Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[muji150]

Thanks for the tip, TW!

 

[Triple Willow]

Thanks for the tip, TW!

You're very welcome. Happy fermenting!

 

[Triple Willow]

Do you add or do anything special or different in your ff for your geese and turkeys then what you do for chickens?

Hi deb. I've never made ff for geese or turkeys (but would if I had them). But whatever you would normally feed geese and turkeys is what would be suitable to ferment for them. Good luck.

 

[MistyMountain]

I haven't touched my ff for a couple days... It was too low to feed the entire flock and i forgot to add more. I've just been giving them dry feed. Anyhow opened it up today to this. This spiderwebby filmy stuff is good, right??

 

[BCMaraniac]

I haven't touched my ff for a couple days... It was too low to feed the entire flock and i forgot to add more. I've just been giving them dry feed. Anyhow opened it up today to this. This spiderwebby filmy stuff is good, right??

Yep. Just stir it up, add water and feed. That amount of good bacteria will give you a good quick ferment with the warm weather.....careful not to over fill or your cup will runneth over. You could consider starting another bucket with your ferment that good if you need more feed each day.

When you make sauerkraut and that happens, they call it the bloom and you skim it off....not with ff.

 

[mommacassey]

It will mix with whatever is still cookin in the bottom bucket and rise up into the new starter. Stir well and let sit...the ferment will soak into and start to ferment the new stuff you added. I really didn't get to use the sieve action on this setup until I graduated to whole grains.




I've only read up to post 117 out of 16000+, so I imagine that this is answered somewhere along the way, but when I saw this, I thought I'd go ahead and use the quote...

So, I've only got 6 birds and I don't imagine I'm going to need to ferment very much at one time for them. We're still using Starter feed for them, so it should only take a day or so for the process to get going... do I really need a second bucket, or would it make sense to just scoop out what I need from a single small bucket and replace it with new feed and water each day?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Do you add or do anything special or different in your ff for your geese and turkeys then what you do for chickens?

Debbie - For the geese, no, they eat the same FF as the chickens. For the turkeys I will be using a 28% protein feed and not a 16% protein feed like I do for the others.

I haven't started fermenting any feed for my turkeys yet, but they are eating a wet mash and they gobble up about 2-3 bowls full every. single. day! They love it and can't seem to get enough, so I know they'll love the FF.

Blessings -

~ Aspen

 

[Beekissed]

I've only read up to post 117 out of 16000+, so I imagine that this is answered somewhere along the way, but when I saw this, I thought I'd go ahead and use the quote...

So, I've only got 6 birds and I don't imagine I'm going to need to ferment very much at one time for them. We're still using Starter feed for them, so it should only take a day or so for the process to get going... do I really need a second bucket, or would it make sense to just scoop out what I need from a single small bucket and replace it with new feed and water each day?

The process has evolved a good bit since the beginning. Most folks do not use the double buckets and just mix their mix thick enough that it doesn't need straining before serving. You won't want to refresh the feed and water each day, as you will want the feed to have time to get fully fermented and converted, so it's best if you just mix a bucket and when it gets low but not empty, fill it back up with feed and water so the old mix can jump start your new feed and you can start feeding it out the next day.

 

[Turk Raphael]

If I may suggest...since there are so few chicks at this point, perhaps you could use a 2 or 3 gallon bucket? I have 50 chicks and started with the 3 gal. bucket but the way these things are growing, I suspect I will graduate to a 5 gal soon. I have Dark Cornish and I realize that a lot of folks use the Cornish X to get them to grow bigger ...faster. The speed at which these things are puffing up makes me glad that I didn't go that route because I want the birds to be more mature when butchered...but that's just me.

If anyone is interested, I'm going to finish my birds the way my grandma did...confine the ones to be butchered to a smaller area and feed them a thick gruel of wheat middlings, stone-ground corn meal (very coarse) and buttermilk ...with fresh water, changed a few times a day. I don't know if she had a 'secret' or if it was just the whole combination but her chickens were always tender, heavily flavored. How I would love to sit down to one of those meals again!

Sorry for going off topic.

 

[Triple Willow]

It can be good to get off topic! That sounds similar to how the Bresse chickens are finished. No doubt the older generations had a lot of wisdom.