Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LindaB220]

I tried this today but I forgot about the water being chlorinated......I added Bragg's ACV and it already looks like it is a bit bubbly....so I hope the water is ok.

It'll be okay. Just cover and stir daily for 4 days. It will be ready. After that just start making it over when you have a couple of inches of feed in the bottom. Add water first and stir. Then start adding the feed. It will be ready overnight.

 

[vpatt]

Thnx Linda!

 

[chickkrakidd]

This is awesome! I think I'll try some fermented feed. Doesn't sound difficult, but sounds healthier& better for the birds.

 

[MeckTheHen]

Good luck with the hatch LindaB220. What a lovely name ... Swedish Flower Hens. What do they look like?

 

[MeckTheHen]

If you ever have any question about whether or not a lacto-ferment has gone bad or not, test the pH. You can get test paper for cheap and it will show you instantly the pH. In general, anything below 4.5 is okay, in my opinion around 3.8 is ideal. I don't think a 100% diet of really acidic (3.3 or lower) fermented feed is ideal, I think it's too acidic. I think they should have some unfermented feed or at least from free-ranging time where they will get some unfermented items. Could you imagine eating a diet of 100% very sour foods?

I use this pH paper: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hydrion-Mic...895637?pt=US_Garden_Tools&hash=item3f3cbc08d5

But since your feed smelling incredibly sour, I would bet money that your pH is plenty low. Smell can tell you a lot, but I found the test paper very helpful at first when I doubted my nose. Above 4.5 and the likelihood of of "bad bacteria" thriving and populating increases and below that it decreases. Most of the studies of FF I have read have used a pH of 4.5. As the pH drops, the chances of "bad bacteria" even existing anymore decreases big time. The acidic nature is not hospitable to the bad bacteria and the lactic acid bacteria also destroy them.

So to answer your question, no, I doubt you've got bad germs in the 2 month old batch, but the nutrition will degrade after a while, especially the proteins, as they get consumed by the good bacteria. You could mix in some sort of protein item into the batch to boost the protein while you use up the batch. Perhaps next time don't make as big of a batch so it get's used more quickly.

Good advice - thank you

 

[Kassaundra]

I may be on my way to killing my chickens, but I hope not. So, I'm gonna prattle-off my story.

I filled a small plastic trashcan with turkey starter, water and Bragg's raw vinegar. It bubbled when I stirred it. It stank...more so as it aged. Anyway, I would strain out what I needed for that day, save the liquid then top-off with more feed and water if needed. This particular batch, which is gone now, was well over a month or so old. It smelled incredibly sour, but the chickens still ate it like it was manna.

Is keeping the same batch over two months risking the chickens' health with...I dunno, bad germs?

I do batches in 30 gall plastic trash barrels each batch goes for about 2-4 weeks or more before adding new to the bucket sometimes longer and have never had an issue w/ it "going bad"

 

[MeckTheHen]

On the question of food going bad, which there's been a lot of comment on recently, I'd be interested to know what sort of average temperature conditions your ferments are in.

It's spring here now, so my new FF batches are outside in about 25-30 degrees C temps. (That's what, about 75 to 86 degs F?) By next month, we'll be hitting 97-99 most days.

The heat here certainly makes things ferment quickly; within a couple of hours, even at these lower spring temps, my batches are bubbling furiously.

So I wonder once full summer arrives, if I'll need to move my FF batches inside to where it's cooler; the heat might start spoiling the batches otherwise.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

How do I raise meat bird's that are tender?

 

[charthorn]

It's not all that hard. Order some CX, feed FF, water, and butcher in eight weeks. I've been following this formula for a number of years and it works every time.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Well, my fall batch of cx are wrapping up. Though I tried to do FF this year, this has been a crazy year for me (my beau opened his own business) and I didn't really have time... Not making that mistake again! XD Though my birds are totally healthy, it took them a full extra two weeks to reach the weight I wanted! Bleh! And now it is super cold out (we had 30's a couple days ago) right when it is time to process them. Boo. Well, now I know better! I should note, I HAVE still been feeding wet feed, just not fermented feed.