Fermenting Rice? How to?

[muckmuck]

I get quite a bit of cooked rice, both white and brown. Would it be possible to ferment it? Would that increase it's nutritional value for my chickens?

Max

 

[devora]

Why do you want to do this?

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I can't speak for chickens but I can say that I gave my dogs some rice that had accidentally fermented on its own. I had cooked a large amount and it took a long time to cool before I put it in the fridge. On day #2, I fed our dogs from that refrigerated rice and both got sick as . . . dogs.

 

[brandislee]

Properly fermented rice won't make anyone sick... you have to ferment it BEFORE you cook it, as all sorts of unsavory nonsense grows on cooked carbohydrates. But it's really easy. I don't know if it would work for white rice, but for brown rice, put desired amount of rice in a glass dish, cover with warm water, and leave in a warm place (I put mine in the oven with the light on) for 24 hours. By then it should just start bubbling- that is it! Save about 1/2 a cup of that fermenting liquid and add to next batch, and do the same for each batch (although after the first batch you only have to ferment for at least 12 hours). The pre-ferment (the saved liquid) keeps pretty much forever in the fridge. I do this to our brown rice, and it greatly increases the digestibility.

BUT... I wouldn't feed any/much white rice, as it has pretty much no nutritional value beyond simple carbodydrates. Even brown rice is pretty low in nutrients and fiber. Depending on what ELSE you were feeding it might be okay.

 

[brandislee]

... I left out that you have to cook it after... You cook it as you normally would, only use about 1/2 cup less water per 3 cups of rice.

 

[galanie]

Why do you have to cook the rice? I've read before where rice fed to chickens should be cooked first, but beyond the old myth that rice will harm birds when it swells, I've no clue why.

 

[muckmuck]

I get a lot of cooked rice from a restaurant. I did try a little experiment and put some in my sprout bucket setup with a container of active culture yogurt, covered with water and let it set overnight. Today the rice had doubled in volume, become fluffy, and semi liquid. It smelled slightly earthy but not off in any way. The chickens loved it and gobbled it down. In a week currently my 25 hens get a 5 gallon bucket of cooked rice(mixed white and brown) 4-8 5 gallon buckets of vegetable scraps(celery bases, melon halves, carrots, lettuce, bok choy) have access to 22% flock raiser pellets in a treadle feeder and oyster shell. My girls lay reliably, are active, and look healthy. I was just looking for a way to mix it up a bit for them.

Max

 

[devora]

I was just looking for a way to mix it up a bit for them.

Always an excellent idea!

 

[Dianuzhka]

Hey! Did u keep doing that with the rice? If yes how isit working for the chickens? They like it?

 

[muckmuck]

Hey! Did u keep doing that with the rice? If yes how isit working for the chickens? They like it?

I have been occasionally. I keep my fermenting bucket going all the time with scratch and or pigeon feed, about once a month I will fill it with rice. During the summer heat it would really get going and I found that I needed to feed it within 2 or 3 days or it got really funky.

Max