Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

How much grain + how much water are you using before pouring into your 5-gallon bucket?
By the way, just remember that chickens are omnivorous and will do better if they have some animal type protein in their diet as well.
Here is a link that might interest you - http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Sprouting.html
I've been wanting to do what he does but I am only just now getting to a point where I can try it.

Quote:

I just put as much grain as I can in my 5 gal. bucket and leave space at the top for swelling of the feed/grains and then submerse it all in the water, leaving about 3-5 in. of water above the grain line.

I let the chickens provide their own animal proteins as they free range and forage all day long, then feed them my feed supplement in the evening. I did this with meat chickens and used to do it with layers but my focus has changed and, in the future, I will try to develop laying birds who thrive and produce primarily on their own forage and will only supplement this in winter months.

 

[Nomibear]

110 pages! Wow! I started last Friday, and just finished...
After reading all this info, I am really Hopeing this works for me I don't have any meaties right now, 19 16-week old Pullets, and 7 mallard ducks. Just this evening I picked up some yeast, and got a small batch started. I think I'll wait until tomorrow evening, or even Thurs morning to feed it?

I have a question. As someone who has grown up a vegetarian, and has eaten soy pretty much my whole life. Why are some of you choosing a soy free diet? Allergy? Or neg research? And does the chicken eatting it, really transfer to you, through the eggs?

 

[Beekissed]

Probably pretty much the bad press, I'm thinking. I don't have a problem with soy and won't feed bought feeds that have animal byproducts in them. I see soy as the lesser of the two evils...soy is a plant protein from the soil, so if it is tainted in any way, chemically or pathogenically, it is likely that it was not absorbed in such quantities as to do my chickens harm with long term feeding.

Animal byproducts, on the other hand, are generally from ground up chicken feathers and offal from the commercial chicken/beef/pork industry...do I want to feed that product, derived from a disease infested source~directly from the source, I might add...no filtering through the soils/rains/etc... to my chickens?

I'll pass. Bring on the soy. We've been drinking it for years as well, due to one of the children being allergic to dairy...no big deal.

 

[Island Roo]

Some of us are trying to avoid genetically modified foods and the majority of soy in north america is GMO.

 

[Beekissed]

And all the corn and most chicken feeds have corn as a base. Not only that, but it is rare to find even simple foods that do not contain high fructose corn syrup from GMO corn~ketchup, spaghetti sauce, soups, cereals, mayonnaise, breads, etc.

Trying to avoid soy in chicken feeds so that you won't consume GMO products via their eggs and meat is like gagging on a gnat and swallowing a mule, IMO.

So, in order to avoid GMO soy, folks are feeding feeds with animal byproducts~animals that were raised on GMO corn AND soy, and raised in the worst of health conditions. Even the farmed fish have been raised on GMO feed bases and are even fed chicken litter as an extra source of protein.

I try to avoid contaminants in my food supply as well and will continue to strive for it...but there are some things that make little sense to me and trying to avoid all soy products for this reason is one of them. Soy is just about as prevalent as the HFCS in all the foods we buy. When I do consume soy milk it is about once a month, if that. We try to avoid processed foods altogether but there will always be a problem doing that in the world in which we currently reside.

For now, I'm going to develop a flock that doesn't have to rely on GMO crops at all and only needs supplemental feeding in the winter months.

 

[Jeanette56]

Overall everything that I've read about soy indicates that it is not a good food for just about any human or animal Unless it is fermented. It has been implicated in many dog/cat deaths for the short time it was in pet food. It seems to be a poor food for anything to do with reproduction, including fetal death. Personally I have serious allergic problems with it and maybe worst of all is that it is one of the most Genetically Modified Crops out there. GMO = not good for anybody.
(This information which I have Not substantiated with links or facts is not meant to cause debate. This is not the place for it. There is plenty of information online if you care to do your own research.)

110 pages! Wow! I started last Friday, and just finished...
After reading all this info, I am really Hopeing this works for me I don't have any meaties right now, 19 16-week old Pullets, and 7 mallard ducks. Just this evening I picked up some yeast, and got a small batch started. I think I'll wait until tomorrow evening, or even Thurs morning to feed it?
I have a question. As someone who has grown up a vegetarian, and has eaten soy pretty much my whole life. Why are some of you choosing a soy free diet? Allergy? Or neg research? And does the chicken eating it, really transfer to you, through the eggs?

 

[Nomibear]

My chickies are 16 weeks old today. for their birthday they get their first into to FF! At first they stayed away, but found my fermenting jar very interesting...


Once one tasted it, here they all come! Well... most. the other nine didn't want to leave the shade.

 

[shadowmane]

110 pages! Wow! I started last Friday, and just finished...
After reading all this info, I am really Hopeing this works for me I don't have any meaties right now, 19 16-week old Pullets, and 7 mallard ducks. Just this evening I picked up some yeast, and got a small batch started. I think I'll wait until tomorrow evening, or even Thurs morning to feed it?
I have a question. As someone who has grown up a vegetarian, and has eaten soy pretty much my whole life. Why are some of you choosing a soy free diet? Allergy? Or neg research? And does the chicken eatting it, really transfer to you, through the eggs?

Mostly negative research. My wife is dead set against any and all soy. Therefore, we buy feed without the soy in it.

 

[Nomibear]

Just asking. Has anyone read study's where soy, or anything else, enters the egg and shows up in our systems?

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Overall everything that I've read about soy indicates that it is not a good food for just about any human or animal Unless it is fermented. It has been implicated in many dog/cat deaths for the short time it was in pet food. It seems to be a poor food for anything to do with reproduction, including fetal death. Personally I have serious allergic problems with it and maybe worst of all is that it is one of the most Genetically Modified Crops out there. GMO = not good for anybody.
(This information which I have Not substantiated with links or facts is not meant to cause debate. This is not the place for it. There is plenty of information online if you care to do your own research.)

I have a question. As someone who has grown up a vegetarian, and has eaten soy pretty much my whole life. Why are some of you choosing a soy free diet? Allergy? Or neg research? And does the chicken eatting it, really transfer to you, through the eggs?

Here is a link to an article answering your question on soy being IN the egg or chicken - http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/10/11/soy-protein-found-in-egg-yolks-chicken-tissue/

I hope this is helpful! For now we are still trying to keep soy out of our chickens diet, but I have been seriously considering using a small amount of Organic Soy in the future, now that we are doing the fermented feed, because that is supposed to make it safer, or healthier, as Jeanette56 mentioned above. The higher protein and fat content is hard to replace!