Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Lacy Blues]

Ok, I've been busy since my vacation a few weeks back and I have been catching up -I cant believe its been almost 100 pages in that time?!!! Holy cow. I am more interested in rabbits than ever since I make my own cat food and like the idea of having pelts to sell one day. For people who want to make sure their animals are getting the heat diet and choose to feed their cats (instead of having outdoor rodent killers) I have read several studies about how cooked food for cats...so anykind of canned or dry food ...adversely affect them, creating reproductive havoc in just one generation and total sterility in five. So if you don't feed your cats raw food already...consider it! There are many recipes online. My cats ar fed raw and they are lean, glossy coated, poop less with less odor, and have very clean teeth. No Tartar at all! Sorry for the tangent but its sortable related since we discuss the benefits of species appropriate feed here.

Also was really glad Bee shared the information about phytic acid and phytase in grains...this is really important in human diets as well! We need to properly prepare (fermenting and soaking) our own grains for consumption so we can better absorb the nutrients as well as keep the phytic acid (which bonds with minerals in our bodies) down. So much of our consumption of typical grains from breads and cereals are soooo improperly prepared that they hurt us. The evidence is in the form of celiac's disease which many people have undiagnosed forms of. Anyway, if you like how great ff is for chickens you should also understand how beneficial it could be for us. She also highlited how yeast...the stuff you buy at the store degrades carbohydrates...it is my understanding that this type of yeast is bad for us due to its adverse affect on the foods its used in. Anyway...I just though it was appropriate to point out how ff is applicable to humans and suggest everyone attempt to integrate fermented food (you'll have to make it yourself and commecial beer and alcohol doesn't count) into our diets or at least limit your grain intake if it isn't properly prepared. A great way to do this is by taking some acv in your own water Daily, eating probiotic cultures in yogurt /kefir and so on...I 'll stop talking about that now.

I think bee should write an e book and publish it through amazon so she can give it out for free if she likes since she doesn't want the money or sell it for 99¢ and donate the proceeds to her church. My sister's Friend publishes books on amazon...short stories, kids books and he makes over 100 grand a year selling them for 99¢… think, bee, how your church or a good missionary could benefit not to mention all of us who need tried and true methods for deep litter, ff, free ranging etc. Anyway publishing that way allows for you to not make money if you choose.

Also, I just started juicing since my son has an affinity for carrot juice and everything from the store is pastuerized so half the nutrients are dead... I was wondering if anyone thinks it would be bad to add the leftovers pulp to my ff bucket? I could compost it and my turkeys like it straight, but I thought why jot improve on it if I can. My chickens LOVE carrots and I grate some of them up for them almost daily! I'm sure your chickens would love the fermented pulp. In fact, I've been trying to ferment the alfalfa and beet pulp I mix into their food. It must take longer than the grains because I've had it soaking and I've put a few splashes of acv in it but I don't think its getting fermented. Is there a secret method I don't know about?

And finally, I have a small backyard which will be getting grass soon, its basically 60x20 with a garden and a small building going in in October in a corner. Anyway, want to know if that sounds adequate for 4 hens to free range and just get supplemental ff at the end of day? We have lots of bugs for an urban backyard and my husband and I rear caterpillars and beetles grubs for our ducks already (we are new to chickens) . I would really like to hear about your caterpillars, beetles and grubs you raise. Please share.

I love this thread, its so educational and everyone seems to be pursuing the best for their animals and themselves!

Bee, I would really like to see something that takes a few teeth to digest, worded simply. All the info you share regarding feeding, rearing methods, health issues or the lack of them, completely natural lifestyles for these birds (not what Purina calls "natural" bah!).

A bit more than basics please.

 

[Triple Willow]

@Lacy Blues... I saw something on youtube today that was very interesting. I'm trying to find more information about it but there is a little bit of a language barrier. This lady (Sandy Itchon) is doing even more fermenting than just feed. She is fermenting plants and herbs and adding the water from the fermented plants to the bird's water. And there is some aquatic plant that they are feeding birds that is supposed to be really good for them. The lady that owns this place (Sunshine Chicken) is in Indonesia, the Philippines or somewhere like that. Anyhow... the reason I am telling you this is I saw one video where they were making the fermented plants. They said that it take alcohol to ferment plants so they were pouring some beer in the bucket!

 

[Triple Willow]

Another link (with language problem).

 

[Triple Willow]

Information from the website: http://solraya.blogspot.com/2010/09/fermented-plant-juice-fpj.html?m=1

 

[Lacy Blues]

@Lacy Blues... I saw something on youtube today that was very interesting. I'm trying to find more information about it but there is a little bit of a language barrier. This lady (Sandy Itchon) is doing even more fermenting than just feed. She is fermenting plants and herbs and adding the water from the fermented plants to the bird's water. And there is some aquatic plant that they are feeding birds that is supposed to be really good for them. The lady that owns this place (Sunshine Chicken) is in Indonesia, the Philippines or somewhere like that. Anyhow... the reason I am telling you this is I saw one video where they were making the fermented plants. They said that it take alcohol to ferment plants so they were pouring some beer in the bucket!

Another link (with language problem).

Thank you! I will check those out!

 

[skitzkle]

Okay....you guys are waaaaayyyyy ahead of this old country woman! I'm going to spend the next couple of days studying up on ebooks and all the ins and outs and get back to you. You understand that I have absolutely NO money for start up costs, so this is going to take some doing. I know there are always some bucks that have to flow down the line somewhere to get anything published in any form, so don't get your hopes up on it too much.

I do know that, if you charge too little, people think it's not worth much and if you charge too much it's not going to be affordable, so I'll have to choose a middle of the road, leaning towards more affordable. I do know that $.99 won't work...I've given away too many free things of great value to people who turned up their noses at them because they were free, so I know the nature of humans. For some reason they have the attitude that you have to pay a lot for something for it to be worth anything. It'll take some figuring, to be sure. I like things to be cheap and worth my money at the same time.

Bee,
You could take a preorders to get the start up money and if you wanted to do spiral bound I have a little machine that does it if you wanted to do the first 50 or so that way. You print them & mail them to me and I could spiral bind them. I am sure the small feed stores would want to carry them also especially if they were cheaper than other chicken books, but that would depend on how cheap you could get them printed for.

 

[fuzziecreatures]

What does fermented feed gone wrong smell like? It was going really well, I had started my larger batch of feed in the 55 gal drum but only did a half drum to see how it would go. It was going great, I was going through the feed, the chickens loved it, I added feed, grains and water and a splash of acv occasionally. I decided ok, this is going great! Lets amp it up and fill up the barrel! I did equal amounts of feed, wheat, scratch, BOSS, buckwheat, added water and acv I also added some more yeast since I was doubling up on the batch. That was about 10-12 days ago. Now it smells sour, chickens didn't eat it well today, I don't want to make them sick but I don't want to waste all that feed. My husband suggested adding more water (it is kinda thick) and more yeast.

There is about 40 gal of fermented feed in there. Can I save it? If I do have to pitch it.... what do I do with it? I can't put it in the compost pile, the chickens turn that for me. The dogs will get to it in the woods, and I would imagine it would be bringing other animals in.
After my husband added some water and stirred it

Excuse my drippy mess on the outside

Ok so my husband put yeast in it last night, stirred well. No bubbles or yeasty this morning and smells just awful. It has definitely turned on us. I guess we gotta start over, we are off to the feed store today to get feed, price some other grains as well. Also need to pick up some more acv because my homemade stuff isn't ready yet. Another thing learned.... always have at least 1 bag of feed laying around to get them breakfast.

Husband's thought... maybe a mouse got in and drowned..... going to change the lid. How long does everyone's buckets take to drain in the am?

 

[Robert M]

Ok so my husband put yeast in it last night, stirred well. No bubbles or yeasty this morning and smells just awful. It has definitely turned on us. I guess we gotta start over, we are off to the feed store today to get feed, price some other grains as well. Also need to pick up some more acv because my homemade stuff isn't ready yet. Another thing learned.... always have at least 1 bag of feed laying around to get them breakfast.

Husband's thought... maybe a mouse got in and drowned..... going to change the lid. How long does everyone's buckets take to drain in the am?

Best place to buy yeast is grapestompers.com. I use Montrachet. BTW, they only charge for cost of postage, no hidden profit built in to S&H.

I make wine, so I deal with them. Pam and her hubby are really, really good people.

 

[JoyfulPromise]

I would definitely buy Bee's book too if she prints one! Probably at least TWO copies, one for me and one for some friends of ours who really could use some help in their chicken keeping methods.

Price-wise, I was thinking $5 or so sounds fair to me, at least for the first copy. The e-books are nice and instant, but I don't have a Kindle or Reader yet either, and I would definitely prefer a hard copy.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[Robert M]

I would definitely buy Bee's book too if she prints one! Probably at least TWO copies, one for me and one for some friends of ours who really could use some help in their chicken keeping methods.

Price-wise, I was thinking $5 or so sounds fair to me, at least for the first copy. The e-books are nice and instant, but I don't have a Kindle or Reader yet either, and I would definitely prefer a hard copy.

Just my 2 cents!

Me, too. Best "come-on", Bee, is "Free shipping".

Price depends on your costs. When you get it done, throw it "out there" and we'll all help you with a fair price, especially for the author.