usually, my birds, when babies, look at that wet feed and start shaking their heads like it's stuck to their beaks already! By the time they are probably 1-1/2 to 2 weeks old, they are eating just the fermented feed.

 

[kaisabaijai]

I have read up to page 41 so far and have decided to try this out.

I have over 200 chickens and turkeys so the 5 gallon bucket method was not enough. I ended up using a 30 gallon container but I did not anticipate as much swelling had to move half to another container.

I did not have a spoon long enough to stir the feed so I used my arm. That was fine for last night but this morning when i used my arm It swelled, turned red and got a bunch of bumps on it along with the itching. The fermenting much have either created a chemical that I am allergic to or the acid caused this reaction. Now I am stirring with a shovel.

After doing a lot of internet research I decided to use a mixture of Layer pellets, Rice Bran, coconut pulp and corn.

I fed this fermented version to my chickens today and they ate what I thought would be two days worth of feed. No hesitation at all on their part in eating the fermented feed. In the future I hope their consumption will be lower than what they were consuming in dry feed but today they ate like they have been starved for a week.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have read up to page 41 so far and have decided to try this out.

I have over 200 chickens and turkeys so the 5 gallon bucket method was not enough. I ended up using a 30 gallon container but I did not anticipate as much swelling had to move half to another container.

I did not have a spoon long enough to stir the feed so I used my arm. That was fine for last night but this morning when i used my arm It swelled, turned red and got a bunch of bumps on it along with the itching. The fermenting much have either created a chemical that I am allergic to or the acid caused this reaction. Now I am stirring with a shovel.

After doing a lot of internet research I decided to use a mixture of Layer pellets, Rice Bran, coconut pulp and corn.

I fed this fermented version to my chickens today and they ate what I thought would be two days worth of feed. No hesitation at all on their part in eating the fermented feed. In the future I hope their consumption will be lower than what they were consuming in dry feed but today they ate like they have been starved for a week.

At first, they'll probably eat more than you thought they would and depending on how long they've been on other feed, they will reduce their intake after a while. It may be a couple weeks, or a couple months... it depends on how old they are and what their needs are.

 

[kaisabaijai]

At first, they'll probably eat more than you thought they would and depending on how long they've been on other feed, they will reduce their intake after a while. It may be a couple weeks, or a couple months... it depends on how old they are and what their needs are.

Thanks for replying.

160 of them are Warrens that are about 7 months old. The rest are an assortment and vary from a few days to two months old.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Ah! So fairly young. Hopefully they will reduce their intake in just a couple of weeks.

 

[kaisabaijai]

Ah! So fairly young. Hopefully they will reduce their intake in just a couple of weeks.

I hope so. With the dry feed I would give them 20 kgs and there was always some left over since they free range also I thought this was quite a bit already.

I decided to use the FF to try and reduce the amount I feed them but they ate the 20 kgs (dryweight) of FF mix and still came after me like they were starving so I went ahead and gave them the 10 kgs of vegetables I was saving for night feed.

THEN when I started mixing more feed in the FF buckets they attacked me again wanting food.

I was actually worried I was going to give them too much food and find a bunch of dead birds in the morning.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I don't think you need to worry about that. I don't really know how much 20 kg is. But for 200 birds... maybe you aren't feeding them enough? I know you don't even want to think about that. Did they act this way before you introduced the ff?

ETA: If they have free range available, I'd make them eat that instead of what you have to buy.

 

[kaisabaijai]

I don't think you need to worry about that. I don't really know how much 20 kg is. But for 200 birds... maybe you aren't feeding them enough? I know you don't even want to think about that. Did they act this way before you introduced the ff?

ETA: If they have free range available, I'd make them eat that instead of what you have to buy.

1 kg is 2.2 pounds.

No. They would attack the food and scatter it all over the place then go lay down in the shade. They would not start whining for more food until evening. Today was completely different.

I allow them to free range but around 50 of them won't leave the coup. I was taking the layer pellets out in the grass to feed them so they would have to scratch around in the grass to eat but the same 50 will just run back to the coop after they fill their crops then stay there the rest of the day. I guess I am lucky that I do have the majority of them running around eating bugs and such but I don't know what to do about the 50 or so that just want to hang out all day until they see me bring food.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I've only just started feeding FF myself, so I'm far from an expert. But I suspect they will start eating less sooner or later. When we started the FF two weeks ago, I was having to refill the bowl on my invalid chicken at least once a day, sometimes twice. She was completely emptying it. But yesterday I only filled it once and it took her all day to eat that much. So she definitely is eating less than she was when we started. I'm guessing it will take you longer to notice them eating less with that many birds though.