Fermenting feed

[blackdog043]

My flock likes it about soft cookie dough thickness, the spoon will almost stand up in it.

I'm with the soft cookie dough thickness and back slop method, simple and easy.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

I'm with the soft cookie dough thickness and back slop method, simple and easy.

View attachment 1307316

The only way to go lol. Less feed, better nutrition, no spilling it everywhere. So much going for it lol.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed. Water, feed, + time. I mix mine to a mashed potato, drop biscuit, soft cookie dough, soft serve ice cream consistency. No need to add ACV or any other ingredients. I save back about a cup full of FF in the bottom of the bucket to seed the next batch. I have found that when I use the rinse water from sprouting grains, the ferment "cooks" a lot faster.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

I just bought a lovely boot rack off CL last month. Each level is about 4ft x 2ft, 4 levels. I'm going to make this my fodder rack in the greenhouse. Somehow rig it so that the top racks have flow through and have the water end up underneath. Just have to spray it a couple of times a day. Pull a tray, push them all over one, one up from the bottom, refill tray and put it on the lowest rack.
I think fresh greens, and fruits and veggies is what gives the eggs so much color and flavor. I sure have missed my orange yolks.

 

[LovinThisFarmGirlLife]

I’ve got my feed, fermented for about 3 days per that article that was posted earlier in this thread. I had it covered because I couldn’t wrap my right mind around “fermenting” and having oxygen. Maybe I was wrong? Anyway, I checked it today and this is what it looks like:

there was some white fuzziness growing around the top edge of the feed, I read that that was not mold but that it was beneficial? I want to feed it to my chickens but I want to make sure that it’s right and that it won’t hurt them! Does this look right? Also, can somebody please explain to me how by fermenting you need less? Do the chickens just automatically eat less? Lastly, do you mix it with regular feed or just bead straight fermented? Sorry for all the questions, this is completely a new concept to me but I’m really excited if it works! I spend a fortune and feed for all of my animals

 

[Crs1]

I ferment mine in three plastic ziplock large bowls. I fill each with quart and a half of feed pellets and fill with water and close the lid. Sometimes it grows to the point of popping lid off.
Then each day they get a fermented batch. I can tell because it has that sweet smell you get from fermenting.
I am not an expert but my quart and half doubles in size so that to me means that I am saving feed and money. I also fill a feeder that holds 7 quarts which I only fill about every day or two. But there not completely empty.
My chickens like the feed kind of wet not on the dry side and they love it
I have toyed with the idea of just fermented but still working that out in my mind
And I feed 32 hens

 

[Foster's Freehold]

I’ve got my feed, fermented for about 3 days per that article that was posted earlier in this thread. I had it covered because I couldn’t wrap my right mind around “fermenting” and having oxygen. Maybe I was wrong? Anyway, I checked it today and this is what it looks like:
View attachment 1312053 View attachment 1312056 View attachment 1312054
there was some white fuzziness growing around the top edge of the feed, I read that that was not mold but that it was beneficial? I want to feed it to my chickens but I want to make sure that it’s right and that it won’t hurt them! Does this look right? Also, can somebody please explain to me how by fermenting you need less? Do the chickens just automatically eat less? Lastly, do you mix it with regular feed or just bead straight fermented? Sorry for all the questions, this is completely a new concept to me but I’m really excited if it works! I spend a fortune and feed for all of my animals

Looks fine. If it is too dry for the chickens, just add a little bit of water. Do you have a beery or warm bread smell? That's when you know it's done.

The reason you use less feed is that the water swells the feed. Like putting a dry sponge in water. Since the feed is swelled, they fill up faster. The chemical changes in the fermented feed make the nutrition in the feed more available, otherwise the chickens would just be hungry after only wet feed. It's like a pre-digestion thing, the nutrition is available easily. Instead of dry feed that has to start breaking down when it is eaten, fermented feed is already breaking down so the nutrition is easier for the chicken's body to absorb. That is why you will notice a change in the poo.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you start with 3# of dry feed, and add water to it, at the end of the fermentation process, you will still have essentially the same amount of feed as you started with, even though it is greater in volume and weight because of the water you have added. B/C of the fermentation process the feed will have a higher level of lysine and methionine, and possibly more B vitamins. The anti-nutrients in the grains will have been broken down, so the bird can absorb more of the nutrients that are present in the feed. Over time, the bird's gut will be healthier. Cross section shows that the villi are longer in a birds gut when she has been on a FF diet, resulting in more interface between nutrients and the capillaries that carry those digested nutrients to the rest of the body.

The literature I've read states that the average LF layer will eat .25 - .3# of dry layer feed/day. I have found that when my birds are on FF, their conversion rate is .18 - .2#/bird/day. This is when they are penned (due to predation) and allowed to eat all of the feed they want to eat.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

If you start with 3# of dry feed, and add water to it, at the end of the fermentation process, you will still have essentially the same amount of feed as you started with, even though it is greater in volume and weight because of the water you have added. B/C of the fermentation process the feed will have a higher level of lysine and methionine, and possibly more B vitamins. The anti-nutrients in the grains will have been broken down, so the bird can absorb more of the nutrients that are present in the feed. Over time, the bird's gut will be healthier. Cross section shows that the villi are longer in a birds gut when she has been on a FF diet, resulting in more interface between nutrients and the capillaries that carry those digested nutrients to the rest of the body.

The literature I've read states that the average LF layer will eat .25 - .3# of dry layer feed/day. I have found that when my birds are on FF, their conversion rate is .18 - .2#/bird/day. This is when they are penned (due to predation) and allowed to eat all of the feed they want to eat.

I knew someone would know the science of it lol. Thanks LG.

 

[lazy gardener]