Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

wondering IF he was fermenting his food? Didn't think they could get sour crop from it being fermented.That is very sad he lost his hens!
NOW I see where Bee said what she did about it being hard. (the wheat) Didn't read that before I typed the above.

Yep, they were fermenting...but there is a difference between an impacted crop and a sour crop. An impacted crop is full of a material that cannot advance any further into the digestive tract because the proventriculus (the next chamber down from the crop and in between it and the gizzard) is also full and cannot empty properly because either the substance cannot be ground up or it is very difficult to grind up. You'll often see birds with impacted crop vomiting fluids because they cannot get much water or anything else past that impaction but they are still thirsty enough to drink...and they may drink in order to try to get the impaction to move as well.

 

[RoseMarie1]

So glad you didn't toss it!! One day this week mine was really bubbling and I was like my word this stuff a brewing. lol When I went to the feed store yesterday to get feed they didn't have any layer so I had to get a bag of game bird grower which is higher in protein so I had some scratch grains left over so I'm adding that to it to lower the protein like Bee taught me. It's like 20% protein but that was all they had that I could get so I just got the one bag just to hold me over until next week or it'll probably last longer than that but I like to have food on hand before I get too low so I can get it to brewing.

Checked mines bums tonight and didn't see a sign of any eggs or critters so the sulfer on the roosting boards must be working! Thank you Bee again. I just checked a couple of them but figured if one had any the rest would the way the squeeze together on that roost. Went ahead and put some dust on a few of their bums since I had it out there just for good measure. We have a bunch of squirrels out there nesting around their pen. Told hubby he and his friend need to eliminate those this winter so they wont be giving our chickens any critters since they're much too close to their pen. His friends wife just passed away a couple days ago so maybe he and hubby can do a little hunting this fall and get his mind off things.

 

[Triple Willow]

wondering IF he was fermenting his food? Didn't think they could get sour crop from it being fermented.That is very sad he lost his hens!
NOW I see where Bee said what she did about it being hard. (the wheat) Didn't read that before I typed the above. 

I don't know, can't find the thread now. If I find it I'll let you know.

 

[foreverlearning]

So glad you didn't toss it!! One day this week mine was really bubbling and I was like my word this stuff a brewing. lol When I went to the feed store yesterday to get feed they didn't have any layer so I had to get a bag of game bird grower which is higher in protein so I had some scratch grains left over so I'm adding that to it to lower the protein like Bee taught me. It's like 20% protein but that was all they had that I could get so I just got the one bag just to hold me over until next week or it'll probably last longer than that but I like to have food on hand before I get too low so I can get it to brewing.

Checked mines bums tonight and didn't see a sign of any eggs or critters so the sulfer on the roosting boards must be working! Thank you Bee again. I just checked a couple of them but figured if one had any the rest would the way the squeeze together on that roost. Went ahead and put some dust on a few of their bums since I had it out there just for good measure. We have a bunch of squirrels out there nesting around their pen. Told hubby he and his friend need to eliminate those this winter so they wont be giving our chickens any critters since they're much too close to their pen. His friends wife just passed away a couple days ago so maybe he and hubby can do a little hunting this fall and get his mind off things.

It was just timing that I hadn't dumped it. I got busy doing chores for the other animals and before I knew it it got dark. It goes against everything I know to keep it, but it is my first time doing FF. Now that you guys say it is safe, they will be getting fed it tomorrow.

 

[RoseMarie1]

It was just timing that I hadn't dumped it. I got busy doing chores for the other animals and before I knew it it got dark. It goes against everything I know to keep it, but it is my first time doing FF. Now that you guys say it is safe, they will be getting fed it tomorrow.

Yeah mine got a little riper as I call it when this heat wave hit us. It started smelling stronger and the gray film on the top every day I go to dip some out. I didn't add any ACV to mine when I first started mine but it worked.

 

[fishermans wife]

Please don't throw it out. Your FF didn't spoil and the bubbles you are seeing is the fermentation...those are gas bubbles rising to the surface. The white film is just a collection of "mother" on top and you can stir it right in and feed it to the birds. It sounds as if you are having fantastic fermentation and that's the goal!

The deeper the fermentation, the more it smells sort of like vomit..and that's okay.

I've had an ongoing batch since last fall..it really can't go bad if you are stirring it now and again and adding fresh feed every now and again( I refill my bucket about once a week when it gets almost to the bottom and add fresh water...which mixes with the same ferment water that has been in there since last fall!).

I know that sounds contrary to everything you have learned about food and chicken feeds..that if it smells bad and looks bad that it must be bad, but this is the world of fermentation~and it often smells unpleasant~ and it's time to take a fresh look at an old way of preserving and improving grains.

So glad I read this! Mine has been going a long time too - and with the heat lately, smells awful (vomit was the perfect word!

)! I kept threatening to throw it, but the birds kept eating it! So, now I know it is all good!!! Thanks Beekissed!! Do you up the protein on the fermented feed during moult? For the first time, mine are laying through moult - I swear it is the FF! They usually stop for a long time during moult - but no, they take their half naked bodies to the nest box and give me beautiful eggs!

 

[Beekissed]

I don't! I keep the same level and even reduce it depending on their body condition...right now my flock is too fat, though they are going through molt, so I'm reducing their overall intake and then am reducing proteins as well.

 

[fishermans wife]

I don't!  I keep the same level and even reduce it depending on their body condition...right now my flock is too fat, though they are going through molt, so I'm reducing their overall intake and then am reducing proteins as well. 

 

Thank you!

 

[Beekissed]

YW!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I wouldn't put the lid on tight and I wouldn't empty any of the solids out of the bottom of the fluid. Just wait and see what's there when you get back...unless that fluid has turned dark, you'll be in fine shape, I'm thinking. Just skim off most of the scummy lookin' stuff on the top and use it as previously and you'll be fine.

Maybe she was born with the deficiency and it takes a bit for it to show...and also to correct? The person who reported the information to me also had the bird's beak fine at hatch but within a couple of weeks it had started to cross..quite a bit, a whole beak's width. They didn't trim it or anything but a couple of weeks after starting the FF they noticed that bird could no longer be identified in the flock any longer...no cross beaks showing. Maybe those kinds of nutrient deficiencies go a little deeper than mere vitamin deficiencies and take a bit to build up in the body? I'm not sure....

Yep! Gonna give you some OT (old-timer) advice on the FF thread...buckle down....waaaaaaaaiiiiiiittttt for it........."You'll do a lot better in this chicken keeping thingy if ya stop lookin' at poop."

There is only one poop that I worry about. Do you know the color "teal?" Sometimes a bird will get a digestive upset and not eat all that much and their poop is teal green. This is bile. When I see this, I immediately get some yogurt out there for them to eat. Since I've started fermenting their feed, I hardly ever see this teal poop but sometimes I still do. Yogurt is the cure. If you wait on this color poop until you see the behavior of the bird being affected, it may well be too late. I just glance at the poop board and don't worry about much else.

Oh, yeah!!! I always think the same thing...

I'm under no illusions about my pets...they may act like they like me, love me even...but if I were to fall down dead on the ground they'd eat me in a heartbeat.

Jake would wait until I got gamey enough to pull off parts easily but the cat would start right in..right away..and would fight the Delaware chickens for the eye balls and tongue.

Oh boy!

Ohh yeah, I was thinking about that this morning. I can see them now... the pullets tell the rooster to stand on my face and hold me down while they chow down! They probably say "Just look at her, there'd be enough there to last clean up til winter!!!" lol My Aussie is so nice he wouldn't want to eat me but after I got real ripe he wouldn't be able to resist. His favorite food is anything rotten. Should have named him possum. Yuck!

Hmm, that is interesting that your chickens like barley so much. When I was researching grains for our homemade feed, I read several places that barley was not as good as wheat for chickens because they needed an extra enzyme or something to digest it well. But obviously it works for you - maybe because you are fermenting the feed! Not sure why your chickens don't like wheat though - ours seem to LOVE it, and definitely prefer it over Oats or Barley in their feed. Now, it might be partly because the oats and barley are harder to hull, and the ones we get are from an Organic Grain cleaning facility, and are extra or small seed grains mostly, so they still have the hulls on.

Oh well. We can get the wheat really cheap right now though, so I am glad our chickens like it.

My goofy chickens go through stages. Sometimes, barley is all that is left in the pan. Sometimes its wheat and sometimes its oats or milo. I guess they go through stages of what they need. Today, they don't need oats!