Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[beverly evans]

And you didn't drink any? LOL Hahahahahaha!

"Corn Sqeezin's" is made the same way, only in a silo, they set the buckets under the drain holes underneath.

You even get the benefit of the protein from the corn worms. LOL

When I lived in Mexico I learned to make pineapple wine. You put all the cuttings and core from cleaning your pineapple into a big pitcher, add a cup of sugar, fill with water and wait. In a few days it is fermented so you strain it and put ice in it and yummmm. My overly fermented mash smelled just like it.
But I wasn't tempted to strain it and drink it! : (

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I just love these-- much like the bailers my grandfather made for the rowboat.

 

[Beekissed]

Let me just ask a question here... I don't hear anybody saying anything about adding yeast.

Doesn't the feed just "rot", otherwise, in lieu of fermentation?

I'm getting ready for Spring, no new chickie-boos yet.

Some have added yeasts but it's not necessary. No need to add yeast just like there is no need to add yeast to a sourdough bread start as it pulls the appropriate yeasts from the air. In a way, anything that "rots" goes through a fermentation process first, you'll find, but this process allows the colonization of LABs of various kinds and some acetobacter, which consume the alcohol sugars created in the LAB metabolism.

Here's some info on fermentation of grains:

http://comenius.susqu.edu/biol/312/cerealbasedfermentedfoodsandbeverages.pdf

I never added even ACV to the wet grain; it gets the bacteria needed for fermentation from the air. I'm sure it would happen faster with the addition of ACV though. I let mine ferment to long; had put up more than they could eat. It really turned to booze! But guess what? I t works like buttermilk pancakes. I added a little flour and an egg and presto....pancake batter! They gobbled them up. The acidity and bubbles (carbonation?) act like leavening. Can't waste anything! : )

It won't really turn to booze as the acetobacter consumes all or most of the alcohol sugars and you can't really ferment "too long" in the time you've been doing FF, so no worries. You can feed it just the same with a stronger ferment than you can with a mild one, with the more conversion of the feeds, the better. Mine has been fermenting for a good year now, with original fermented fluids being used time and again and the feed sitting for many days before being refreshed with new feed and water. Kassaundra's has sit even longer in huge vats of fermented feed, I'm betting there are some grains that get recycled in her big amounts for some years now.

 

[Arielle]

Bragg apple cider vinegar with the mother. Just easier for me to be certain of the microbes jumping into the buckets.

Robert-- wow-- nice handy work, and very patriotic to boot!

Kassandra-- lovely lovely pictures. Haven't had icicles that big here in years-- maybe this year!

 

[Triple Willow]

Why didn't you use another phone to phone your phone? Boyfriend's? Land line?  Or does no one but me have one anymore?

Tried that. The battery was down, phone dead.

 

[Beekissed]

That's why I love a land line, hate a cell.

Cell phones have their use but are so inconvenient in other ways that they are often more trouble than they are worth, though not many share that opinion nowadays. All that technology at one's fingertips but they fail to have a battery that last past a few days without recharging...what's up with that?

 

[beverly evans]

Some have added yeasts but it's not necessary. No need to add yeast just like there is no need to add yeast to a sourdough bread start as it pulls the appropriate yeasts from the air. In a way, anything that "rots" goes through a fermentation process first, you'll find, but this process allows the colonization of LABs of various kinds and some acetobacter, which consume the alcohol sugars created in the LAB metabolism.

Here's some info on fermentation of grains:

http://comenius.susqu.edu/biol/312/cerealbasedfermentedfoodsandbeverages.pdf



It won't really turn to booze as the acetobacter consumes all or most of the alcohol sugars and you can't really ferment "too long" in the time you've been doing FF, so no worries. You can feed it just the same with a stronger ferment than you can with a mild one, with the more conversion of the feeds, the better. Mine has been fermenting for a good year now, with original fermented fluids being used time and again and the feed sitting for many days before being refreshed with new feed and water. Kassaundra's has sit even longer in huge vats of fermented feed, I'm betting there are some grains that get recycled in her big amounts for some years now.

When my girls refused to eat it I thought it was because it was too boozy or bubbly or fermented. So I should have just put it into the bsf bin. Right? They are not particular!

 

[Beekissed]

Not at all. Just leave it in the feeder until they clean it up. There is a point in the feeding of the FF near the beginning where they eat it like no tomorrow and then seem to get their fill of it and taper off a bit to a more reasonable consumption. Then is when you know they are finally getting all the nutrients they had been needing all along and can then eat a more normal consumption to keep their nutrition at an optimal level.

It's sort of like when you first give livestock some loose minerals and they rush in to start gobbling it up like it's candy and you are thinking they are not supposed to eat it like food, but they seem to like the taste or something. But, if you watch closely, they only do that initially and when their bodies have signaled their vitamin and mineral needs have been satisfied from a state of deficiency, they then will only sample the mix now and again to keep their levels at an optimal level.

 

[Triple Willow]

That's why I love a land line, hate a cell.    Cell phones have their use but are so inconvenient in other ways that they are often more trouble than they are worth, though not many share that opinion nowadays.  All that technology at one's fingertips but they fail to have a battery that last past a few days without recharging...what's up with that? 

I have thought seriously about tossing mine in the river several times. Seriously considered boycotting all modern technologies such as internet and cell phones. As far as I got was satelite tv. lol If it wasn't for emergencies I don't know that I would have a cell phone. But, the easy access internet (information!) anywhere anytime is kind of addictive. I have to charge my battery at least 2-3 times a day. Must be time for a new one. Someday I'm going to give it all up and be a hermit ...smoke signals! LOL

 

[Beekissed]

Being a hermit is so very peaceful.

We don't have cell or TV, only this PC through the land line phone and I only use it for this forum, to listen to sermons or the occasional search. I could do without it also and have done for most of my life until my mid-30s. It's quite a blessing to be alone with God and one's own thoughts for most of the time...the chaos of the world just lives outside that warm bubble.