Help with fermented feed

[Squawkers]

Gonna be hard to see I'm sure, but this is my batch remnants at 48 hours with yeast growth (the grayish stuff that covers about half the surface). So you can see how thin and spread out it is, and how it's less fuzzy/fluffy than what mold growth would look like. The birds can safely eat this and it gets mixed in with everything else when food is served.

View attachment 3883619

Thank you

 

[CountryChic63]

I'm a bit surprised nobody has mentioned that in most cases, fermenting commercial feed is a waste of your time and is potentially harmfull due to the water content in the fermented feed reducing the overall nutrition available per serving.
The point of fermenting is to reduce the chemicals that inhibit the bioavailability of the feed constituents. Commercial feed has already undergone crushing and heating, the hulls stripped from any grains and the vitamins and minerals (often synthetic) sprayed onto the base feed in the manufacturing process.
A bit of research into the making of commercial feed might be helpful as might these two articles, one of which is a light hearted look at my results of fermenting commercial feed and the other a rather more serious look at the pitfalls of both fermentation and mashes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...o-fermented-facts-myths-and-experience.74414/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...fluence-it-may-have-on-feeding-regimes.79124/

Hello, I've been trying to follow these posts.
Now I'm concerned that I've been previously misled.
I'm feeding my 3 month old chicks moist Layers Pellets, once a day, (in addition dry pellets are in feeders that are kept full).
I'm doing this for 2 reasons mostly: first I have a Scissor mouth chicken & I don't think she can grab dry pellets to eat. Secondly I'm trying to ct down on wasted pellets being thrown onto the ground which they don't eat.
My concern is when I go to collect the pans to refill, the left over feed smells moldy. I don't see anything but I'm concerned.
I clean the left over feed out each time.
Now after reading some of the opinions here, I may be harming my chicks?
I'm not really fermenting the feed since it's fed as soon as the water is absorbed & i clean out the old left overs.

For scratch i rotate with a mixture of dry Layer crumbles, worms, flies, cracked corn & sunflowers, then the next day will be a bag of thawed peas, or a bag of thawed corn, or finely chopped cabbage, spinach, kale & lettuce from the garden, or oats mixed with Greek yogurt.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hello, I've been trying to follow these posts.
Now I'm concerned that I've been previously misled.
I'm feeding my 3 month old chicks moist Layers Pellets, once a day, (in addition dry pellets are in feeders that are kept full).
I'm doing this for 2 reasons mostly: first I have a Scissor mouth chicken & I don't think she can grab dry pellets to eat. Secondly I'm trying to ct down on wasted pellets being thrown onto the ground which they don't eat.
My concern is when I go to collect the pans to refill, the left over feed smells moldy. I don't see anything but I'm concerned.
I clean the left over feed out each time.
Now after reading some of the opinions here, I may be harming my chicks?
I'm not really fermenting the feed since it's fed as soon as the water is absorbed & i clean out the old left overs.

For scratch i rotate with a mixture of dry Layer crumbles, worms, flies, cracked corn & sunflowers, then the next day will be a bag of thawed peas, or a bag of thawed corn, or finely chopped cabbage, spinach, kale & lettuce from the garden, or oats mixed with Greek yogurt.

Moistening layer crumbles or pellets we call mash. That's not ferment. A day old mash will stink and I throw it out and give them fresh. This isn't fermenting necessarily, so it's not going to be good to just leave mash out there for days. I do both fermenting and making mash. They are two different things. You're fine!

 

[CountryChic63]

Moistening layer crumbles or pellets we call mash. That's not ferment. A day old mash will stink and I throw it out and give them fresh. This isn't fermenting necessarily, so it's not going to be good to just leave mash out there for days. I do both fermenting and making mash. They are two different things. You're fine!

Thanks Debbie!

 

[Shadrach]

Hello, I've been trying to follow these posts.
Now I'm concerned that I've been previously misled.
I'm feeding my 3 month old chicks moist Layers Pellets, once a day, (in addition dry pellets are in feeders that are kept full).
I'm doing this for 2 reasons mostly: first I have a Scissor mouth chicken & I don't think she can grab dry pellets to eat. Secondly I'm trying to ct down on wasted pellets being thrown onto the ground which they don't eat.
My concern is when I go to collect the pans to refill, the left over feed smells moldy. I don't see anything but I'm concerned.
I clean the left over feed out each time.
Now after reading some of the opinions here, I may be harming my chicks?
I'm not really fermenting the feed since it's fed as soon as the water is absorbed & i clean out the old left overs.

For scratch i rotate with a mixture of dry Layer crumbles, worms, flies, cracked corn & sunflowers, then the next day will be a bag of thawed peas, or a bag of thawed corn, or finely chopped cabbage, spinach, kale & lettuce from the garden, or oats mixed with Greek yogurt.

As Debbie292d mentions, damp commercial pellet feed isn't a fermented feed, it's called a mash. It is more usual to make a mash with layers crumble for example. Mash, depending on brand and constituents may smell. I fed a mash made from a commercial crumble with low calcium (0.9%) for many years to 150 eggs a year (approx) hens, roosters, juveniles and elderly.
I chose this, much like yourself, because I got less waste with a mash and less clearing up to do ensuring feed wasn't left lying about to encorage rodents.
As long as you make a fresh mash daily in a cleaned container you shouldn't have any feed related health problems from the commercial feed.

Scratch/treats/whatever one calls them should also be fine although I would recommend fish or meat a couple of times a week. It needn't be much. Half a square inch per bird is fine. It's a supplement, not their main feed.

Better still would be to let them find their own treats with some supervised ranging if this isn't something you already do. Physical activity, much like with humans can make an awful lot of difference to ones health, enough to compensate for those extra fat and carbs we find so attractive.

 

[Squawkers]

Mold or yeast? According to what you said earlier, I think is yeast. It lightly dusts the whole top, looks like it got snowed on.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Mold or yeast? According to what you said earlier, I think is yeast. It lightly dusts the whole top, looks like it got snowed on. View attachment 3886860View attachment 3886862View attachment 3886861View attachment 3886863View attachment 3886864View attachment 3886865

That's likely yeast.

 

[Daisy June]

I have been attempting to ferment my chickens feed for a while. At first, I thought I was doing it right, but then I saw a pic of someone else’s fermented feed, and it was WAY bubblier than mine. So I started leaving my feed to ferment longer, but it never looked like that before it molded. At this point, I don’t know exactly what it is supposed to look like or how I know it is done. Can you please post pictures of what your fed feed looks like when you say it is done. Also, any tips? I live in Texas and it is about 90 to 100 every day. I keep the fermenting feed outside in the shed. I know I’ve heard that some feeds just don’t ferment as well and I am planning on changing feed for a different reason soon but other than that, do y’all have any tips?

The best guidance I got is from the website noted below. It shows pictures of the daily process, gives step-by-step instructions, and any questions I had were answered within a day. Hopefully, you can get this process down to an easy to follow routine. I do offer both dry and fermented feed every day. The girls run from one to the other because they love both.

https://homesteadandchill.com/

 

[Squawkers]

The best guidance I got is from the website noted below. It shows pictures of the daily process, gives step-by-step instructions, and any questions I had were answered within a day. Hopefully, you can get this process down to an easy to follow routine. I do offer both dry and fermented feed every day. The girls run from one to the other because they love both.

https://homesteadandchill.com/

Thanks!! I'll check it out.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Agree, that's likely yeast.

and I don't remember if I said so in this thread, but I don't ferment. I tried it, it takes about 3 days in my environment most of the year (longer currently, is cold - for us - high 20s tonight). Due to the size of my flock, I used a 5 gal bucket every day, so I just lined them up and (re)started one each day, while dumping the one that was ready into the plastic gutter for consumption.

The people who use a single ferment method do so by having a lot more fermenting than they use in a single day. They scoop out what they need, and replace with an equal dry weight of fresh material to ferment. Why have a lot more fermenting than you need in a day? So you already have a large reservoir of "good" bacteria, ready to overwhelm any traces of "bad stuff" that may be on the fresh material you are adding. Helps ensure the desired outcome.

There are benefits to both methods, and risks and limits unique to each as well. Choose the method that works best for you in your situation.