Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[MonsterClucker]

It will actually ferment w/ just the grain and water, that is how I started mine.  It has been going for over a year.

I couldn't find any braggs within 20 miles.

So I can just start it with water? I'm using the Organic Pride chick starter %20 protein. Is that fine?

 

[Kassaundra]

Yes, it may take a little longer, just once it does ferment do not toss the liquid use it as the start for your next batch just add water to it. Mine has been reused for over a year now w/o any problems. I do large batches and only do grains. I tried doing the crumbles and didn't like it so went back to my grains only. But it will work w/ the crumbles as well. I can't remember how long it took to ferment or I would let you know. (just a couple of days though)

 

[binders]

Yes, it may take a little longer, just once it does ferment do not toss the liquid use it as the start for your next batch just add water to it. Mine has been reused for over a year now w/o any problems. I do large batches and only do grains. I tried doing the crumbles and didn't like it so went back to my grains only. But it will work w/ the crumbles as well. I can't remember how long it took to ferment or I would let you know. (just a couple of days though)

What grains do you use? Do you feed this to your meaties and layers or just meaties?

 

[Kassaundra]

What grains do you use? Do you feed this to your meaties and layers or just meaties?

No I have layers that I am working on eating the extra males. (I've done the deed on two that were mercy kills from injury, and 4 males I need to do the deed on which will probably be in the next week or two) I use mostly oats but add whatever I find that is a good deal at the feed store when I go, wheat, scratch, barley, corn etc.. I would like to find some kind of complete feed that is grain instead of crumbles or pellets, but so far haven't found anything like that in my area.

 

[binders]

So do you supplement with dry mix to make sure they are getting all the other vit/minerals that they need?

 

[Kassaundra]

I do feed pellets but dry not fermented. I had been fermenting grains for some time before I found this thread about fermenting the pellets too. But I was to spoiled to the ease of the grains, and being able to do large batches easily, the large amounts of heavy mush that takes forever to drain just didn't work for me.

 

[jrsckn]

Thank you so much for the link to your thread, and all the work you are putting into your experiment!

A few questions, for you, Beekissed or anyone else:

Are you feeding once a day? (sorry if I missed that somewhere) I know your FF's started out slow; were they offered free choice at first and then move them to 12 on/12 off?

If you ferment more than they can eat in 12 hours, the leftover FF won't really 'go bad' will it? You just top off with more for the next feeding??

My plan is to start them on fermented organic crumbles, then transition them to flockraiser/scratch grains mix or flockraiser/cracked corn/oats/wheat mix (whichever is easier to acquire, I will be looking into this soon) Does this sound good? I figure having the flockraiser in the mix will help keep protein levels where they need to be.
Thanks so much, really looking forward to starting this. Chicks arrive the end of July!

Thanks, I'm working on the past week's calculations right now, hopefully they'll be done by tomorrow. I will say the ff chicks's weight has caught up to the CC but the FF+G are lagging behind. Can't wait to see what the numbers show/.

I feed my 17 week old pullets twice a day, 6 week old meaties 2-3 times a day to keep their feeders full (works best to keep things in the experiment equal), and try to keep my 8week old pullets feeder full with 2-3 feedings.

I keep a rolling bucket for my 17 week olds; I'll let it get down to very little every two weeks so I can dump the mother from the bottom bucket to the top bucket because I don't hang the bucket anymore, I use a strainer. The unused protion hasn't gone bad in the 10 weeks I've been fermenting.


On a side note, I prefer ACV to yeast. I ran out of ACV 3 weeks ago and wanted to "jump start" my buckets this week and used yeast instead. It made the mash thick and doughey like bread dough which has made it harder to stir and drain.

 

[Lacy Blues]

You will need to track down some Braggs. Try a health food store. You need some that has the 'mother' in it as it will start the fermentation process.

This much I know!

Can anyone give a rough estimate on how much Braggs? 1/4 bottle? 1/2 bottle? 2 Tbsp? to add to a gallon of regular ACV?

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'm not sure the ph level but anything 4 and under is safe, it would be impossible for botulism to grow at all.

How would one go about checking their ph level?

 

[Kassaundra]

How would one go about checking their ph level?

I would assume a ph testing kit, like for the soil. I've never checked mine, just made sure I always had a liquid layer on top.