Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Tivona]

Either of these the ones your thinking of?

People are doing studies on fermented fish products as poultry feed so I suspect we are good to ferment...

http://ps.fass.org/content/69/2/270.abstract

Part of the abstract

Sounds great! Sounds like a great mix, particularly with the fish oil in it. I do start my chicks on fermented starter and, as soon as they finish the bag, they start on layer/whole grain mix. Usually 2-3 wks of age, depending on how many are eating on that bag of starter...don't remember when they finished it this last time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks! That link is helpful. I just wasn't sure on fermenting animal protein but now that I read the article at that link I remember reading in the past about fermenting fish products. I wonder if there is any issue regarding mixing the grains and fish together? I'm guessing not. We mix whey - which is another animal protein - with good success so I'm thinking I should be good to go if I want to ferment the mix.

Sounds great! Sounds like a great mix, particularly with the fish oil in it. I do start my chicks on fermented starter and, as soon as they finish the bag, they start on layer/whole grain mix. Usually 2-3 wks of age, depending on how many are eating on that bag of starter...don't remember when they finished it this last time.

 

[Matrix Escapee]

I ferment my mix and it has fish meal, crab meal, kelp meal, and seashell flower (which is really a dried an ground krill type creature). We have had no problems and been fermenting for over 3 weeks now. My mix also has cracked corn, field peas, wheat, and flax meal.
It smells a little stinky when I first stir, but after I stir it has the sweet fermented grain smell. I think the fish causes that initial stink smell, after all it is fish. I am gonna try going on a longer ferment length. Currently i just replace whatever i scoop out for the day, so most of what i am feeding is only going for 24 hours.

 

[griffinkid02]

OK, I have been away from the thread for a while, but catching up now. I can't seem to get a consistent growth of fermentation on my batches. I can get it to bubble fairly nicely when stired, but no sign of bubbling when it's just sitting, also no visible collecting of mother on top. I'm thinking of just setting up another bucket so that I can double the time it sets for.

But the reason I'm posting is that I have a wicked idea forming and i thought I should share...lol.

This starts back in March when I got my Nankin Bantams, I fed them the starter feed that I had bought and was simply horrified by how quickly they went through what I was assured was enough to feed 25 bantams for 6 weeks. I found this thread while researching ways to stretch out my feed. I set up a 5 gallon bucket, tossed in the remaining growing feed, added water until it was a horrible and disgusting gruel consistencey, and added two packets of baking yeast, lol. And even though the consistency never got any better, the chicks loved it and I didn't have to take out a loan to keep feeding them.

Now, in the first 3 weeks after they arrived it was too cold outside in March to leave the brooder outdoors (my order got shipped a couple of weekd earlier than I had originally bed told. It was nice to get my chicks early, but it does throw off some plans when you concider how much the weather can change from week to week.). While they were trapped indoors I was looking for ways to keep the smell down, and read an article about people buying "sweet straw" for nests. It basically was hay and/or shavings with fragrent herbs mixed in, in order to provide aroma therapy for happy hens while they are in the nest box laying..... (Seriously? Aroma therapy for my hens? I can't afford therapy for me, let alone the birds! lol). But I thought it might be on to something. So, the next time I changed the litter in the brooder, I sprinkled some herbs that we had in bulk that had a nice fragrence to them; sage, celantro, parsley, and rosemary. My experiment was an utter disaster, the chicks discovered the herb bit in less that a minute and proceeded to DESTROY the brooder, feeder, and waterer in a feeding frenzy that would humilate a school of great white sharks. I ended up having tochange bedding twice that day because they had knocked the waterer around until it came open and soaked the bedding.

However.... for the rest of the 3 weeks they were indoor, I kept noticing that after they would gorge themselves on food and curl up for naps around the lamp..... My chickens would start to smell like dressing cooking. And this was well after I had cleaned ALL signs of those herbs from the brooder. Now, I'mnot raising any meat birds at this time, but I can't help but wonder, if someone were to start slipping some herbs into their FF stew..... Coule we end up with Pre-Seasoned chickens? And if so what kind of market intrest do you think we could create for that sort of thing, lol? Any thoughts on this fromt he group?

 

[Beekissed]

Now...that's a thought. I think someone should try it and let us know if it can happen. We all know the taste of the bird is somewhat affected by diet, so why not pre-herbalize a bunch of chickens for kicks and giggles? Would only improve their health and it sure would be fun to try.....

Who's got herbs and meaties right now?

 

[Kildare49]

I like the idea.

I have 26 x's that I will start processing 9/29 & other 1/2 on 10/6.


How long? Herbs in ff for a week for the birds to be prcoessed on 10/6?

At Least that way I'm able to mark the packages.

These 26 have been ff from day 1.

- 3 weeks on starter ( until they finished starter food ) ( 2bags = 100#'s )

- Mash ( 16% protein) the remainder ( 4bags = 200#'s to date ...7 weeks old )

- 12 on 12 off feeding from the age of 5 days.

- fenced area, so they have gotten to be good at foraging. ( I also do alot of food plot work for clients & self. And these guys eat everything..buckwheat..tillage radishes...clover...oats...winter rye....and they destroy a "weed" in my yard & fields that I need to I.D. because it is there favorite.)

- no health problems, all cockerels

 

[Taniamax]

I make Kombucha too! I think you can just put some kombucha in the water and you'd get the same benefit as the acv: full of probiotics and alkaline forming plus the kombucha would also be full of b vitamins and other beneficial acids.

I'm not an expert, just makes sense to me. I always add kombucha to the fermenting feed and sometimes to the water to change up the probiotics instead of acv. Then again, it's my first set of layers and they're close to POL so I can't speak to flavor of the eggs yet.

I am definitely going to give this a try. I'll have to make a new batch for this. How fun. Great idea.

 

[galanie]

I am definitely going to give this a try. I'll have to make a new batch for this. How fun. Great idea.

You know seriously? I think Kombucha is a type of vinegar anyway. I tried it, and since I can't stand sweet tea, let it brew to get less sweet. It turned into something like vinegar. It was pretty tasty but it was more like vinegar than anything else and of course I couldn't drink but a few sips at a time.

 

[Leahs Mom]

You know seriously? I think Kombucha is a type of vinegar anyway. I tried it, and since I can't stand sweet tea, let it brew to get less sweet. It turned into something like vinegar. It was pretty tasty but it was more like vinegar than anything else and of course I couldn't drink but a few sips at a time.

I believe Kombucha is fermented tea... One thing I'd be concerned about is the caffeine. Not sure about the rest of the chemistry of tea for chickens...

 

[galanie]

I believe Kombucha is fermented tea...  One thing I'd be concerned about is the caffeine.  Not sure about the rest of the chemistry of tea for chickens...

Yes, it is fermented tea. But it has to be heavily sugared tea. And sugar is what is fermented in ACV as well. But my thought was just from tasting it. Tasted like vinegar when allowed to "brew" for 2+ weeks.