Fermenting Feed.

[yakitori]

So I fermented about 1 pound of chick crumbles last night with 1/4 cup of sourdough starter. This morning it was aerated and fluffy and smelled like sourdough starter.

The birds ate it, I couldnt tell whether they liked it more or less than their regular crumbles. I mean they’re always hungry in the mornings anyway.

Their poops were definitely firmer, though I’m not sure whether thats a good or bad thing?

I had a bunch left over and had to put it in the fridge as it was starting to produce hooch.

I’ll attach a photo even though there isn’t much to see, lol.

 

[centralcaligirl]

That looks good...what you're going for is a light puffiness and aeration to indicate fermentation has taken place. You are experienced with sourdough bread, the basic idea for fermented feed is the same. It will probably take a few days of experimentation to get the amounts right so you don't have any leftover. However, a night in the fridge won't hurt and you can feed it out tomorrow.

Once you have a decent ferment going you shouldn't need to use the sourdough starter again. Just hold over a small amount of the fermented feed after each feeding, and that will become the starter for your next batch. Ideally you would get into a 24 hour cycle of feeding all but a tablespoon or so (depending on how much feed you're fermenting) in the morning, and then mixing the reserved tablespoon of fermented feed with water and dry feed. Let that ferment for about 24 hours and then repeat that every day. It's an organic process, just like the bread, you will get a feel for it after a while and it will become intuitive.

The poop usually is drier, more chalk-like, and less sticky. That's one of the cool benefits of fermented feed.

There is another fermented feed thread, and @Molpet just posted a great article with instructions:

https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[yakitori]

That looks good...what you're going for is a light puffiness and aeration to indicate fermentation has taken place. You are experienced with sourdough bread, the basic idea for fermented feed is the same. It will probably take a few days of experimentation to get the amounts right so you don't have any leftover. However, a night in the fridge won't hurt and you can feed it out tomorrow.

Once you have a decent ferment going you shouldn't need to use the sourdough starter again. Just hold over a small amount of the fermented feed after each feeding, and that will become the starter for your next batch. Ideally you would get into a 24 hour cycle of feeding all but a tablespoon or so (depending on how much feed you're fermenting) in the morning, and then mixing the reserved tablespoon of fermented feed with water and dry feed. Let that ferment for about 24 hours and then repeat that every day. It's an organic process, just like the bread, you will get a feel for it after a while and it will become intuitive.

The poop usually is drier, more chalk-like, and less sticky. That's one of the cool benefits of fermented feed.

There is another fermented feed thread, and @Molpet just posted a great article with instructions:

https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Yes, I'm definitely going to aim for a 24hr cycle. With sourdough, fermentation is pretty much done in a matter of hours. Maybe I'm used to this timeline, so it didn't make sense to me to have feed fermenting for days. I also make milk kefir which takes about 24 hours to ferment. A one day waste-less ferment will definitely be ideal!

So drier poop is better? I mean it's easier to clean, but it's awesome if it's better for the birds too!

 

[centralcaligirl]

Yes, I'm definitely going to aim for a 24hr cycle. With sourdough, fermentation is pretty much done in a matter of hours. Maybe I'm used to this timeline, so it didn't make sense to me to have feed fermenting for days. I also make milk kefir which takes about 24 hours to ferment. A one day waste-less ferment will definitely be ideal!

So drier poop is better? I mean it's easier to clean, but it's awesome if it's better for the birds too!

Many people on the forum have noted that when switching poultry over to fermented feed there is an improvement in the poop (drier, less odor). At least one study attributed this to improved digestion of the feed. When I started feeding fermented feed I noticed a huge difference in their poop, in that it was much easier to clean up and attracted fewer flies. At that point I switched over to fermented feed completely, but then I changed jobs and that became impractical, so now I feed a combination. I wish I could go back, the fly situation was much better back then.

 

[yakitori]

Many people on the forum have noted that when switching poultry over to fermented feed there is an improvement in the poop (drier, less odor). At least one study attributed this to improved digestion of the feed. When I started feeding fermented feed I noticed a huge difference in their poop, in that it was much easier to clean up and attracted fewer flies. At that point I switched over to fermented feed completely, but then I changed jobs and that became impractical, so now I feed a combination. I wish I could go back, the fly situation was much better back then.

Oh that’s awesome! I would do anything to improve on odor.

I wonder if it’s possible to make it in batches, then freeze fermented feed. I’ve done it for bread dough and it halts the fermentation process. It’s probably not an option for a large flock, but I only have 8 birds, which makes me think it’s an option some time down the road.

 

[416bigbore]

Oh that’s awesome! I would do anything to improve on odor.

I wonder if it’s possible to make it in batches, then freeze fermented feed. I’ve done it for bread dough and it halts the fermentation process. It’s probably not an option for a large flock, but I only have 8 birds, which makes me think it’s an option some time down the road.

I was curious about that also and this is what I found.

http://fermentacap.com/please-dont-freeze-lacto-fermented-foods/

 

[yakitori]

I was curious about that also and this is what I found.

http://fermentacap.com/please-dont-freeze-lacto-fermented-foods/

Oh, I know it will kill some probiotics (not all! after all people dry and freeze starter to preserve them!) But I think it might work if the aim is to reap the benefits of digestibility rather than probiotic benefits. If what centealcaligirl said is true, ie, fermentation makes feed more nutritionally available, that’s good enough for me! Any probiotics I can get in there is just an added bonus. With my schedule, sometimes I might be too busy down the road to ferment everyday. I’m always looking for shortcuts and time savers!

I think it can be thought of like sourdough bread, we bake the dough and it kills off the probiotics, but sourdough bread is still much better for us.

I believe the author of the article is more concerned about foods you ferment to extract the probiotic qualities, like sour kraut and kefir etc, in which case I would completely align with the not freezing camp

 

[Hermits Garden]

"Any longer than 24 and the activated yeast and enzymes begin to deplete the nutritional value of the feed and produce alcohol."

No wonder everyone says their chickens love fermented feed! Buncha sots.

 

[JaeG]

Oh that’s awesome! I would do anything to improve on odor.

I wonder if it’s possible to make it in batches, then freeze fermented feed. I’ve done it for bread dough and it halts the fermentation process. It’s probably not an option for a large flock, but I only have 8 birds, which makes me think it’s an option some time down the road.

I have read of people freezing a bit as a starter if for example they are going on holiday and don't want to leave their chicken minders with the responsibility of mixing up and feeding out fermented food. Then they can just add their starter to a new batch when they get home again.