Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LindaB220]

Thanks! I tried it & all my birds love it!
My layers actually like it better than their dry pellets.

Amazing how the meat birds have immediately started self regulating their eating, & eating less, drinking less & relaxing!
Thought I'd finish off their bag of feed this week, but it will last another week at this rate.

Chicks love my mashing too!

Thank you for the great links & info.

and welcome to Fermented Feeds. It's the best thing I do for my girls. So healthy.

 

[mklorber]

Hello all. I'm new to chicken keeping and trying to keep up with all of this useful information. I have been fermenting the starter crumbles for about 2 weeks. I have been just using a very large glass jar from Walmart and adding water and feed as I go. I just strain out the amount I need for each feeding. I do have a question about the smell. It is bubbling nicely and everyday has been smelling more and more "yeasty." I'm not quite sure that is the correct word. It smells nice to me and I cannot see any signs of mold. Is this increased smell normal? I'm a little cautious right now because I just lost a 5 week old chick today under very unusual circumstances. Thanks!

MK

 

[Beekissed]

Hello all. I'm new to chicken keeping and trying to keep up with all of this useful information. I have been fermenting the starter crumbles for about 2 weeks. I have been just using a very large glass jar from Walmart and adding water and feed as I go. I just strain out the amount I need for each feeding. I do have a question about the smell. It is bubbling nicely and everyday has been smelling more and more "yeasty." I'm not quite sure that is the correct word. It smells nice to me and I cannot see any signs of mold. Is this increased smell normal? I'm a little cautious right now because I just lost a 5 week old chick today under very unusual circumstances. Thanks!

MK

It's normal and you shouldn't see any mold, though you may see yeast formation that may look like mold to you, but no worries. Just stir it in and feed as per normal. Normally a person will feed out the feed until it gets very low in the container and then add more feed and water for a fresh ferment...this is called back slopping when you use some of the old to start fermenting the new.

As if ferments more deeply you can smell an almost pickled smell and that's all good...the more the ferment, the better results for your birds.

 

[mklorber]

Thanks Bee. I do see the film on top but it doesn't look like mold to me. I just mix it back in. I'll let most of the feed run down then add more water and feed as opposed to adding a little fresh each day. I'm just skittish because I found the chick next to the feeder. It was stiff but the head and neck looked wet or slobbered on. No puncture wound or blood. I was worried about something toxic but still can't explain wet head/neck.

Thanks again everyone.
MK

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks Bee. I do see the film on top but it doesn't look like mold to me. I just mix it back in. I'll let most of the feed run down then add more water and feed as opposed to adding a little fresh each day. I'm just skittish because I found the chick next to the feeder. It was stiff but the head and neck looked wet or slobbered on. No puncture wound or blood. I was worried about something toxic but still can't explain wet head/neck.

Thanks again everyone.
MK

That's sure a mystery......is your pen outside? If so, check for snakes. I just had 2 of my 7 wk old RIR chicks get taken by a black snake one night...gone without a trace. But...I caught the snake some days later and killed it. Had the same thing happen years ago with some 4 wk old chicks but that black snake couldn't get back out of the pen after it swallowed the chicks because of the lumps in her body....she ate three huge chicks in one morning while we were at church.

That wet head and neck could be where a snake started to swallow the chick but was disturbed or frightened for some reason and thought better of completing the swallow. I place mothballs around the pen when this happens and it seems to keep the snakes away thereafter but you'll occasionally have to renew the balls as the rain washes them away. My chickens don't bother them or try to eat them.

 

[Kassaundra]

Totally agree w/ Bee, wet head and neck says snake to me.

 

[mklorber]

The pen is an old horse stall. It is pretty well protected from larger predators but I'm sure there are some nooks and crannies I haven't found. As a noob it is not fun finding that in the morning. I'm just hoping I don't lose more before I figure it out.

I'll go pick up some moth balls. Do you put them on the inside perimeter of the coop or the outside perimeter? Or both?

Thanks for the reassurance about the FF. I have...um...stumbled into a bred that I would like to breed back towards being a meat bird. These guys seam to really like it and the feed is certainly stretching longer.

MK

 

[Triple Willow]

Thanks Bee. I do see the film on top but it doesn't look like mold to me. I just mix it back in. I'll let most of the feed run down then add more water and feed as opposed to adding a little fresh each day. I'm just skittish because I found the chick next to the feeder. It was stiff but the head and neck looked wet or slobbered on. No puncture wound or blood. I was worried about something toxic but still can't explain wet head/neck.

Thanks again everyone.
MK

That was a snake. That's what happens when they try to eat a bird that's too big, they spit it back out or as Bee said, they are disturbed while trying to swallow the bird. I bet it is still hanging around and will probably try to eat more. Check out this thread. It might help you catch it...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/515899/best-way-ive-found-yet-to-deal-with-snake-problems

 

[BCMaraniac]

The pen is an old horse stall. It is pretty well protected from larger predators but I'm sure there are some nooks and crannies I haven't found. As a noob it is not fun finding that in the morning. I'm just hoping I don't lose more before I figure it out.

I'll go pick up some moth balls. Do you put them on the inside perimeter of the coop or the outside perimeter? Or both?

Thanks for the reassurance about the FF. I have...um...stumbled into a bred that I would like to breed back towards being a meat bird. These guys seam to really like it and the feed is certainly stretching longer.

MK

I have repurposed horse stalls for pens as well. it is a metal barn with oak lined stalls. I used pallets to make a brooder out of one corner of the stall, had chicks in it and saw a snake come through a gap in the oak boards and drop right into the brooder. I just happened to see it, so managed to get the snake out of the brooder and killed it. It's mate showed up a few days later, but my hubby took care of it.

 

[ak rain]

So I received by airplane my 6 Cornish and 3 turkeys they accepted water though no food they went to sleep under heating pad it's 74 degrees under there. I have F feed in there and more going for tomorrow. Hope it works