Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[coloradogal]

I've been doing a fermented feed now almost 2 weeks. My question is: will it initially cause some of the birds to have soft poo? I use a poo board so keep good track of the poo consistency. I have noticed that since I've done the fermented feed, a couple of the birds have very wet poo and a few have very soft poo.

I have been fermenting with ACV and will draid off my excess whey from kefir cheese about every other day. The feed smells fine but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Beekissed]

Any change in an animal's diet can cause the bowels to have to readjust. Same with us humans....some folks who never eat salad have diarrhea when they eat it on occasion. Other folks who rarely eat meat may find it constipates them when they do so but will not cause the same affect on someone who eats meat more regularly.

I'd give them a little time to adjust. They are getting more moisture in their feed than they are used to having and their bodies need to adjust to that as well as the new type of feed.

 

[coloradogal]

Any change in an animal's diet can cause the bowels to have to readjust. Same with us humans....some folks who never eat salad have diarrhea when they eat it on occasion. Other folks who rarely eat meat may find it constipates them when they do so but will not cause the same affect on someone who eats meat more regularly.

I'd give them a little time to adjust. They are getting more moisture in their feed than they are used to having and their bodies need to adjust to that as well as the new type of feed.

Thank you.

 

[Island Roo]

Quote:
You could wrap a seedling heat mat around a 5 gallon bucket and wrap silver insulating bubble wrap around that. Those seedling mats are made to be waterproof. Mine uses 15 watts so it would cost me about a $1 / month to run it.

Not sure if I'll bother but it might cook up some nice FF.

 

[griffinkid02]

Something for all the people concerned about winter to concider is that ehy FF DOES produce some heat on it's own. Once you get a bucket of feed well a truly rolling it is basically a however many gallon you mixed biomass of living cells. All life generates heat, even pine trees give off low levels of heat. No I may be prejudiced being int he south where we likely won't have more than 2-3 hours of below freezing temps a day, 3 or 4 days a week. But as long as your set up is sheltered from the wind and in a relatively insulated structure, there aught to be a fair chance that the mash will generate enough of it's own thermal energy to keep going, albeit at a slower pace. But I know that there were a couple of days during the heat wave here that I was adding COLD water to my brew when it needed a top off because it was in the low 100's already and the temp inside the bucket was several degrees warmer thant he air outside.

 

[Island Roo]

Your right about FF generating heat and I hope it will be enough to keep it from freezing. But even at these temperatures (50 night, 70 day) my 5 gallon back-slopping bucket at the coop is not fermenting much. It seems I'm just diluting it with fresh food and not much acedic acid is being generated. Smell more like wet mash now.

I'm gonna stick with cooking a bucket inside for 3 days and trade out with the coop bucket.

 

[Ashdoes]

I'm gonna stick with cooking a bucket inside for 3 days and trade out with the coop bucket.

This is what just started doing as well. You really don't see it fermenting well till into the second day. One bucket in the house bubbling, and the second outside to feed from, this way I'm not lugging a bucket in and out every morning. I'm hoping to perfect my amounts so I can feed from one bucket for three days.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is what just started doing as well. You really don't see it fermenting well till into the second day. One bucket in the house bubbling, and the second outside to feed from, this way I'm not lugging a bucket in and out every morning. I'm hoping to perfect my amounts so I can feed from one bucket for three days.

I keep both my buckets inside is that not a good idea?

 

[Ashdoes]

I keep both my buckets inside is that not a good idea?  

Not at all. My barn is kinda far, and hefting that thing back and forth is tiring at 7 am. I'll leave the one that's cooking in the house. It's also easier to make the mix in the house, cause I like to use hot water to start it.

 

[chicken curious]

I just got back in town (my mom was taking care of my kids and chickens). The ff smells closer to rotten than sour at this point (it went through the alcohol smell stage and the cheesy smell stage and then the sour smell stage). I think it's salvageable, but it does have some mold growth around the sides of the bucket where it sloshed and then didn't stay submerged.

I asked Mom to stir it (and she may have), but she didn't add anything b/c I'd mixed up too big a batch and just figured she could use it down a bit.

Can I correct this batch? I don't want to hurt my layers, but it's a lot of grains to waste...

I figured if the 'bad' bacteria were proliferating, I could swing it back in favor of the beneficial bacteria by adding more and feeding them. Tonight I dumped in a lot of raw acv, added more water (unfortunately it was hose water so it has chlorine), and a few more scoops of food. I wouldn't say it's definitely rotten, but I don't like the smell. How do I know when it's too far gone?