Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

A yeasty smell is fine. It's the wild yeasts that populate it and make it ferment.

If it's bad it has a noticeable bad smell. Not yeasty or fermenty, but gross.


As an aside, it is possible for a batch to go bad. Because of the high heat here in FL I usually start a fresh batch about every week. Otherwise things can go icky... maybe after two or three weeks, hard to tell. So I cut my chanced of having a batch go bad that I'm planning on feeding that day by heading it off and starting up new batches fairly regularly.

"Icky" is subjective. A deep ferment in hot weather smells like vomit...but that doesn't mean it went bad. Left for a couple of weeks, never stirred and never refreshed, then yeah...you will use up all the available feed for your scoby and they may start to die and let nasties grow in the feed. But, a deep fermented smell does not mean the feed went bad. Mine gets that smell within 3 days of refreshing the feed while we have hot weather...smells icky but is NOT icky, still healthy to feed out and just fine for their consumption.

Good idea to rebatch more frequently in the hot weather to avoid all that, so you are on the right track. SCOBY accelerates in metabolism in the high heat and can use up available feed for them quicker....I usually rebatch once a week in summer also.

 

[Compadre]

Hi, I've been feeding my quail fermented feed for 3 weeks now and they seem to be doing great on it until just recently. These are 4 and 6 week old birds. I am noticing more "runny" poop now though and the odor is getting pretty bad, whereas it wasn't so smelly the first two weeks of fermented feeding. I think it's time to give them a break and go back to dry game bird feed instead of fermenting it for a change of pace. Anyone do rotations like this or just stick with fermented all the way? What about the increased odor and runny poop? Anyway to cut down on that? I just add water to my dry game bird feed and a few tablespoons of Braggs apple cider vinegar.

 

[Latestarter]

Is there any blood in the poop? You may be dealing with something totally unrelated to FF... Runny poop coupled with stink makes me think possible digestive issues like Cocci or poss worms, or some other biologic problem. Hope you solve whatever it is. Good luck.

 

[Compadre]

Is there any blood in the poop? You may be dealing with something totally unrelated to FF... Runny poop coupled with stink makes me think possible digestive issues like Cocci or poss worms, or some other biologic problem. Hope you solve whatever it is. Good luck.

No, no blood in the poop. It seems to have cleared up though. I gave them a break from the FF for a few days then started feeding it again yesterday; no problems so maybe I had a bad batch of FF or something else was going on.

 

[OHhappychicks]

My meat chicks are 5 weeks old. When can I add some BOSS to their feed? I'm feeding them start and grow FF. They are getting some size to them. Do any of you change their feed to something else, or do you just feed them the start/grow?

 

[The Hawk]

My meat chicks are 5 weeks old. When can I add some BOSS to their feed? I'm feeding them start and grow FF. They are getting some size to them. Do any of you change their feed to something else, or do you just feed them the start/grow?

I fed my meat chicks FF starter from day one to 3 weeks then went to FF grower. Butchered them at just over 8 weeks and they turned out excellent.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I fed my meat chicks FF starter from day one to 3 weeks then went to FF grower. Butchered them at just over 8 weeks and they turned out excellent.

Ok. I have to go get them some more feed today, so I will look for the grower. I'm going to have them processed at 10 weeks. They are Freedom rangers.

 

[Gentry1350]

I read thru this entire thread back in May/June. I started FF in June and my girls loved it! I have 28 hens/POL pullets, 7 three-month-olds, and a new batch of six that are one week old.

I repurposed a large, clear Rubbermaid kitchen container (30 qt) and it has been working well. The lower-profile, wide opening is great for stirring and dipping feed out with a koolaid pitcher instead of a spoon.

Over the last several weeks, I've noticed that the girls don't seem to care for it. I thought it was bc I switched feeds. But i think it's just not fermenting bc of 1) fast turnover (feeding 2x per day), or 2) drop in night-time temps, or 3) a combination of both. Without rereading all 1700+ pages again, I was hoping someone could offer a suggestion OTHER THAN MOVING IT INTO THE HOUSE. Keeping it inside is NOT an option. However, I have numerous outbuildings (unheated) and access to electric outlets in them, so that may provide an option. If I can't ferment thru the winter, I will have to sell a bunch of chickens. When they all start laying, it may not be as much of an issue, bc I can sell more eggs to offset the feed bill. I'm only getting 6-8 eggs a day right now AND I'm in a rural area so I'm not getting much $ per dz. I also have a bunch of quail I'm hatching and I want to use it for them.

Options I've thought of:
1) using a large cooler for my container and mixing with hot water (would be mixing 2x per day...so adding hot water 2x per day). We have well-water, so I would just use hot tap water.

2) inserting an aquarium heater into my container.....???

3) building a "box" to house my container of FF and heating the box (with a lightbulb or flex watt heat tape or other heat source). Like building a FF incubator...LOL

What does everyone else do in the winter?

ETA : I went back and skimmed pg 120-160 (Sept and Oct of the year this thread started) and found some solutions around pages 144-5. Someone mentioned making an insulated box with lightbulb inside and someone else mentioned wrapping a seedling heat mat around their FF bucket.

Still interested to see what most people do for wintertime, BESIDES keeping it in the house....thanks!

 

[Latestarter]

I keep mine in the house

I get it... not an option for you.

OK, still, I have read on here in the mealworm section about folks who buy low wattage heating pads (like 4 watts?) to keep their mealies warm in the cooler months. Perhaps the insulated box w/light bulb (for air temp) and a low power heat pad under the container (to directly heat the contents)? Also like the hot tap water when mixing (that's what I do as well). Other than that, I don't know...

Could it be that your girls have just slowed down temporarily? Mine do that on occasion (for some unknown reason). Do you free range them? Could they be getting enough food there that they don't need as much ff?

 

[Sutremaine]

I'm currently on page 560 of 1733, and I have a question. Bread isn't too good for chickens by itself, but will it be vastly improved by fermenting? I can get some free from work, but declined the offer originally because I figured it'd be empty calories compared to their usual feed.

Their usual feed is fermented and has been for a month or two. The container has settled down nicely, and there's enough activity that I can take off some liquid and mess around fermenting other things.