Fermenting your feed.?

[SammileeChickie]

I have organic layer feed for my girls and I was wondering how do you ferment it.? It has a lot of dusty stuff like oyster shell powders and other things. Anyone who has fermented their food can you tell me how you did it.?

 

[ladyearth]

the directions are on here and You tubes....
I ferment their grains like barley, oat groats, wh germ,lentil, wheat ,millet, flax seed etc together...
They waste this new organic non soy non gmo feed like crazy. It supp to be crumbles... MY eye.. Really a powder It like close to $2 per lb..... I have to sweep it up.
I even have it in a large crock, some also in the homemade 5 gallon bucket FOOD GRADE OF COURSE , with pvc 90 ( directions on this site and you tube).....
I get so ticked...... luckily some lands on a rubber mat, or a tray..
I am tempted to put some of the white "milky" juice from the fermented grains I store in fridge. If I do will do just some cause its so hot outside....
But first I ferment it ( various grains)several days sitting on countertop in a big jar or bowl.
Course I save a cup or so from each batch so I dont have to leave it longer... wish I could have homemade saukerkraut juice like the lady used on here....
My cabbages were just about all destroyed by those.... Blankety blank white ....cabbage moths....
I hope to plant again soon, this time covering with tulle, while plants are young..
Just my two cents worth.....Oh be sure to keep fermting stuff covered by at least 1 inch of water or liqid.. Mine bubbles over when I get it too full.. I got to remember to put a plate under the jar or bowl while fermenting. otherwise it will run on countertop onto floor sometimes....
When some of my girls were younger I... ADDED VITAMIN WATER(to thir powdered feed ( from leftover crumbles)
I dont trust soy at all..... Big corpotrations,etc... try to push it on us and our animals.. we are what we eat....
now jump off my soapbox...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

There's a larger thread but this one will get you started.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/715995/fermenting-feed-for-layers

Here's more great info.

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

I ferment an organic feed that is coarsely ground and has all the fines you're speaking of. That powder is all the added vitamins, minerals, trace elements and amino acids added to make the feed complete.
Fermenting it binds up all those powdered goodies.

I fill a 5 gallon bucket about 2/3 full (start with less till you're comfortable with the process). Then fill the bucket with water.

Sometimes I add a little plain kefir with active cultures.
Sometimes I add some probiotic powder called Gro-2-Max.
Sometimes I just add water.
It seems to ferment pretty well either way.
I dechlorinate the water because the probiotic powder people told me the chloramine could kill the bacteria.

 

[pdirt]

The biggest thing is not to worry about "is it fermenting right?". It's really pretty difficult to mess up. True, best to use well, spring or otherwise chlorine free water. But often folks have used chlorinated water and it turned out just fine, but they might have gotten lucky or already had a batch going. Just mix your feed and water until like thick oatmeal. Stir once or twice a day for 2-3 days, then it's ready to use. It doesn't matter if it has bubbles or not. It may or may not smell sour, or even like vomit, these are good signs. If it smells septic/anaerobic, that is not good, but I've never heard of it happening, as it usually takes much longer and not being stirred for that to happen, plus the feed is not easily prone for going septic, you'd almost need to inoculate it with some "bad bacteria".

If you've ever made sourdough bread, it's exactly the same process, except you are using chicken feed instead of flour.

The tik-tok link is a pretty good one about fermented feed.