Healthy feed for new flock

[chkva]

Making it is super easy.

Get a large glass contained or food safe bucket (think farm and feed store).
Add equal parts feed to water (dechlorinated: you can either buy distilled, boil it or let a jug of tap water set out for 24/48 hours with no top)
Stir and cover with a tea towel/kitchen towel.
Let sit for 3/4 days stirring once a day and adding water to keep liquid just above seed (1/2in-1in).
Keep adding feed and water back into original mixture as its fed out!

Serve it up in feed dishes/bowls! They will LOVE it! You can adjust as you find they prefer it. My girls like it a bit thicker so I've been adding less water.

Benefits are huge! My bag of feed is lasting much longer (30+%) Fermenting produces lots of beneficial probiotics! The food is already broken down so they absorb a lot more nutrition. It supposedly ups overall health and egg production but I'm only on week one! My favorite aspect, though, is that super nutritional powder supplement made of alfalfa, fish meal, etc is getting properly consumed and not left in the bottom of their dish!

I use Scratch N Peck layer without corn and while pricey my girls are super regular layers/have no health issues. I, personally, am a big believer in good diet preventing large vet bills and issues later down the line in all pets.

I'm on day 2... So far my chicks are digging it, the older girls eat it but lose interest and go search for bugs. Basically their usual My OE has laid 2 days in a row, which isn't her usual, she's an every other day type of layer. I honestly don't think it smells, I have a very sensitive smell and I've yet to nice much besides a faint smell when my head is right on top of the bucket. I'd have to put my whole head in to even notice it a lot. I'm honestly really liking it so far!

 

[chkva]

Making it is super easy.

Get a large glass contained or food safe bucket (think farm and feed store).
Add equal parts feed to water (dechlorinated: you can either buy distilled, boil it or let a jug of tap water set out for 24/48 hours with no top)
Stir and cover with a tea towel/kitchen towel.
Let sit for 3/4 days stirring once a day and adding water to keep liquid just above seed (1/2in-1in).
Keep adding feed and water back into original mixture as its fed out!

Serve it up in feed dishes/bowls! They will LOVE it! You can adjust as you find they prefer it. My girls like it a bit thicker so I've been adding less water.

Benefits are huge! My bag of feed is lasting much longer (30+%) Fermenting produces lots of beneficial probiotics! The food is already broken down so they absorb a lot more nutrition. It supposedly ups overall health and egg production but I'm only on week one! My favorite aspect, though, is that super nutritional powder supplement made of alfalfa, fish meal, etc is getting properly consumed and not left in the bottom of their dish!

I use Scratch N Peck layer without corn and while pricey my girls are super regular layers/have no health issues. I, personally, am a big believer in good diet preventing large vet bills and issues later down the line in all pets.

And I add less water too. I add a cup maybe two every time I put more feed in after I give about 7 cups out... I've pulled 14 cups out of a bucket I only put 12 cups of dry feed in it's amazing

 

[Henriettamom919]

I'm on day 2... So far my chicks are digging it, the older girls eat it but lose interest and go search for bugs. Basically their usual My OE has laid 2 days in a row, which isn't her usual, she's an every other day type of layer. I honestly don't think it smells, I have a very sensitive smell and I've yet to nice much besides a faint smell when my head is right on top of the bucket. I'd have to put my whole head in to even notice it a lot. I'm honestly really liking it so far!

Mine too! I've noticed an increase interest in breakfast but not necessarily eating larger amounts. I also don't think it smells. Maybe a little like sourdough or yeast bread dough? Either way, it's not pungent or unpleasant.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Is there a yeast that you can add to the first batch to get things started in the right direction? I would be nervous about something toxic growing in there.

I remember last year sometime, someone posted that they wiped out a flock of 60ish ducklings when their fermented feed became toxic. Does anybody remember the particulars of that post? I remember the ducklings were Pekin meat ducks.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Is there a yeast that you can add to the first batch to get things started in the right direction? I would be nervous about something toxic growing in there.

I remember last year sometime, someone posted that they wiped out a flock of 60ish ducklings when their fermented feed became toxic. Does anybody remember the particulars of that post? I remember the ducklings were Pekin meat ducks.

Yes, some people add live cultures via lactobacillus and similar.

Personally, as long as you're feeding your supply out weekly, I wouldn't worry too much about illness. Spoiled or molded seed will smell rancid and funky. As an extra precaution you could start a second container and swap out jars/buckets, washing each one every few days but not having a break in your feed production.

Truthfully though, grains and alfalfa ferment on their own very quickly.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Found it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-ducklings-dying-suddenly.1224194/page-3

"Local vet who deals with poultry and got an appointment for a necropsy this morning.

He opened up three or four ducklings and found nothing out of the ordinary. They had clearly eaten recently, their lungs were clean, and there was no hemorrhaging. Based on the symptoms and his findings, his conclusion (which couldn't be definite without further testing) was botulism poisoning. His best guess was an ingredient in the feed mix that had been contaminated with botulism spores and that, upon being wetted, eventually produced the toxin that killed the ducklings."

I want to try Fermenting, but the above scares me.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Well, I see the concern but after reading the entire post it sounds like the grain was a custom mix? And it said the food had set out for three days, as well.

I think as long as you start with a reputable feed and clean out what they don't eat you'd be fine. It's the exposure to oxygen over time that allows the growth of bacteria/mold.

I saw a person on that thread had been feeding ducks FF for six years without issue and included a link about her procedure that might help you make a more informed choice!

 

[chkva]

Well, I see the concern but after reading the entire post it sounds like the grain was a custom mix? And it said the food had set out for three days, as well.

I think as long as you start with a reputable feed and clean out what they don't eat you'd be fine. It's the exposure to oxygen over time that allows the growth of bacteria/mold.

I saw a person on that thread had been feeding ducks FF for six years without issue and included a link about her procedure that might help you make a more informed choice!

So the fermented feed caused botulism while it was fermented in bucket for 3 days or they left the food sitting in bowl exposed to elements for 3 days?

 

[Henriettamom919]

We thoroughly wet the feed, which as I understand can be a botulism concern, but we've been doing that for a couple years now without issue. In any case, the wetted (soaked, really) feed lasts for three days or so at this point, so it's not as though it's rotting.

Any thoughts?

It sounds like it was left out for three days at a time.

 

[Henriettamom919]

It honestly sounds like that particular batch of grain was tainted, not the process itself necessarily.