Fermenting food

[Rickba]

Some of the best advice I've ever received is how to ferment chicken feed and grains. My chickens looked good and healthy but my bantams seemed skinny. Then it was suggested to me to look up fermenting my food and grains. I googled it and watched the video's. After I started to ferment my feed. What a difference. The chickens walk around with their crops so full and they seen so content. Even the skinny looking bantams look so much better. I still leave the dry feed for them to peck at, but they really go for the fermented feed first thing in the morning.

 

[CayugaJana]

Just wanted to ask about the fermented feed. My 4 adult ducks get to roam the fenced yard for a minimum of an hour during the day. If I start out with filling one of the larger folders coffee cans with the feed will it be enough for all 4? I'd like to start small so I get the hang of it before I accidentally junk it up and ruin a bunch of feed.

Today I took a lacto culture from some milk and put it in a folders plastic coffee can. Then filled half way with gamebird feed and the water line 2/3 up the can. Any tips? I have slits in the lid so it can be burped on its own. @Miss Lydia

 

[Smuvers Farm]

@azygous and @lazy gardener could answer this!!

 

[Molpet]

A BYC member made this FAQ https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't feed ducks. If you want to start small, and with caution, I'd advise you to start with as much feed as you normally feed in a single day. Your container should be able to hold at least twice that amount of feed, b/c the feed will swell as it soaks up water, and the volume will increase even more b/c of the air bubbles it releases as it ferments. Your amount of feed and water in your Folger's can sounds about right. I never keep my feed covered with water. Simply add enough water so that by the time the feed is done soaking up water, the FF is about the consistency of soft serve ice cream, thick cooked oatmeal, or drop biscuit dough. It holds it's shape when plopped from the spoon.

 

[CayugaJana]

Since it's such a small container, how many days should I let it ferment?

 

[lazy gardener]

Till it's bubbling. Since it may be thick, you may not actually see the bubbles. But, when you stir it, it will be very light and airy, puffed up, kind of like bread dough.

 

[Rickba]

I only give the fermented feed in the morning, as much as they want to eat in about an hour. I take it up when they're full. They just pick at it. The rest of the day they eat dry feed from the feeder. During cool weather I ferment for 3 days. In warmer weather I ferment for 2 days. Like lazy said, it will bubble, also it will smell fermented. Like a sweet/musty smell. I mix 1 part scratch grains to 3 parts 18% egg layer. One thing they really love as a treat, when I go to the sale counter and pick up a pound bag of dried beans for about 50 or 75 cents (pinto's, Navy, and the like). I soak 'em 'til they sprout about 1/2 inch long. They really go to town on those. Just be sure to have grit and oyster shell available for 'em. I only do this occasionally. Make sure your can is plastic or glass, not metal.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Rickba GREAT REMINDER - Do not use metal containers nor utensils when fermenting. There's chemical reaction to metal, as with vinegar/metal.