Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Kilsharion]

Quote:
That looks like mold, not normal fermentation....mold on a fermenting food is bad... if it were just on the sides of the bucket, it'd maybe be salvageable. However, for myself....I'd dump it and start over. When fermenting open air, the likelihood of molds growing is exponentially higher.

There is an article, here, about mold on your fermentation - admittedly, it's about a different form of fermentation; but, the information is sound even for this.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Quote: That is exactly like mine is and has been for months now and my hens are thriving.

 

[Kilsharion]

That is exactly like mine is and has been for months now and my hens are thriving.

Interesting. Glad they are doing well.

I wouldn't be able to bring myself to feed it to them, given all the things I've seen reported about moldy fermentation.

Mine looks like this:

A healthy fermentation 'skin'




cleared away a section to show the hooch under the 'skin'



Mold does not necessarily kill - nor does it necessarily cause problems right away. But, there are more molds that are nasty for you than there are ones that are good for you. Me, I'm not willing to take the chance of causing problems with my chickens. So, I would dump the ff, and sterilize everything and start over.

But - that's me

Your mileage may vary. As Toast N Jelly says - they've been feeding exactly the same kind of molded fermentation to their chickens for months with no ill effects.

 

[swga]

It's been a couple of weeks now... I actually got into fermenting wheat by accident- I bought some wheat to sprout and put it in buckets to soak, left it too long, then found this post... serendipity! The girls were loving it so far, but today it looked different, so.... to the chicken blog!!!

I'm reading the replies... ooo, how do you tell if it is bad mold or good fermentation?

 

[swga]

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/23849/PDF
interesting article about the nutritional properties of fermented feeds and certain molds that are good in cereal fermentation

 

[Kjordanov]

I'm trying to ferment wheat, and before the water was kinda milky colored, but today I went out to stir it and it looked like this! Is it ok? It smells kinda sour-y yeasty...there are big bubbles that are just sitting on the top, with white filaments going across to other bubbles, and it has bubbles coming up from the water below...

That looks like a picture from a microscope you would see in a science book!! Haha

 

[Lacy Blues]

Mine looks like this:

A healthy fermentation 'skin'



Mold does not necessarily kill - nor does it necessarily cause problems right away. But, there are more molds that are nasty for you than there are ones that are good for you. Me, I'm not willing to take the chance of causing problems with my chickens. So, I would dump the ff, and sterilize everything and start over.

This looks like a nice foamy ferment thing going on here. How did you get this? What is it that you are fermenting? Lay pellets? Whole grains? I've had my buckets look like the other picture shared and I have fed it out. No problems so far, but I really don't like the smell of it. It doesn't smell like bread like so many others have described theirs. When mine gets like that, I usually add some more ACV and stir it in. I would really like it to look good like yours and smell more like bread so would you mind sharing what you've done to yours?

 

[Kilsharion]

Quote:
Your words, not mine!

Do not presume to speak for me.

No sarcasm required or needed on this thread thanks.
It is your assumption that I was being sarcastic. I was not being sarcastic in the least. The photo is that of a molded fermentation. You stated you were feeding exactly the same kind of resulted fermentation to your flock for months....therefore, you have been feeding the same kind of molded fermentation to your flock for months and they are fine. I'm not sure why you took exception to the statement as it was neither negative nor sarcastic. I'm not at all understanding the ease with which you took offense at a statement that was not intended to be offensive at all - just a statement of apparent facts. The statement clearly showed that my opinion was just that and that your opinion was different - AND that your differing opinion has resulted in no ill effects for your flock. So...deep breath...relax....and let go of the anger. No offense was intended nor was sarcasm intended or implied.

This looks like a nice foamy ferment thing going on here. How did you get this? What is it that you are fermenting? Lay pellets? Whole grains? I've had my buckets look like the other picture shared and I have fed it out. No problems so far, but I really don't like the smell of it. It doesn't smell like bread like so many others have described theirs. When mine gets like that, I usually add some more ACV and stir it in. I would really like it to look good like yours and smell more like bread so would you mind sharing what you've done to yours?

I am using H&H feed, my mix (legumes, quinoa and buckwheat) and purina scratch grains. I use 3:1:1 and it seems to come out lovely. I started it with a full bottle of ACV with mother and I add a tablespoon of active baking yeast to really get it going. Just using the ACV got me a nice colony going; but, it was not nearly so lively. I dumped that batch and did the ACV + active yeast and have this as a result. You have to be absolutely certain to keep at least an inch of water over your mix to protect it (I'm sure you do, already). When you stir it up, you will see a nice, thick layer of mother over the top of your grains. Just stir it in and watch the foam grow - it smells a bit like a mix between sourdough mother and fermenting beer. When/if the smell ever makes my nose start to wrinkle, or I loose that clear, brown colour to my hooch, I assume something's gotten into the mix that I don't want in there and I dump it and start over. Since I do not seal up my fermentation, and it's in a highly used area of the house (just off my kitchen), the potential for unwanted bacteria/mold/whatever is certainly not negligible. So, I rather err on the side of caution. But, I'm a worrier...I'm an engineer - I'm used to finding problems everywhere.....so, expecting positive results when things aren't exactly how I want them...well...my husband swears I have OCD about it

 

[Kilsharion]

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/23849/PDF
interesting article about the nutritional properties of fermented feeds and certain molds that are good in cereal fermentation

That's a great read. Thanks for sharing

 

[mstricer]

I can never keep the watwr levels right. I have been using Purina woodland blend and Purina plus and scratch grains and boss, last night I add whole oats. I wanted rolled oats but the bf picked up the whole oats. Not a biggie we will use it to seed the pig pen.