Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Mumsy]

What kind of grass pellets are you able to get?

My local store has burmuda, alfalfa, alfalfa/oat, oat, and timothy grass pellets. I was considering getting the timothy to try it but it was $20 for 50 pounds and if they didn't like it, then I'd be out $20 and right now, I can't afford to toss money in the trash can.

We've been in the midst of torrential rain and wind storms here in the PNW for days now and no end in sight. My seven birds are confined to coops with out access to green stuff until the storms pass so the thought of adding alfalfa to my FF sounded intriguing.
A 40 lb. bag of alfalfa cubes cost me $12.
I will ask about the timothy grass pellets next time.
I soaked six alfalfa cubes in warm water for a few minutes then tossed the whole thing in the FF. Stirred once. Gave a sample to all the birds. They gobbled it down faster than ever I've seen since getting them! Especially the 3 1/2 month old Silkie chicks!
My FF is two weeks old now and a bucket full of bubbly goodness. Sometimes it's soupy sometimes it's thick as mortar. Never seen any mold ever. No mess, no fuss, just scoop and go. I use the two bucket method. It works very well for me and I just use one scoop and one bowl each feeding. About two gallons going at any time. The same liquid with mother I started with two weeks ago. I just add every other day to keep it percolating. Pretty straight forward and easy.

 

[armorfirelady]

I also only tossed one batch once when it didnt smell very good......but today I wanted to go to smaller buckets (1 gal instead of 3 gal) and I strained all the water from the 3 gal bucket into the one gallon bucket to ferment the smaller batch. Its been bubbling beautifully so I knew it was a good ferment. The leftover FF liquid with BOSS floating in it with some grainy layer pellets I poured into a container & took it out to the hens this evening. They worked on it for awhile & went back to foraging. I left it out there to see if they try it again in the morning or not.

I do occasionally get a real strong not so nice smell & I think its the food thats stuck aroud the rim when I forget to scrap it after stirring. Greenish/grayish looking. I scrape it off and the FF smells better.

I do use the 2 bucket method but I dont strain it when I feed. My hens tend to like it better as consistency that is like when you initially mix all the ingredients together. Thicker. I dont always leave the water floating over the FF but have the last couple days because I thought that was why there was such a smell. Def could see the bubbles from it cooking with water covering the food. The new smaller batch I dont have water covering it as much since its absorbing everything.

 

[Leahs Mom]

The grass pellets I got are timothy and ryegrass. It has some grain dust as a filler, probably to help it bind the pellets together. Its not that shocking bright green of alfalfa but its more of a tan/khaki color. Smells like good grass hay. I said it had 8%protein, but its 9%. I got 50 pounds for $9.49. Do you know anyone with horses or rabbits that might be getting the grass pellets? You might be able to get a little bit to try your birds on it before buying a whole big bag that way.

Where did you get 'em?

 

[smyers32]

We've been in the midst of torrential rain and wind storms here in the PNW for days now and no end in sight. My seven birds are confined to coops with out access to green stuff until the storms pass so the thought of adding alfalfa to my FF sounded intriguing.
A 40 lb. bag of alfalfa cubes cost me $12.
I will ask about the timothy grass pellets next time.
I soaked six alfalfa cubes in warm water for a few minutes then tossed the whole thing in the FF. Stirred once. Gave a sample to all the birds. They gobbled it down faster than ever I've seen since getting them! Especially the 3 1/2 month old Silkie chicks!
My FF is two weeks old now and a bucket full of bubbly goodness. Sometimes it's soupy sometimes it's thick as mortar. Never seen any mold ever. No mess, no fuss, just scoop and go. I use the two bucket method. It works very well for me and I just use one scoop and one bowl each feeding. About two gallons going at any time. The same liquid with mother I started with two weeks ago. I just add every other day to keep it percolating. Pretty straight forward and easy.

I also only tossed one batch once when it didnt smell very good......but today I wanted to go to smaller buckets (1 gal instead of 3 gal) and I strained all the water from the 3 gal bucket into the one gallon bucket to ferment the smaller batch. Its been bubbling beautifully so I knew it was a good ferment. The leftover FF liquid with BOSS floating in it with some grainy layer pellets I poured into a container & took it out to the hens this evening. They worked on it for awhile & went back to foraging. I left it out there to see if they try it again in the morning or not.

I do occasionally get a real strong not so nice smell & I think its the food thats stuck aroud the rim when I forget to scrap it after stirring. Greenish/grayish looking. I scrape it off and the FF smells better.

I do use the 2 bucket method but I dont strain it when I feed. My hens tend to like it better as consistency that is like when you initially mix all the ingredients together. Thicker. I dont always leave the water floating over the FF but have the last couple days because I thought that was why there was such a smell. Def could see the bubbles from it cooking with water covering the food. The new smaller batch I dont have water covering it as much since its absorbing everything.

These statements make me think that mine isn't fermenting to it's full potential. Mine really only bubbles when I stir, I never see bubbles when it's just sitting there. Any suggestions?

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: If I leave mine as a thicker FF I only see the bubbles when I stir as well. Any bubbles are good. Plus the sweet/sour smell liken to pickiling means its fermenting well also

 

[smyers32]

Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of the thickness. Mine is fairly thick as well, so I guess I'm good. It definitely smells ferment-y. Thanks for reminding me of the obvious!!

 

[aoxa]

I didn't get the feeling that people were starting fresh every few days...? Who is..?

I don't use the two bucket system, but I constantly have fermented feed already in there and mix in new feed with water and ACV to the old one. I can not lift an entire bucket up to drain excess fluids. My feed container is a 17 gallon garbage can. That is heavy when full of FF. So having one inside the other and lifting to drain off the liquid is not manageable.

That's what I'm trying to explain...one does not have to ever lift the bucket one from another to use this method and it still be perfect for the job.  You don't ever have to drain any liquid if you mix the consistency correctly and don't make it a ferment soup but rather a ferment porridge or mortar.  When having to feed off the whole bucket to meaty birds and using a 50/50 mix of whole grains and mash, it was very convenient to be able to strain off the whole bucket a little bit just to give it a little dryer consistency as one has to cook quickly when feeding the entire 5 gal. bucket in 2 days time.  This really required more water throughout the mix in order to soak and ferment those feeds quickly.  One only had to live it about 10 in. to get it up far enough to drain quickly. 

Having the buckets nest one inside the other is convenient for maintaining a reservoir of FF water that, when fresh water is added to the top bucket, rises up and throughout the feed mix.  That way you never have to "make a new batch" of FF and start a new culture...there is a heavily populated culture lying in wait at the bottom of the buckets that is constantly being refurbished, fed and healthy from the drain-off of the bucket above.  It's a perfect little cooker.  This also means your FF water isn't ever all soaked into the feed but some is saved down below at all times.  It maintains a constant level and is only borrowed from in the process. 

In a one container system, one would weaken the ferment water by the soaking into the dry feed and concurrent extraction from the bucket unless you kept it a soup instead of a porridge...which seems to be what folks are having to do.  Sloppy, messy and time consuming, requiring straining with a strainer which has to sit and drain out for each scoop of the feed.  When feeding several scoops this could be a time consuming and tiresome ritual each day. 

Most folks are not doing the big batches that you are, so this doesn't necessarily apply to someone doing FF in garbage cans....how many birds are you feeding out of that can and how often do you feed? 

I feed once a day for the big birds, and twice a day for chicks. I don't drain anymore because it was so tiresome. I probably go through 1/3 of a garbage can a day and I feed roughly 150 birds. That's chicks included in that, but also turkeys and geese. The turkeys eat 2 or 3 times that of a chicken.

I'd like a simpler way for my mass of birds. I'm trying a two bucket system for the chick feed since I only have a few (well 18), and the water is not draining off the chick starter. I think you don't have the soupy mess like a lot of us do because you use whole grains and mash. I only have access to crumble or pellets, both of which are clogging the little holes I made. Is there something I can do to better this?

 

[Mumsy]

These statements make me think that mine isn't fermenting to it's full potential. Mine really only bubbles when I stir, I never see bubbles when it's just sitting there. Any suggestions?

Mine sits covered with a towel in the kitchen corner. House is steady around 69 to 72 degrees room temp. I use hot/warm tap water when adding additional liquid. It bubbles for me after stirring in liquid. It seems to bubble more with more liquid. My bucket changes hourly. It's like a living organism. Always growing, shrinking, growing again and such. I have never added the unpasteurized ACV again after making the first batch. Mine has never gone through a stinky phase in two weeks time. It seems to have a richer deeper pickly smell today. I think it's the added alfalfa. I'm only on week two so still in the learning curve. The chickens seem to like it better today and eaten more than ever before so something is working.

 

[aoxa]

Anyone know if rabbit food is dangerous for chickens to eat? My birds keep eating all my rabbit food

 

[armorfirelady]

I feed once a day for the big birds, and twice a day for chicks. I don't drain anymore because it was so tiresome. I probably go through 1/3 of a garbage can a day and I feed roughly 150 birds. That's chicks included in that, but also turkeys and geese. The turkeys eat 2 or 3 times that of a chicken.

I'd like a simpler way for my mass of birds. I'm trying a two bucket system for the chick feed since I only have a few (well 18), and the water is not draining off the chick starter. I think you don't have the soupy mess like a lot of us do because you use whole grains and mash. I only have access to crumble or pellets, both of which are clogging the little holes I made. Is there something I can do to better this?

I had the same problem. I made bigger holes Yes some of the mush from the layer pellets goes thru the holes but I scoop it out every once in awhile & add it to the FF mix. I use pellets, BOSS, scratch & rolled oats (from grocery store) Now my biggest prob is the BOSS seeds getting stuck lol