Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

It's not that it's older. It's that the top part of the food has changed color and some of the jars have changed color and others haven't. The contents thus far are salsa and spiced peaches.

The main concern is that these jars weren't hot water bathed and most of the lids have either popped up, or were never properly sealed in the first place.

I don't wanna mix it into my feed, just use the liquid from the bottom bucket to alter the microbes so that it's safe to feed the chickens.

Oh...got ya. I'd dump them without thoughts of trying to change their nutritive or pathogen levels....if the chickens eat them from the compost pile, so be it. Never had a chicken die yet from eating old dumped canned goods.

 

[colburg]

This is home canned, hot water bath in glass jars. See my previous post about the concerns.

I agree with you on the purchased grocery store food and finally got my wife on board with it. We have a fairly good sized garden, and we're swimming in okra, squash, zucchini, jalepenos, watermelons and canteloupe. My wife has canned 80-90 lbs of pickles and given another 30 lbs of cucumbers away. The onions look good, the black eyes are doing decent, green beans are slow, but coming along. The tomato plants are doing great, but very few maters, the corn got infested with worms, eggplants are slow...Oops, got side tracked.

 

[RedRidge]

Quote: This is home canned, hot water bath in glass jars. See my previous post about the concerns.

I agree with you on the purchased grocery store food and finally got my wife on board with it. We have a fairly good sized garden, and we're swimming in okra, squash, zucchini, jalepenos, watermelons and canteloupe. My wife has canned 80-90 lbs of pickles and given another 30 lbs of cucumbers away. The onions look good, the black eyes are doing decent, green beans are slow, but coming along. The tomato plants are doing great, but very few maters, the corn got infested with worms, eggplants are slow...Oops, got side tracked.
Can relate totally... if we don't raise it or grow it, then we won't eat it.
ALL scraps around here go to BSF. I'd just start a colony (they are very easy to attract) and then pop open a popped lid jar every few days to feed to them.
We have a huge garden (I canned more than 450 qts last year alone), and in the summer just the scraps from canning alone can feed a lot of BSF.

 

[colburg]

Do you grow LAB? I would think since LAB has proven to neutralize through outcompeting salmonella and ecoli, your chances of it neutralizing the toxins in botulism would be greater. I would not try it personally, but be prepared to lose some birds if you do. Guess I don't understand the benefit vs the risk here, neither one of those food items are overly nutritious if anything would just be adding some calories (by that I just mean not particularly high in any vital nutrient)

You know, we grew a batch of LAB not too long ago for our garden. The squash always gets mold around here. Turns out we're a little late with the LAB.

I agree with the nutrition analysis, and wouldn't have brought it up, but we're talking about many cases of it so I wanted to see about giving it a shot.

 

[Beekissed]

Aren't we already growing LAB in the fermented feed?

 

[colburg]

This is absolutely perfect food for BSF - Black Soldier Flies

They are very high is protein and calcium.
I would use the BSF as a good go between for old foods and then you will have awesome animal protein after the conversion.
That's what I do. Although because I free range in the summer, I freeze all my BSF in the summer and then feed them in the winter.
I have many gallon size bags full already that I've accumulated this summer.
This is a great way to assure quality animal protein year round.

Could you give a quick rundown on how you attract only the BSF vs other critters? And any other processes?

Thanks,

 

[AletaG]

Could you give a quick rundown on how you attract only the BSF vs other critters? And any other processes?

Thanks,

Search "black soldier fly blog" - the idea is, you make a perfect breeding ground, add some purchased larvae that give off some sort of adult BSF attracting scent just by being BSF babies, and away you go. They are native to just about *everywhere* and the adults DO NOT EAT!!! That means, you'll still have flies, but they rarely land on you and only by chance on food - no disease transmission. They'll help displace fruit flies, horse flies, etc. etc. Not a cure all, but we're working on doing this too. Can't wait to get our first batch!

 

[Demosthine]

I've been trying this soldier fly composting for the last year and couldn't attract anything over winter. By the time this summer rolled around, I just haven't had enough scraps of anything to throw in the compost. The chickens and turkeys get all the scraps directly and my house doesn't generate enough of any other waste to start the compost. And now that I have a rabbit and will be getting several more for breeding, my grass clippings and pruned tree branches with leaves aren't even going to waste. The only thing we can't let them eat is the oleander and that gets dried out for the fire place!

 

[AletaG]

Demosthine...
Well, if you want to increase their protein intake with BSF or mealies, then you have to send the waste to the bugs, not the chickens... It all depends on what they're getting as far as feed/range and how you want 'em to get their protein. <shrug> I want to make sure they've got lotsa bugs even when it snows, and my flock seems pickier than yours. Also, ckns/rabbits aren't supposed to eat potato plants or leavings, or tomato leaves, for example, but BSF et alia don't care. We've got lots of those around... And mine won't eat banana peels, and for some reason even depitted cherries have been rejected. And we're cheap, so they aren't spoiled by intention for sure!
Good luck!

 

[Demosthine]

Demosthine...
Well, if you want to increase their protein intake with BSF or mealies, then you have to send the waste to the bugs, not the chickens... It all depends on what they're getting as far as feed/range and how you want 'em to get their protein. <shrug> I want to make sure they've got lotsa bugs even when it snows, and my flock seems pickier than yours. Also, ckns/rabbits aren't supposed to eat potato plants or leavings, or tomato leaves, for example, but BSF et alia don't care. We've got lots of those around... And mine won't eat banana peels, and for some reason even depitted cherries have been rejected. And we're cheap, so they aren't spoiled by intention for sure!
Good luck!

I noticed your comment and then location after reading and went back a few posts for the others. I guess it might be more important where you all are because of your harsher winters. Here in Arizona, I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of bugs and greenery year round to give them, so I don't have to prioritize like that. I don't get any of that wet, white stuff here, either. What's it called in your post? It's so rare... Oh yeah, SNOW!!! Do you collect your melting snow and rain for later use? I've always wanted to do that, but when we average about 5 inches per year, it's hard to even dream about justifying it.

Mine are definitely not picky. The only two things I find left laying around are the bones and the corn cobs, both picked utterly clean. Which reminds me, from the looks of things, it's time to go pick the tuna from my local prickly pear cactus. They are used so much as landscaping here and nobody puts them to use. Jams, syrups, candy, you name it. I wonder if the chickens would like them, too, once I scorch the needles off them... Natures treat to the Southwest and they get discarded like spoiled fruit. Such a shame.