Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[jrsckn]

I keep mine covered with water so that I have some liquid left over for the next batch. While it's nice to not have to strain it, I feel keeping it submerged and stirring it a few times a day helps give a more uniform fermentation than one big, sticky glop plus you don't have to keep adding Braggs with every batch.

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

I keep mine covered with water so that I have some liquid left over for the next batch. While it's nice to not have to strain it, I feel keeping it submerged and stirring it a few times a day helps give a more uniform fermentation than one big, sticky glop plus you don't have to keep adding Braggs with every batch.

It seemed like when I tried to keep more water in the mix, stirring it several times a day just seemed to break up the crumbles and mix it in with the water, resulting in more of a slurry. Nothing to strain!
Am I stirring too often or too much? (only did it twice a day)

 

[crazychickenwom]

Hi thunderbolt&marjorie! I am somewhat new to FF too, but what has worked well for me so far is to just soak enough feed so that I have some left in the bucket after feeding and then mix the new feed into the old (with more water of course). I have found that if I get the water content just right, it will be poofed up and a nice moist mash consistency, with no need for draining. I add ACV to the first batch, and then will add a bit more occasionally to keep it fermenting well. My feed btw, is a homemade mix with ground and cracked grains, & powdered supplements including fishmeal & Poultry Nutribalancer. For new chicks we just grind the grains a little smaller. For our laying hens, I have two buckets, one for their morning feeding, and one for the evening feeding, so each bucket can have about 24 hrs to soak in between feedings. We have a lot of extra old goat milk and kefir right now, so I will occasionally mix some into the fermented feed before I give it to them - they seem to like it when it is even more sloppy and wet!

Hope this helps! Congrats on your new babies!

I did the same tyhing when I fermented for my meats, I used a big enough bucket to hold the feed for 1 day plus enough to have some left over. at night I wopuld refill with the grains and water and let it sit overnight in the kitchen. By the time the morning came the feed was sweet smelling, had the milky layer on top, and when stirred bubbled and rolled nicely! After the morning feeding I would sometimes add a little more water, npt very oftern though, and usually leave it outside during the day with a milk crate over top to keep the free rangers out of the bucket. This allowed for some bugs to get in for protein, and plenty of air. I would say I might have left 2 Cups of the FF in the bottom of the bucket to start the next feeding. The only time I had to add more Braggs is when someone, not me, forgot to make the batch up for the next day at night and I needed to boost the ferment for the evening feeding. In the morning it was just wet food... and I only had to do that 1 time. by the time they were getting ready to go to slaughter they were eating almost more than I could mix for a day in the bucket I allotted, but it ended up ok once we started butchering... Good luck with your chicks!

 

[Costa Rica Art]

Question:
It seems to me, adding water/braggs/yeast to the chick starter, that the feed soaks up all the water. Adding more water to keep it 'submerged' and stirring it a few times a day just seems to turn it into a slurry.

I added a little more crumbles to it last night, and now this morning it was more the consistency of oatmeal, as a previous poster mentioned theirs was.

I needed no slotted spoon or draining as there was no water.

Is this right? I have no water remaining to inoculate a new batch of FF. I could understand draining off whole/cracked grains, but the starter seems to soak it all up.

Can I just add more water/feed to leftovers? (I started more than I needed for the 5 chicks, yet on Friday or Saturday my 25 meaties arrive)

Those With Wisdom: please advise!

I think you can do what works for you any way you can, if you are getting lots of bubbles when you stir and have that smell sort of like sourdough then things should be fine. If the chicks/chickens like what you are doing then you should be OK. I have water standing on mine as I have a large strainer and it is easy for me to drain off the excess liquid. I have 3 fermenters going which seems to work just fine for me. I have about 1/4 of what was in the fermenter left over to start the next batch fermenting. I think if you get the grain/scratch/crumbles soaked well and give it 24/36 hours to ferment you should have what the chickens like. Bubbles are what tells you that the fermentation is going on. I think it is that the grain, mainly corn, that the moisture from soaking/fermenting helps two ways, the grains and such digest easier and the chickens don't have to drink a lot of water to aid in digestion. Have you ever eaten a thick crust pizza then drank a lot of liquid to help digestion only to have that bloating feeling from the reaction of water (or beer) on the crust? I think that is sort of like chickens eating cracked grains then drinking water but eating the FF they don't need as much water to aid digestion so they balance out better. Just what I have observed so far.

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

Hi thunderbolt&marjorie! I am somewhat new to FF too, but what has worked well for me so far is to just soak enough feed so that I have some left in the bucket after feeding and then mix the new feed into the old (with more water of course). I have found that if I get the water content just right, it will be poofed up and a nice moist mash consistency, with no need for draining. I add ACV to the first batch, and then will add a bit more occasionally to keep it fermenting well. My feed btw, is a homemade mix with ground and cracked grains, & powdered supplements including fishmeal & Poultry Nutribalancer. For new chicks we just grind the grains a little smaller. For our laying hens, I have two buckets, one for their morning feeding, and one for the evening feeding, so each bucket can have about 24 hrs to soak in between feedings. We have a lot of extra old goat milk and kefir right now, so I will occasionally mix some into the fermented feed before I give it to them - they seem to like it when it is even more sloppy and wet!

Hope this helps! Congrats on your new babies!

Thanks Joyful!!

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

I did the same tyhing when I fermented for my meats, I used a big enough bucket to hold the feed for 1 day plus enough to have some left over. at night I wopuld refill with the grains and water and let it sit overnight in the kitchen. By the time the morning came the feed was sweet smelling, had the milky layer on top, and when stirred bubbled and rolled nicely! After the morning feeding I would sometimes add a little more water, npt very oftern though, and usually leave it outside during the day with a milk crate over top to keep the free rangers out of the bucket. This allowed for some bugs to get in for protein, and plenty of air. I would say I might have left 2 Cups of the FF in the bottom of the bucket to start the next feeding. The only time I had to add more Braggs is when someone, not me, forgot to make the batch up for the next day at night and I needed to boost the ferment for the evening feeding. In the morning it was just wet food... and I only had to do that 1 time. by the time they were getting ready to go to slaughter they were eating almost more than I could mix for a day in the bucket I allotted, but it ended up ok once we started butchering... Good luck with your chicks!

Thanks for the info!
I know that the chick starter crumbles is what has me going

I can imagine that grains, even ground finely, would work better!

 

[MonsterClucker]

My 5 SLW's arrived this morning!  They are just adorable!

I added a little yeast last night as it didn't appear things were going great with the mix I started. 

This morning, it was 'fluffy/puffy', smelled more fermented.  Looked similar to the pics posted earlier in this thread.

I fed a small amount (along with some dry crumbles to entice them and was happy to see they pecked it a bit before I had to speed off to work.


Question:

It seems to me, adding water/braggs/yeast to the chick starter, that the feed soaks up all the water.  Adding more water to keep it 'submerged' and stirring it a few times a day just seems to turn it into a slurry. 


I added a little more crumbles to it last night, and now this morning it was more the consistancy of oatmeal, as a previous poster mentioned theirs was.


I needed no slotted spoon or draining as there was no water.


Is this right?  I have no water remaining to innoculate a new batch of FF.  I could understand draining off whole/cracked grains, but the starter seems to soak it all up.


Can I just add more water/feed to leftovers? (I started more than I needed for the 5 chicks,  yet on Friday or Saturday my 25 meaties arrive)

 
Those With Wisdom: please advise! 

I've been feeding fermented feed now for a few weeks to both my chicks and older chickens. I'm not a pro by far, but it is pretty easy.
Basically, I don't think you can over ferment the feed. The longer the better (Right?)
So what I've been doing is making big batches enough for 2 or 3 feedings. The chick starter teLly does soak up pretty much all the water. So what I do is feed them, then add more chick starter to the bucket and mix that in and top off with more water. Thats really it. Really easy!

I kind of like the starter a little more watery just because I know they are getting more liquids in their bodies in this summer heat. Sometimes before I feed, if I feel its too thick ill add more water. But whatever consistency you like.

One tip. Try to make sure when fermenting the feed that you don't want it to get too dry. You want it to be really wet. If there's too much liquid in the bucket before your feeding, just try to pour the watery liquid into a jar or another bucket to re-inoculate your feed bucket.

 

[jrsckn]

It seemed like when I tried to keep more water in the mix, stirring it several times a day just seemed to break up the crumbles and mix it in with the water, resulting in more of a slurry. Nothing to strain!
Am I stirring too often or too much? (only did it twice a day)

Can't stir it too much. Mine becomes a thin, slurry consistency but it strains just fine. I use a mylon mesh strainer like this

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

I've been feeding fermented feed now for a few weeks to both my chicks and older chickens. I'm not a pro by far, but it is pretty easy.
Basically, I don't think you can over ferment the feed. The longer the better (Right?)
So what I've been doing is making big batches enough for 2 or 3 feedings. The chick starter teLly does soak up pretty much all the water. So what I do is feed them, then add more chick starter to the bucket and mix that in and top off with more water. Thats really it. Really easy!
I kind of like the starter a little more watery just because I know they are getting more liquids in their bodies in this summer heat. Sometimes before I feed, if I feel its too thick ill add more water. But whatever consistency you like.
One tip. Try to make sure when fermenting the feed that you don't want it to get too dry. You want it to be really wet. If there's too much liquid in the bucket before your feeding, just try to pour the watery liquid into a jar or another bucket to re-inoculate your feed bucket.

This helps a lot.
Thanks everyone for your tips and information!

 

[thunderbolt&marjorie]

jrsckn, I have a strainer similar to that. I just thought with the consistancy there wouldn't be much left in the strainer to feed.

With all the helpful information, I will experiment (like you all have!) and find a consistancy that seems to work.