Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[OHhappychicks]

I just read RoseMarie1 post above and a statement caught my eye. It was about adding more feed every 2-3 days to keep it fermenting. Right now I'm just feeding 10 chicks, ages 3 week to 8 week old. I have mixed a 5 gal bucket of feed. We are getting ready to feed the layers as soon as we can get the troughs up. Hopefully tomorrow eve. Should I add more feed to the bucket as I take out? Or should I add every 2-3 days? I really feel like I may have mixed up too much as I didn't realize you only fed them once a day and only a little at a time. I will be feeding about 32 adults and the 10 chicks.

 

[armorfirelady]

I just read RoseMarie1 post above and a statement caught my eye.  It was about adding more feed every 2-3 days to keep it fermenting.  Right now I'm just feeding 10 chicks, ages 3 week to 8 week old. I have mixed a 5 gal bucket of feed. We are getting ready to feed the layers as soon as we can get the troughs up.  Hopefully tomorrow eve.  Should I add more feed to the bucket as I take out? Or should I add every 2-3 days?  I really feel like I may have mixed up too much as I didn't realize you only fed them once a day and only a little at a time.  I will be feeding about 32 adults and the 10 chicks.

I am certainly not bee but I can tell you I have done it both ways. Just depends what I feel like doing that day. If you add as you take it out stir it well. I would think that would ferment faster instead of waiting couple of days. But really I think its just a persons preference. My ff has been outside in my old run. It certainly hasn't been warm enough to ferment (to my thinking) but it still bubbles. I haven't see the grey film in a few days tho.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, got some question on fermenting and not understanding why it's not working for this lady. See what I copied and pasted below.



Mine is a mix of grains (oats, split peas, alfalfa, ect). I moved it outside because I thought the A/C was messing it up. I put an old shirt over the top so it could get air. It starts to bubble, I stir it and it's like it stops right there, no more bubbles the water gets cloudy it just fizzles out for some reason. I've read all the articles you've posted, read all your posts, just can't figure it out. I'm at a loss.

my reply.....
The water will get cloudy though when it ferments and once you stir it if it has water over it, you wont be able to see if bubbling until it soaks up some of that water. I'm thinking that it is fine and you just add new feed to it in 3-4 days to keep it feeding on something. Like sour dough bread, it has to be fed or it will die sooner or later.

then her reply.... I just went back and read the ingredients. It already has a lot of "dried fermented" this and that it that statement even makes sense??? Would that effect it?



Have you ever heard of dried fermented feed? Is THAT WHY it's not wanting to do right Bee?

It doesn't have to be fed every 2-3 days to keep it from dying out...especially now that cooler weather is here and the fermentation slows down a good bit. Bubbling is a sign of the start of a good ferment but mine doesn't bubble constantly, though it is deeply fermented. My water stays cloudy and that's about it...certain feeds and temps will make it produce gas bubbles again, but that doesn't happen all the time and much less when I'm using whole grains...I think the spaces provided by the whole grains allows the gas formation to escape better than the finer ground grains, thus not many bubbles.

Tell her not to worry..it's still fermented. Not much can kill a good ferment and one would have to not feed it for a good long time before it would run out of available sugars in the grains on which to feed. The dried fermented feed is likely some dried brewers grains, which would only add to her fermentation. Just let that feed sit and the fermentation will grow, so no worries. If I can't kill a fermentation in two years, no one can....

There are times when I don't add fresh feed for almost two weeks and it is still fermenting along...who knows how long it would take for it to finally consume all the starches?

I just read RoseMarie1 post above and a statement caught my eye. It was about adding more feed every 2-3 days to keep it fermenting. Right now I'm just feeding 10 chicks, ages 3 week to 8 week old. I have mixed a 5 gal bucket of feed. We are getting ready to feed the layers as soon as we can get the troughs up. Hopefully tomorrow eve. Should I add more feed to the bucket as I take out? Or should I add every 2-3 days? I really feel like I may have mixed up too much as I didn't realize you only fed them once a day and only a little at a time. I will be feeding about 32 adults and the 10 chicks.

No, don't add more each time you feed....just wait until your bucket gets down low and then replenish. The longer it sits the deeper the ferment. In cooler temps, it may have to sit longer to give time for the slower metabolism of the LABs to inoculate all the grains. If you replenish too often, you'll just have a light fermentation going in the feed at all times...some people like it like that because it doesn't smell as strong, but the more fermentation you have going on, the more completely and more quickly it converts the grains.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I just read RoseMarie1 post above and a statement caught my eye. It was about adding more feed every 2-3 days to keep it fermenting. Right now I'm just feeding 10 chicks, ages 3 week to 8 week old. I have mixed a 5 gal bucket of feed. We are getting ready to feed the layers as soon as we can get the troughs up. Hopefully tomorrow eve. Should I add more feed to the bucket as I take out? Or should I add every 2-3 days? I really feel like I may have mixed up too much as I didn't realize you only fed them once a day and only a little at a time. I will be feeding about 32 adults and the 10 chicks.

3-4 days or 5th day add fresh feed. Doesn't have to be a ton of it, just some for it to feed on.

 

[OHhappychicks]

3-4 days or 5th day add fresh feed. Doesn't have to be a ton of it, just some for it to feed on.

Ok. Thanks! I'm trying to remember when I added to it. Probably about 3 days ago. So I will wait until tuesday to add some.

 

[RoseMarie1]

It doesn't have to be fed every 2-3 days to keep it from dying out...especially now that cooler weather is here and the fermentation slows down a good bit. Bubbling is a sign of the start of a good ferment but mine doesn't bubble constantly, though it is deeply fermented. My water stays cloudy and that's about it...certain feeds and temps will make it produce gas bubbles again, but that doesn't happen all the time and much less when I'm using whole grains...I think the spaces provided by the whole grains allows the gas formation to escape better than the finer ground grains, thus not many bubbles.

Tell her not to worry..it's still fermented. Not much can kill a good ferment and one would have to not feed it for a good long time before it would run out of available sugars in the grains on which to feed. The dried fermented feed is likely some dried brewers grains, which would only add to her fermentation. Just let that feed sit and the fermentation will grow, so no worries. If I can't kill a fermentation in two years, no one can....

There are times when I don't add fresh feed for almost two weeks and it is still fermenting along...who knows how long it would take for it to finally consume all the starches?


No, don't add more each time you feed....just wait until your bucket gets down low and then replenish. The longer it sits the deeper the ferment. In cooler temps, it may have to sit longer to give time for the slower metabolism of the LABs to inoculate all the grains. If you replenish too often, you'll just have a light fermentation going in the feed at all times...some people like it like that because it doesn't smell as strong, but the more fermentation you have going on, the more completely and more quickly it converts the grains.

OK I was thinking you said it had to be fed at least say once a week to keep the ferment having something to feed on.

 

[Beekissed]

In really hot weather it may be better to feed it at least once a week because the ferment gets really strong in the heat and it tends to get some fuzzy mold growth on it, so I cut down the total batch amount so I can replenish more often and this keeps the fermentation a little less heavy. I'm sorry if I confused you, RM...sometimes my thinking gets a little fuzzy like a heavy fermentation in the middle of August.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a question for you dedicated FF users and also those who tried and found it not to your liking....what do you find, if anything, that would/did deter you from using this method and why? I'm thinking of issues like time, money, smell, etc.

 

[Triple Willow]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all having a good day.

Check out this thread (strange!)... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/773276/gross-what-is-this-inside-my-egg

 

[Triple Willow]

Here's a question for you dedicated FF users and also those who tried and found it not to your liking....what do you find, if anything, that would/did deter you from using this method and why?  I'm thinking of issues like time, money, smell, etc.

I can't really think of anything that would deter me from doing ff. Dry feed might be a little neater but dry feed is dusty. If I had to keep it in the house and it smelled too bad that might be a problem. But mine usually doesn't smell too bad, not to me anyhow.