Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[doubleatraining]

Mine didn't like the whole oats at first either. So I left them in the feeder until they cleaned it up they didn't get any more feed. The next night they LOVED the oats and ate them first. LOL I'm such a mean momma.

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

Read this entire thread (whew!)
I am getting 25 FRs and 5 GLW chicks in a month and would like to start them on FF.
I don't want to ferment too much, or too little; can anyone give an approximate of how much to start?
I plan on starting with crumbles, and possibly switching to grains (I have a mostly full bag of cracked corn I was given) once they are old enough.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[jrsckn]

Read this entire thread (whew!)
I am getting 25 FRs and 5 GLW chicks in a month and would like to start them on FF.
I don't want to ferment too much, or too little; can anyone give an approximate of how much to start?
I plan on starting with crumbles, and possibly switching to grains (I have a mostly full bag of cracked corn I was given) once they are old enough.

Thanks for any advice!

Check out my thread, I have detailed daily ff feed amounts for 18 CX chicks from day 1 to 4 weeks (so far), I know its a different breed and number of chicks, but it'll give you an idea of where to start. I fermented 4C of crumbles in an ice cream tub to start.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/672135/meatie-experiment-ff-vs-crumbles

 

[Jitamon]

This is such great knowledge .

 

[Kassaundra]

Mine must be unusual, they have always loved the whole oats fermented, they also like any grain I have tried fermented (wheat, corn, scratch that had ????) they do not like the layer pellets fermented at all.

 

[jrsckn]

When I went out to feed them this morning, the oats were gone

They are still picking around them but at least they ate them overnight.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Ha! It usually works for me, clean your plates chickens, then you can have some more!

 

[ROCKIN R FARM]

I did not have any braggs Vinegar for me to ferment and we are low on feed so I just took a bucket and added oats to it, and just covered it in water and let is soak all day till feeding time. They all loved it. I fed it to my chicks, pullets, full size chickens, Even my pig, ducks and geese Oh cannot forget about my goats they all ate it. So I will be doing it again tonight. And when I get my Braggs I will start doing it that way and see what else we have around to add to it. I heard its not good to feed scratch to chickens during the summer sense the corn raises the body temp, does it not do the same when its fermented? I am thinking of adding Alfalfa Cubes as well is that okay to do. I am going to go threw the past posts to see what all the rest of you are adding to your feed.

 

[chicken curious]

I heard its not good to feed scratch to chickens during the summer sense the corn raises the body temp, does it not do the same when its fermented?

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in, but I'll go ahead and throw in my 2cents: corn raises the body temp because it's a lot of work to digest. Fermented foods are easier to digest in general (the beneficial bacteria in the ferment pre-digest the food and make all the nutrients more available) so fermented corn should not raise the body temp as much as hard corn kernels.

I hope this helps!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Exactly that...some foods actually produce more energy units when digested, ff is 'predigested' if you will...