Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

Due to last minute decisions I am getting 6 Cornish and 3 turkeys and a bag of flock raiser today on the plane. I like ff but it would be just wet today. Should I feed dry until ferment or just go forward knowing ferment will come.???
Ak rain

If it's very hot where you are, you could feed dry until you get a good ferment but if it's relatively cool and you only feed what they can eat all at once, it wouldn't hurt a thing to feed it wet.

 

[katbriar]

I've taken the advice on feeding fermented feed to my meat birds for my last few batches.  Since I usually feed my laying hens a warm mash at breakfast time, I decided to switch that morning treat to fermented feed for them as well.  The wierd thing is that while the meat bird feed has a not unpleasant, sweetish/sour dough bread type of smell, the fermented layer pellets have a sort of nasty, spoiled smell.  I've started over with a fresh batch several times and still find the wierd smell.  The hens don't seem to mind, and gobble it up, but I wonder if it may be bad for them.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

I find that the smell differs depending on what I buy. The layer crumbles smell too much like vomit to me, so I've gone with the flock raiser crumbles. They smell sour-ish but better to my nose.

The chicks seem to love either, so it must just be a human preference.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Could be your feeds have different protein sources...some report feeds with fish meal protein having a really rotten meat smell. I've never had that because my layer mash has soy proteins instead of fish meal.

I'm feeding an organic, vegetarian layer feed...let me double check that...yup. Although fish meal protien would make sense, there isn't any in my feed. Am I correct that fermented feed should have that sourdough bread smell?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm feeding an organic, vegetarian layer feed...let me double check that...yup. Although fish meal protien would make sense, there isn't any in my feed. Am I correct that fermented feed should have that sourdough bread smell?

Not after the first week, usually....that sourdough smell is usually associated with a relatively new ferment, but as time goes along the ferment smell should deepen into an almost pickled smell...or vomit, as some describe it. To me it just smells like pickled corn, which is a good smell to me, but probably not to anyone not raised eating pickled/fermented veggies.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Not after the first week, usually....that sourdough smell is usually associated with a relatively new ferment, but as time goes along the ferment smell should deepen into an almost pickled smell...or vomit, as some describe it. To me it just smells like pickled corn, which is a good smell to me, but probably not to anyone not raised eating pickled/fermented veggies.

Thanks, good to know. As I said earlier, my hens seem to love it.

 

[ak rain]

Th

If it's very hot where you are, you could feed dry until you get a good ferment but if it's relatively cool and you only feed what they can eat all at once, it wouldn't hurt a thing to feed it wet. 

Thanks bee would it speed things up if I put a little from my layer ferment?
Ak rain

 

[Beekissed]

Th
Thanks bee would it speed things up if I put a little from my layer ferment?
Ak rain

Sure would...depending on the temps you should have some good ferment going by the next day.

 

[ak rain]

Going to do that. Were all in coats here
Ak rain

 

[LindaB220]

Going to do that. Were all in coats here
Ak rain

I had to bring my incubator inside the house because my new not insulated storeroom was over 100 even with the A/C running. Different zones 8b

 

[RoseMarie1]

Had a hen doing that some years back....that was one of the first questions I asked here. No one could give me a good answer but someone had loosely said they thought it was a metabolism/nutrient uptake issue....but that hen got over it soon enough and never had that problem again. Never did find out why.

I'm guessing your girl will be the same way....one day she'll be doing it and then soon you'll notice she isn't doing it any longer.

Well I feel much better now knowing she's going to be ok. Most all the Aussies have went broody so my egg intake is down now. Going to get rid of those things soon I hope! Anyway good to know she's fine.