Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[LindaB220]

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.

Hi charthorn I'd say Welcome to BYC but you've been here longer than me. Stay around and chat awhile.

This is very good advice. I'll be doing my first batch of CX's later this year. I'm in La and it won't get snowy. FF is very dear to my heart. Love it and the effect it has on my birds. Never had a sick one yet. Period.

 

[LindaB220]

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

They are absolutely beautiful. Google the pictues. Unfortunately not from my batch. Nada. Bummed. Two partially developed but the other 12 were totally scrambled. Bad shipping. Pa to La. I won't do that again. sigh

 

[LindaB220]

I see things a bit differently..... we're going for good gut flora here. Given that chickens have very few taste buds, I don't worry about sour being an issue at all. It seems to me to be counter-productive to give super food but then stop. Treats are one thing. I've fed FF 100% of the time for almost a year without issue.

For whatever that's worth.

I agree that bad buggies are unlikely. If you think your current batch is over-ripe, try making smaller batches until you find a balance your nose can live with....

I agree on this. I feed almost completely FF. Maybe 2x week I'll do table scraps with oatmeal and cook it. They love it, but FF is what makes them healthy.

 

[Regin]

I have been feeding FF for abut a year and a half now. My chickens love it but, they've never had dry food.

The chickens are vigorously healthy and active. They don't drink very much water since they get water in the food.

I am currently feeding 80 chickens and 3 turkeys 30 lbs. of FF twice daily 20-22% protein, 10 lbs. of grain mash and 2 lbs.soymeal mixed with 18 lbs. of water.

The batches are mixed in 5 gal buckets, I use two buckets full a day and TRY to keep it made at least two days head. Currently using 10 buckets.

The dry stuff gets premeasured (by weight) at 6lbs. into large plastic coffee containers.

I put in a couple of spoonsful of starter from an older batch, dump in a container of feed, then add 18 lbs. of water (about 2 1/4 gal.)

After this works for several hours (all day or overnight) I dump in the other 6 lbs. of feed mix.

 

[pdirt]

...

Oh, I realize I'm likely in the minority here. Not trying to convince anyone otherwise. There is something though that intuitively does not make sense to me to be eating or feeding acidic food ALL the time. It's not about the flavor of sour for the birds, but having SO much acid in their tract, all the time. I'm with you on going for good gut flora, but I'm not convinced that more is better in this case. And my "gut feeling" about it all could be just plain wrong. Soaked/sprouted I can understand, but highly acidic I don't. Perhaps I will change my tune one day, I've been known to do so a time or two before!


[/quote
Lol @pdirt I have to say, I think agree with you. I mean it's not like I eat fermented pickles, sauerkraut (which I don't really eat anyways), or tomatoes& oranges every day. If I did, I'd probly have a very bad acid reflex problem& maybe stomach users. So it may not be a good idea for the chickens either.

I should clarify that I make a batch of FF to last 2-3 weeks. Mine gets very sour in that time frame, pickle sour. This is why I don't feed a diet of 100% ff. Most folks are turning their FF over with fresh feed every few days, so this wouldn't be an issue.

 

[MeckTheHen]

Yeah, pdirt, I also found it a bit confusing, with some overlap. Yeast, for example, does its thing both aerobically and anaerobically, so technically you would also get yeast production in the anaerobic 'lacto-ferments'.

I've tossed the batch I started with the beer - it smells super sour and is so alive I'm scared it might climb out of the pail and clobber me the next time I go to feed the hens! I have a more sedate 'no-starter-used' batch that worked out nicely too; am switching to that.

Keeping an eye on things because the hens have very runny stomachs now. Hopefully it was just the over-active beer batch that did it, and now that I've switched to the so-called lacto batch, their stomachs will settle.

 

[MeckTheHen]

Ah, that's a pity! Sorry about that. This chickeny thing can be rather disappointing at times!

 

[cheepcheep riri]

Hi guys! I would like to join this thread, since a at going to do 4H broilers this year and feed them GG and see if they will do better than last years batch. Do you know if you can ferment turkey starter?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

You can ferment lots of things, but feed with animal products in it will probably stink.

 

[pdirt]

Yeah, pdirt, I also found it a bit confusing, with some overlap. Yeast, for example, does its thing both aerobically and anaerobically, so technically you would also get yeast production in the anaerobic 'lacto-ferments'.

I've tossed the batch I started with the beer - it smells super sour and is so alive I'm scared it might climb out of the pail and clobber me the next time I go to feed the hens! I have a more sedate 'no-starter-used' batch that worked out nicely too; am switching to that.

Keeping an eye on things because the hens have very runny stomachs now. Hopefully it was just the over-active beer batch that did it, and now that I've switched to the so-called lacto batch, their stomachs will settle.

As far as I know, you want a balance of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LABs). I think the basic "no starter" method encourages a natural balance between the two. Adding anything "yeasty", such as a live brewing beer, baker's yeast or any other form of live yeast could potentially upset that balance and produce an especially yeasty batch and or alcohol. If anyone wants to add any sort of starter, a lactic acid one (live fermented kraut juice or live buttermilk, for example) would be a good choice. And you don't need much starter, perhaps a 1/2 cup or so per 5 gallon bucket of feed. And of course, no starter is required, it will likely ferment just as well, just more slowly.

But if your beer-started batch smelled sour, that sounds like a good thing. To my knowledge, yeast only smells yeasty, alcohol is obvious and anything sour is either a result of acetic acid or lactic acid. Likely it was a lacto-ferment anyways, since acetic acid usually takes quite a while to develop in noticeable quantities, unless you use a large vinegar mother. If you ever end up with such a batch again, I wouldn't toss it, but simple stir in a bunch of water and feed to dilute the sourness down until its used up.