Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LindaB220]

Ok I know it's July and all but, ...
Do you feed ff through the winter? If yes how do you keep it from freezing?

Oh Sweetie, I live in the deep south. zone 8b. Lowest normally is 18 degrees. A couple of times a year. It won't freeze in my storeroom. Unless you have a place that can accomodate a heating pad or something, you'll have to keep it in the house. A lot of people will make it put it in bags and freeze until the day to thaw it and feed.

 

[Kinmera]

I used a large heated dog water bowl. Worked great.

I thought about that but no electric in my coops. I had to run 500 foot of extension cord last winter to use heat lamps to keep water from freezing in neg20 temps. Won't be doing that this year unless it's as cold. Not really wanting the expense if the bowls either. May be time to be creative...

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have another question regarding how to ferment. My last batch a couple of months ago smelled terrible and I was too nervous to try again until now. I mix BOSS and dried mealworms into my feed (along with other stuff) and these two ingredients float. Can feed float and still ferment? I've been just scooping it off and feeding that as a treat, but can I leave it in there? Every now and then some of my dried peas or wheat grain may float too, and I'm not sure if that is harmful to the fermentation or not. Help??

I believe the meal worms made it stinky. Re-hydrating the mealworms may not be a good idea. Simply serve them as a topping or as treats.
I have forgotten worms out in the sun and they get stinky fast, and they really stink bad!

 

[Wyleiria]

Thanks so much! I didn't know if floating sunflower seeds would hurt it, but I bet it was the mealworms too.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I don't think the floating sun flower seeds would have a negative impact on the FF. You don't have to keep a layer of water on top to keep it from spoiling, just make sure you have enough water to keep it wet.

 

[Turk Raphael]

Hey Turk, what a nifty idea. Home depot or somewhere? I ended up with 12 of my SBEL's hatching yesterday and today. It's been raining so hard that I've been soaked twice today trying to keep my 2 wk old SBEL's dry in their coop. Open air. I finally put a tarp over the tin portion and added a box with shavings in to climb in. Wet babies. Heck of a lot of rain today.

I hope your chicks didn't get sick. I got the strainers from Sherwin-Wiliams but I'm certain they can be found at just about all stores that sell a lot of paint.

Dad's having a great time but will be back in time for his B-day. He and Jason are supposed to be coming to Ky for a couple days...gotta' throw some more money

at the horses. If I were a gambler, I'd starve to death. Oh....From what I'm told by Jason, Raphael and I will get our 3 weeks in Brazil this summer after all. All we had

to do was clear it with our jobs. We are both owed lots of time and I think we can get the time off, from the way things look now.

Is 2 week old chicks kinda' young to be outside in the elements? I've forgotten but I think my DCs are going on 3 months or a little less and I'm still keeping them in.

Mr. Jimmy carries in chunks of grass sod every day and about three times a week, he gives them crawlers that his grandson catches for me. When cutting grass,

or whenever, Mr. Jimmy finds a garter stake or three (lot's of them around here) and he flings them into the pen for the birds while they have plenty of life left but not

enough to escape. It's really something to watch the birds go crazy after them!

Turk

 

[LindaB220]

I hope your chicks didn't get sick. I got the strainers from Sherwin-Wiliams but I'm certain they can be found at just about all stores that sell a lot of paint.

Dad's having a great time but will be back in time for his B-day. He and Jason are supposed to be coming to Ky for a couple days...gotta' throw some more money

at the horses. If I were a gambler, I'd starve to death. Oh....From what I'm told by Jason, Raphael and I will get our 3 weeks in Brazil this summer after all. All we had

to do was clear it with our jobs. We are both owed lots of time and I think we can get the time off, from the way things look now.

Is 2 week old chicks kinda' young to be outside in the elements? I've forgotten but I think my DCs are going on 3 months or a little less and I'm still keeping them in.

Mr. Jimmy carries in chunks of grass sod every day and about three times a week, he gives them crawlers that his grandson catches for me. When cutting grass,

or whenever, Mr. Jimmy finds a garter stake or three (lot's of them around here) and he flings them into the pen for the birds while they have plenty of life left but not

enough to escape. It's really something to watch the birds go crazy after them!

Turk

Yeah, the low on night temps in La is 70 something. I had a little tiny house in there and they bundled up in it.

 

[Kinmera]

oops this went here not where it was supposed to go ....

 

[RachelJG]

Hi Everyone,
I'm fermenting my own whole grain (NOT crumbles or pellets) feed concoction for 50 broilers, currently 11 days old. I inoculated my ferments with some of the liquid from bubbies brand lacto-fermented pickles, so they are lacto ferments and not alcohol/yeast ferments. All three batches I've done keep getting this... stuff... on the surface. I'm not convinced it's mold. It's not really fuzzy, but not slick like a SCOBY either. It's also pretty resilient. When I stir it it floats back up to the surface afterwards in little flakes. I thought at first maybe it was bc. I was including BOSS and Butternut squash cubes, but did the next batch just grain/peas and completely under water... same stuff appeared. I have also wondered if it is fats from the seeds or something. Someone posted a pic of similar about 1200 pages back (!!!). Someone replied saying they'd been using feed like that for months with no ill effects; someone else swore up and down it was mold. Harmless mold? It doesn't smell like the molds I'm familiar with. It doesn't exactly smell like sourdough either (but I have 50%+ worth of peas in there). It does smell strongly... fermented. Not yeasty or alcoholy, but pretty over-powering if you stick your head right down in the bucket. The darker spots are due to bits of BOSS or grain underneath. Perhaps this is normal for continuous laco-ferments but not for alcohol/yeast ones and that would explain why some people get it and others don't?
This bucket has been going for about 7 days and sitting undisturbed for about 12 hours

This second bucket has been going for over a week and sitting undisturbed for 3-4 days... I figured if it were mold it would look worse than this by now.

 

[RachelJG]

Also... Are there any BOOKS out about fermenting feeds like this? The blog articles all seem to be written by people trying it out for the first time and I'd like to hear from someone who's been doing it for years and really got all the trouble-shooting figured out.