Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Costa Rica Art]

That's very interesting. How long did it take to change the smell? I probably would have added more vinegar instead of sugar but that would have been a wild guess. I did have some chick starter scratch mixture fermenting in bowls in the house (I still don't have my bucket system set up. Still trying to figure out the best way so I don't spend money and then have to do something different). The chicks started eating less and this bowl didn't get used. When I made more, I forgot about that bowl and it sat on the table for two days, fermenting away, and I uncovered it the other night and boy did it smell! Not bad, but definitely very strong! I added some more vinegar and a little water and used that bowl first in the morning.

I wanted to ask... what do you guys do in the winter? How do you protect your ff from freezing? This is something I will have to take into account before I get my bigger system up and running too.

Oops, forgot to mention the vinegar which I added too. I stirred it well then let it set for two days, it was working very good then, the smell changed more toward the sour sweet smell so I went ahead and gave it to them. Being where I am in Costa Rica I don't have to worry about mash freezing. If I lived back in Wisconsin and had to have the mash working outside I would get an old non-working fridge and put a light in it that stays on all the time for heat and do my FF in there. The colder the FF gets the slower it will work. I would think that good working FF would be OK just below freezing but if it were left in the cold like that it would stop working. But if you are concerned about when you feed it I don't think it would freeze very fast unless it was extremely cold then the chickens would have to eat fast.

 

[crunchynut]

There was a massacre in the night.

We had rain last night, and it stopped late. Normally we always reapply urine after a rain, but we didn't last night.

I went out this morning with the feed, opened up the cage/shelter and saw the broodies with a few chicks. At first I assumed the rest were snuggled underneath them, but they got up and..nothing. There are only 6 left out of 25. One of the ones left is injured on its side, but it looks like it will make it.

I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked around but didn't see the other ones and the netting over the run was intact as was the wire. I just stood there wondering what kills and eats 19 chicks and don't leave a trace. Walking away I see there is a bit of a tunnel under the coop. Reach in and am able to pull out 3 bodies. 1 half eaten, 1 just the face eaten, and one killed but completely intact. I can see that the rest are under there too, but I couldn't reach them with just my arm.

I am so mad. Mad at myself for slacking on our urine barrier and for having not as secure a shelter for them as I thought. Mad at the !@#$% animal that slaughtered my birds and didn't even eaten them. Lives, wasted! I know we were going to eat them in the end, but I felt good that they'd get 10 weeks of very awesome life first, not a pointless death at one week old. And I feel bad for the poor broody mamas losing their babies like that.

The ones left and the broodies are going to sleep in the coop with the flock. We'll just deal with the soy in our eggs - better than more dead birds because I bet whatever it was will come back for seconds another night.

What kind of animal kills and doesn't eat? I'm off to search that in the predator forum.

 

[Beekissed]

Well...since they already had eaten many, I'm assuming the others were stored for later? Or they were taken to a burrow to feed young and some didn't quite make it home? Could be a colony of rats, could be a ferret/weasel, etc.

Urine barriers aren't really effective predator control, no matter how many people say they work, they generally aren't considered a great one. If you don't have good dogs on patrol at all times, it's probably a better choice to predator proof the coop with really good wire like hardware wire.

I'd be placing a JustOneBite bar down that hole and be getting really busy on wiring up your coop floor or around the coop base outside. Then, if I planned to keep chickens for much longer, I'd get a good dog that lives outside and has a healthy prey drive. This doesn't mean it has to attack your chickens too...I've had such dogs for the past 16 years and, if you get the right one, they will guard your animals with care but kill anything that preys upon them.

 

[crunchynut]

Thanks for the advice!

Thankfully this wasn't my main coop. That is super secure and closed off. We had a temporary shelter with dog kennels, tarps and chicken wire set up for the meat birds inside the coop's run (which is attached to the main coop). The animal burrowed underneath the coop to get into the run and I guess was able to pull chicks through the narrow holes.

I've learned my lesson though - next year the meaties get raised in the coop with the flock, even if it means soy for everyone for a while. And those that are left now are going in the coop too.

I can tell there are more bodies under the coop. I need to try and pull them out with a stick or something.

 

[Jeanette56]

I'm curious about winter-time fermentation too. I know that with my regular ferments (kefir & sourdough) that they will continue to work when it's cool just not as fast.

I wanted to ask... what do you guys do in the winter? How do you protect your ff from freezing? This is something I will have to take into account before I get my bigger system up and running too.

 

[Beekissed]

I would say a person would work with larger amounts than one could fit into a strainer and would keep the mix in a room in the house that doesn't freeze and just scoop out the desired amounts to go and feed. If you are feeding portioned amounts, they should eat it all before it freezes. With the larger amounts, you would have the total mix in the fermented water for much longer, which would be necessary if the growth was slowed by the cold.

What would you do for sourdough bread or yogurt mix? Keep it at room temp or slightly cooler at all times?

Or...you could suspend FF for the 3-4 coldest months of the winter and resume in the spring. Could be the chickens might benefit from a change or variety at that point?

 

[Costa Rica Art]

I can tell there are more bodies under the coop. I need to try and pull them out with a stick or something.

Take a stick long enough to reach way in and attach a piece of barbed wire to it on one end, maybe a piece 8" to 12" long. Insert that into the hole then twist the stick, that should catch the feathers/bodies of the chicks in the hole then you can just pull them out. It has worked for me removing rats that died from the poison given and mice too so it should do what you need to get done. It may take a few times to extract all of the chicks. It is a rotten job but best done before the animal thinks your place is a private feeder for it.

 

[trifecta]

So, my chicks arrived today. Most of them really like the FF (chick starter right now). My fermenting bucket does not look as impressive as the photos on the previous page though! I started quite bit more this afternoon and innoculated it with what was leftover from the first feeding. I am hoping to figure out how much these guys are going to eat, I think I put WAY to much in the feeder earlier today so I am going to clean that out in a bit so it doesn't go off.

How long can you leave the FF with chick starter before it goes bad? Mine just kind of looks like oatmeal, no weird top layer or anything. In fact, I wasn't sure if it was doing anything at all. With the bigger batch my kitchen kind of smells like bread dough so I guess that's a good sign.

 

[Major_in_MS]

I started reading this thread about two weeks ago and started my fermented feed about a week ago. My chickens love it, ducks not so much. I almost thought I would not be able to find any Bragg's ACV because it was not on the shelf at Kroger with the rest of the vinegar products. Bragg's website said that my Kroger was supposed to sell it so I kept looking. It was in the natural foods section next to the pharmacy. I also had a batch go bad. It had a horrible sewer smell to it. I think it got contaminated by drain flies from a nearby sink. I poured some bleach down that sink and stretched pantyhose over the top of my bucket and so far have not had anymore problems. I want to thank everyone for keeping this thread going. If I had not seen it on the front page then I probably would never have know about it. So thanks everybody.

 

[MonsterClucker]

So, my chicks arrived today.  Most of them really like the FF (chick starter right now).  My fermenting bucket does not look as impressive as the photos on the previous page though!  I started quite  bit more this afternoon and innoculated it with what was leftover from the first feeding.  I am hoping to figure out how much these guys are going to eat, I think I put WAY to much in the feeder earlier today so I am going to clean that out in a bit so it doesn't go off.

How long can you leave the FF with chick starter before it goes bad?  Mine just kind of looks like oatmeal, no weird top layer or anything. In fact, I wasn't sure if it was doing anything at all.  With the bigger batch my kitchen kind of smells like bread dough so I guess that's a good sign.

Hey trifecta! I'm also fermenting chick feed which really dosent react the fermentation process as well as the layer feed does. It's still fermented. I've left the feed in the tray all day pretty much. If its not contaminated by poop and shavings, ill just top it off with more feed. (not saying this is correct just sharing my experience)