Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[MonsterClucker]

I appreciate all the help and knowledge everyone from this thread has contributed. It is a good learning experience.

I have 1 more question. Since I can't get my hands on any braggs in the next 2 days. What kind of yeast ans yogurt can I get from walmart? I've already started the soak with the chick starter, so I want to grab those tomorrow to get my fermenting going to ne ready by Saturday or sunday.

Again thank you Soo much. I appreciate everything.

 

[Zootopia]

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?

The OP will work fine, not using a starter will mean it will take longer to ferment. I use yeast alternately with the ACV to speed things up.

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?

Depends on how much you are mixing. For my 5 gallon buckets I use one good glug (probably about 1/4 of a cup every 3 or 4 days)

 

[Zootopia]

I appreciate all the help and knowledge everyone from this thread has contributed. It is a good learning experience.
I have 1 more question. Since I can't get my hands on any braggs in the next 2 days. What kind of yeast ans yogurt can I get from walmart? I've already started the soak with the chick starter, so I want to grab those tomorrow to get my fermenting going to ne ready by Saturday or sunday.
Again thank you Soo much. I appreciate everything.

I've never used yogurt but the yeast is just a jar of regular Fleshmans baking yeast. I just sprinkle maybe a 1/2 teaspoon and mix it in. Leave it set over night.

 

[MonsterClucker]

 I've never used yogurt but the yeast is just a jar of regular Fleshmans baking yeast. I just sprinkle maybe a 1/2 teaspoon and mix it in. Leave it set over night.

Thanks for the reply. So just regular ole' baking yeast huh? Awesome!

And I read somewhere that yogurt in chicks water also supplies those beneficial bacteria that is good for them. I think it either goes in their FF or their water. Anyone hears of this?
Enjoy the morning!

 

[MonsterClucker]

Oh one more question lol.

How often am I supposed to stir it? And I just need to leave the sid cracked right not completely covered right?

 

[Kassaundra]

What about starting some grain to ferment by just using water like you did Kassaundra and shredding up an apple and adding that to the mix? Would that make the ACV and have all the health benefits too?

Water and feed or grain will ferment, the apple isn't going to make acv at all, and I don't think will do anything good bad or indifferent to the whole process.

 

[Henery Hawk]

I was thinking of going out to the field and pulling the tops off of the grass that has gone to seed and throwing it in my FF mix. I don't know what kind of grass it is. What are the odds of this being harmful or diluting the nutrients of the mix? Would it add anything of value?

 

[burnyourmoney]

I went out this afternoon and took some pictures of my 2 setups.

First we have the layers and roosters that have yet to be eaten. They are coming up to 5 months old I think and I am eagerly hoping for an egg soon

This is the shed where all the goods are kept. All these guys are getting is fermented scratch. It is made up of corn, wheat, barley and oats. They free range during the day so this is just a bit of a supplement and something to keep them coming home. They don't much care for the wheat, which tells me they are getting enough to eat because when they are hungry, they eat everything. I'll probably start buying bulk grains soon and mixing my own so there is less waste.

The shed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140511.jpg

How I "hang" my 2 bucket system. It works awesome with the grains:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140513.jpg

What the wet grains look like:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140512.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140514.jpg

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Moving on to the meaties, I am feeding 207, 8 days old White Rocks. Don't they look delicious?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140531.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140529.jpg

Here is their 2 bucket system. It does not work at all. The water does not drain out the holes. I think it's because the wet crumbles have a consistency similar to cooked oatmeal. Instead I use some strange kitchen ladle thing with a lot of holes in it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140516.jpg

I'm not overly patient so the food comes out pretty wet. They love it just the same:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140518.jpg

In the small feeders:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140524.jpg

Since you can't use metal containers for water with ACV, I assume you can't use metal feeders with fermented food. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. So I built my own feeder. I had bought a 48" metal feeder with that fancy bar on the top that spins to keep the birds out of the food. It works great, no poop in the food. Here is what the modified feeder looks like:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140528.jpg

And another shot of them eating:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140527.jpg

I also feed them dirt. Yep, plain old dirt from outside. They've had it since day 2. I estimate that they have eaten half to an equal amount of dirt compared to their food by weight. I figure it's good for their gizzard, guts and poop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140540.jpg

I'm also pretty sure that they think my shoes are "mom" and that my shoelaces are nice treats that mom brought for them. It makes it hard to walk in there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/burnyourmoney/P1140522.jpg

Hopefully this post is helpful to somebody.

Oh yeah, I stir my feed whenever I add new feed, which is several times daily. I scoop out how much feed I need for that feeding, then I add that much dry food back into the wet bucket. Then I add enough water to cover it. I don't use a lid on my FF.

There is no need to keep adding ACV to your feed buckets. You only need it initially to inoculate your bucket with good bacteria (bacterium?). Once that bacteria has been added, as long as you keep feeding the bacteria they will remain alive in the feed. I would guess you could go a whole week without adding more feed before the bacteria would die and you would have to add more. The bacteria are eating the chicken feed, sort of predigesting it.

If you want to make your own ACV at home, I think all you need to do is crush an apple and make some apple cider and then let it sit out in the warmth until it tastes like vinegar.

I personally don't think you *need* to keep the fermented food wet. I know mine has risen above the water level many times and there hasn't been any casualties.

 

[MonsterClucker]

Took the trip. Got the Braggs. Omw home to put it in my fermenting feed! Hahahahaa!

 

[jeapa]

 I use both ACV and yeast, just which ever comes to hand first. I have a bucket of game bird starter and a bucket of half GBS and scratch going and I just add more as I feed it out. Had them going for a while now and every couple of days I'll add either the ACV or the yeast. I don't drain, just feed a gruel.

Thanks for the tips. I did add some ACV to a new bucket with water and I noticed the mixture of crumbles and grain feels more slimy. When I fermented with the yeast it was more pasty. The flock really loves the FF either way and I am glad I happened upon this thread.