Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

It may take a few more days to start fermenting depending on the temps in the house. You can always put it near aheat vent or wood stove to help heat it up & get it fermenting sooner. I wouldnt add any more ACV with Mother tho it might be to strong tasting for the hens. (been there done that lol)

 

[fishermans wife]

It may take a few more days to start fermenting depending on the temps in the house. You can always put it near aheat vent or wood stove to help heat it up & get it fermenting sooner. I wouldnt add any more ACV with Mother tho it might be to strong tasting for the hens. (been there done that lol)

Thanks! I am in S California - so no wood stove - house is 62-68 most of the time! Just don't want it to mold!

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Just make sure the top of the food is covered with water. Just enough to cover the food. And stir a couple times a day. And it will start swelling as it absorbs the water & starts fermenting.

 

[Kilsharion]

Quote: Just make sure the top of the food is covered with water. Just enough to cover the food. And stir a couple times a day. And it will start swelling as it absorbs the water & starts fermenting.

Silly question, here...but, when you added the ACV, you did make sure that you had shaken it really good so that the Mother was not all settled on the bottom, right? If you didn't, you can shake it up and add it, now. Or, to avoid adding more ACV that some chickens find offensive in large doses (not mine, the little pigs) you can toss a tablespoon of active baking yeast into the mix.

 

[fishermans wife]

Silly question, here...but, when you added the ACV, you did make sure that you had shaken it really good so that the Mother was not all settled on the bottom, right? If you didn't, you can shake it up and add it, now. Or, to avoid adding more ACV that some chickens find offensive in large doses (not mine, the little pigs) you can toss a tablespoon of active baking yeast into the mix.

I did shake it up, but the bottle was very full, so maybe not mixed enough! I have tons of baking yeast - I think I will try that! Thanks so much!! excellent idea!

 

[whitetrashhorseranch]

Hey everyone! Could you help me get an idea of how much I should start with feeding? I just "inherited" 8 hens and a rooster 2 days ago - and have never had chickens before. They have been being fed a typical commercial layer crumble (clipped beaks poor girls). They free feed from a gravity feeder. I plan on getting 2 or 3? plastic bowls to feed their FF. But I have no idea how much they have been eating. WAY too much predatory wildlife around me (the people who had these chickens - my neighbors - HAD 24 hens but were free-ranging them). So other than the stray bug - what I feed is what they get - I am giving them what veggie scraps I have each day and will be setting up a log to attract more bugs for them inside of their pen.

I am a newbie jumping into this with both feet, help! I am gone all day every day - so I do not want to underfeed and have them hungry all day from too small of a morning meal, so I want to get a better idea of how much to feed so that will happen nor will there be too much waste. Should I leave their feeder with dry to free-feed in addition to the FF?

As a side note - should they have an issue of cleaning their "plate" with the FF bowl with the clipped beaks?

Sorry for rambling! Thank you!

 

[Kjordanov]

I absolutely LOVE this fermented feed ideas. (Both the growing of the grass and this stuff) lol. Now to get the seeds to start

 

[hereorthere]

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.

Intresting..... has anyone tried this on other larger livestock? I have yet to get to the end of this thread... thanks!

 

[Bleenie]

Don't know if it matters but our cow is an Older girl(born & raised here) and I swear she has an iron gut, that's why i wasn't worried about her eating the batch of feed I thought had spoiled.

 

[CheekyMare]

It will actually ferment w/ just the grain and water, that is how I started mine.  It has been going for over a year.

I'm still reading, but I want to know if I can use banana or pineapple vinegar?

Marking my spot as I'm now going to have a post waaaaaay at the end...


I'm still reading, but I want to know if I can use banana or pineapple vinegar? I mean, I'm sure I can, but it might not be the standardized acidity...