Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[armorfirelady]

Rose & triple willow try meat once or twice a week for a few months & see if it helps. I still,give my girls meat throughout out the spring & summer even tho they have a lot of worms & bugs in the compost pile. Just not as often. This morning they had a pound of raw ground beef. Bowl was licked clean !!!

Even when the girls were snowed in they have never feather picked. Well except Stella's head but that's because she has poor manners when they are fed & the big girls peck her. They are growing back in now that they have more space

 

[mithious]

@mithious... You don't have to have the vinegar. It is really simple - all you need is FEED, WATER, stir really well and WAIT. The feed will ferment all on its own.

The feed you added the yeast to was probably okay to use. What makes you think it turned to alcohol? I have used it before and it worked fine.

Because it smelled like 100 proof grain alcohol???? Not sour, like a sour dough, or like pickles, ect like you all mentioned, but like VERY VERY strong alcohol.

I went online last night to read up on FF and found there are two ways to ferment. Yeast is used in making alcohol and yes it CAN be used, but if you have something in your air ( a certain bacteria I believe, I read it but can't remember the name? ) like I must, it CAN and WILL turn to alcohol, and I knew that, so kept smelling it. Sure enough, it turned and fast, I bet if I drank it I would've been drunk as a skunk!

I started two batches last night with plain water, we have well water. Today, it has that white skim, no bubbles yet, but these are much bigger batches, and are sitting next to the heater.

Thanks for the info on not needing the vinegar but does it help in any way with added vitamins and such? Some articles online said yes, some no????? I read a list of starters and they all have different vitamins, bacteria's and such...

 

[mithious]

Rose & triple willow try meat once or twice a week for a few months & see if it helps. I still,give my girls meat throughout out the spring & summer even tho they have a lot of worms & bugs in the compost pile. Just not as often. This morning they had a pound of raw ground beef. Bowl was licked clean !!!

Even when the girls were snowed in they have never feather picked. Well except Stella's head but that's because she has poor manners when they are fed & the big girls peck her. They are growing back in now that they have more space

So that would mean a protein deficiency, right? I'm going to try meat also. How often should I give it to 2 and 4 week old chicks? I would like to cook up some ground beef today for them. Thanks

 

[LindaB220]

So that would mean a protein deficiency, right? I'm going to try meat also. How often should I give it to 2 and 4 week old chicks? I would like to cook up some ground beef today for them. Thanks

I fed my 4 wk olds chopped up hamburger helper potato strog. They engulfed it. Looked at the ff the next day like "What's this? Give us the good stuff". I kid you not. Spoiled.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you both for letting me know, it is not needed to wash the feeders. at least not as often as I thought. That will make things MUCH easier when I decide which feeders I am going to use, and less destruction to buildings, as I was thinking I ws going to have to figure a way to drain them out the wall????

I like the PVC ones, but don't have the tools to cut it so maybe the plastic gutters?.

and here I was, all worried I'd be washing stuff every feeding LOL! Was thinking, maybe that is a bit more than I can take on by myself here.

Well my test batch of feed and a tad of yeast just turned to alcohol. So am going to have to just use the water, feed wet from it, until I go into town on the 2nd to pick up the vinegar. Dang, I was really hoping if I used just a tad, it wouldn't turn, but it did. Oh well, that is the reason I used a test batch.

I hope you all realize I was joking when I said my chickens were tipsy???? I didn't feed them the yeast formula. Just the water, that had started to bubble a bit. Not like I have heard all of you talking about, but it was giving off some CO2. I just made single batches, set over night, next to the heater. I think the heat is what did it a bit faster.

Thanks again, it's a relief that I won't have to be constantly cleaning the feeders and a big part of deciding to go ahead with this FF. I do like the fact that there is no feed loss. That was the original draw for me, but as I continue to read through this thread, I am reading lots of other reasons also!

Ok, one more question, if it starts to really get going before I get all the way to town, what would be a reason for using the vinegar? Are there added vitamins, enzymes ect that the vinegar promotes/makes? or is it that it is a preservative and will make the FF last, basically forever, if it is like my old sourdough mixture?

I've never used it before with the chickens. This is new in the chicken world so not sure if I need to add it, if the feed is fermenting by then? If I do, please let me know and if possible, why?


Thanks again for the answers too. I am definitely doing this. Just need to learn the how, why, and such.

Your FF is going to make acetic acid anyway, whether you use ACV or not. Adding the mother ACV seems to boost the fermentation initially but after that the rest of the microbes take over and make that mix into what it's going to be...a large colony of LABs with a smaller colony of acetobacter that feed on the sugar alcohol that is the byproduct of the LAB"s metabolism, and the byproduct of the acetobacter metabolism of the sugar alcohol is acetic acid. Either way you are going to have vinegar yeasts in the mix, so add it or not, it's up to you.

If your feed is already fermented there is no need to add the ACV.

 

[mithious]

Your FF is going to make acetic acid anyway, whether you use ACV or not. Adding the mother ACV seems to boost the fermentation initially but after that the rest of the microbes take over and make that mix into what it's going to be...a large colony of LABs with a smaller colony of acetobacter that feed on the sugar alcohol that is the byproduct of the LAB"s metabolism, and the byproduct of the acetobacter metabolism of the sugar alcohol is acetic acid. Either way you are going to have vinegar yeasts in the mix, so add it or not, it's up to you.

If your feed is already fermented there is no need to add the ACV.

Thank you Beekissed

and for ALL the info you have given us all!!! I'll be darned, the plain water feed I started last night is BUBBLING already

Beekissed, can I add some more feed, now that it is fermenting so that it is more of an oatmeal consistency? I left abut an inch of water on top of the mixes since last night, stirred regularly and it is bubbling like it's on the stove. They seem to like it much better when it's not so soupy. Will that still keep the fermenting going and keep out that bad bacteria? I did put the covers on tight last night, should I leave them a tad open now that it is fermenting if I make the FF more oat mealy as there won't be that water layer on top to protect from the air? Or???? Thanks

 

[MargaretYakoda]

(...) I did put the covers on tight last night, should I leave them a tad open now that it is fermenting (...)

Well, I guess it depends on how close to the edge you like to live.

 

[mithious]

I see Bekissed went somewhere else? So anyone? I have two big batches going and don't want to have it go bad on me and late day feeding is coming up soon. Will it be ok to make it like an oatmeal mix and not get bad bacteria in it, without that water layer on top and should I leave the tops open now if I do that? Thanks

You all had be busting up laughing on those stories you told ROFLMBO

Here's a new twist. Just cooked up some scrambled eggs for the chicks. The 2 week olds devoured it. The 4 week olds, turned their nose up at it and went back to JUST the FF. That says to me, the 4 week olds are getting all they need just from the FF. Even the higher protein and I am just using the starter crumbles fermented for the chicks, and layer pellets for the year olds until they get used to it.

I did remove the 4 week olds dry feeder last night, JUST removed the 2 week olds dry feeder a bit ago. I am keeping some FF in their brooders at all times to make sure they get what they need as they are in my living room, with my cat here also, no rodents/pests can get at the feed.

So far, I am liking what I am seeing already

 

[Triple Willow]

Well, I guess it depends on how close to the edge you like to live.

Shhhh...! LOL Juuust kidding.

 

[mithious]

Well, I guess it depends on how close to the edge you like to live.

LOL yeah I fully expected to hear a BOOM in the middle of the night and come out and find all the feed blown all over my living room

I used to like livin on the edge

not as much now that I am older. I took a chance that it would speed up the fermenting, the top on, with the heat. it seems to have.