I started fermenting!!!!!

[FrankHomestead]

And bread is a completely different fermentation because it's

I've been fermenting for over 4 years, never covered my ferment with water, and have never experienced any mold on or in my ferment. Those people who are talking about mold: I'd love to see some pics. Chances are good that a lot of them are seeing SCOBY and calling it mold.

That could be. Regardless, it doesn't hurt the ff to be submerged. And I wonder why'd they have a SCOBY...using acv to ferment I guess? I don't add any starter. so how do you ferment then? just have most of it submerged or....?

 

[ChickNanny13]

The chicken feed over night dried up so I added more water to it and the chick feed beacuase it was a little low

Start with a 50/50 or even amounts of feed/water, mix about 3x day, in the beginning you may need to add just a bit more water but once you got it going, it's equal amounts of feed/water for me. Somedays (weather) I need to add a bit more feed, sometimes water but you'll get the feel for it. lazy gardener is right on.

 

[lazy gardener]

And bread is a completely different fermentation because it's....

Did you intend to say something more about bread?

That could be. Regardless, it doesn't hurt the ff to be submerged. And I wonder why'd they have a SCOBY...using acv to ferment I guess? I don't add any starter. so how do you ferment then? just have most of it submerged or....?

Correct, it doesn't hurt the ff to be submerged, but I can't figure out why you'd want to, especially if you are fermenting processed feed. Now, if you are fermenting whole or even cracked grains, it wouldn't be much of an issue to strain the grains out of the water that's covering them. But, it's simply one added step that is not at all necessary IMO. And straining processed feed is really a sloppy messy undertaking.
SCOBY = symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It comes from the air. Just like the old timers used to have their sour dough cultures (they didn't run to the store to buy yeast, but kept a culture going that was simply seeded from the air in their home.) That is what causes the fermentation. Many folks see a white film on top of their FF, and they panic. They assume that it is mold, when in fact it's a nice healthy layer of SCOBY. I've seen the white film, sometimes it is more tan or greyish depending on the source of feed, age of ferment, amount of stirring I've done, and ratio of water. It's all good, and gets stirred back in or even scooped off the top to "seed" my other bucket.
True mold will be black, or grey green and you can even see the cloud of spores rising up from it if you blow on it. You might see hair like filaments growing from it. If you want to see some mold to do a comparison between mold and scoby, I'd be happy to take you on a fridge tour, about an hour before I clean it out! Actually, mold can come in a lot of interesting colors, but it's very distinguishable from scoby.

I make my ferment simply by filling a bucket 1/2 full of water, and adding almost the same amount of dry feed. Stir it up, and wait till it bubbles, or puffs up. Mine is about as thick as: drop biscuit dough, thick cooked oatmeal, or soft serve ice cream. It is thick enough that I have to work a bit to stir it up, and the ladle stands up in it. It holds it's shape when I plop it into the trough. When I feed out a bucket, I hold back a cup full (more or less) and then simply refill with water and feed. And, really, the ratio of water to feed is not rocket science. If you mix your ferment and it ends up being more soupy than the girls like, simply add an other scoop of dry feed when you serve it up. If it's too dry, it will still ferment ok. But... sometimes when I make it too dry, I add some more water to it when I serve it up... to get the consistency that I like. I'd rather have the ferment too wet, and have to add more dry, than have it start too dry and have to water it down. Of course, the worst offense is when I'm doing it in my house in the winter, and I've put too much in my bucket. That's a learning curve right there: I've learned to keep something under it to catch the overflow... or cut back on how much feed goes into the bucket to start with!!!

 

[FrankHomestead]

Correct, it doesn't hurt the ff to be submerged, but I can't figure out why you'd want to, especially if you are fermenting processed feed. Now, if you are fermenting whole or even cracked grains, it wouldn't be much of an issue to strain the grains out of the water that's covering them. But, it's simply one added step that is not at all necessary IMO. And straining processed feed is really a sloppy messy undertaking.
SCOBY = symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It comes from the air. Just like the old timers used to have their sour dough cultures (they didn't run to the store to buy yeast, but kept a culture going that was simply seeded from the air in their home.) That is what causes the fermentation. Many folks see a white film on top of their FF, and they panic. They assume that it is mold, when in fact it's a nice healthy layer of SCOBY. I've seen the white film, sometimes it is more tan or greyish depending on the source of feed, age of ferment, amount of stirring I've done, and ratio of water. It's all good, and gets stirred back in or even scooped off the top to "seed" my other bucket.
True mold will be black, or grey green and you can even see the cloud of spores rising up from it if you blow on it. You might see hair like filaments growing from it. If you want to see some mold to do a comparison between mold and scoby, I'd be happy to take you on a fridge tour, about an hour before I clean it out! Actually, mold can come in a lot of interesting colors, but it's very distinguishable from scoby.

I make my ferment simply by filling a bucket 1/2 full of water, and adding almost the same amount of dry feed. Stir it up, and wait till it bubbles, or puffs up. Mine is about as thick as: drop biscuit dough, thick cooked oatmeal, or soft serve ice cream. It is thick enough that I have to work a bit to stir it up, and the ladle stands up in it. It holds it's shape when I plop it into the trough. When I feed out a bucket, I hold back a cup full (more or less) and then simply refill with water and feed. And, really, the ratio of water to feed is not rocket science. If you mix your ferment and it ends up being more soupy than the girls like, simply add an other scoop of dry feed when you serve it up. If it's too dry, it will still ferment ok. But... sometimes when I make it too dry, I add some more water to it when I serve it up... to get the consistency that I like. I'd rather have the ferment too wet, and have to add more dry, than have it start too dry and have to water it down. Of course, the worst offense is when I'm doing it in my house in the winter, and I've put too much in my bucket. That's a learning curve right there: I've learned to keep something under it to catch the overflow... or cut back on how much feed goes into the bucket to start with!!!

Very cool, glad we had this talk. Makes me feel less paranoid! Guess I'm reading blogs from fellow over-thinkers!! lol and yes I use whole grains, seeds & peas but it's amazing how soft they get towards the end of the batch...I can cut right into them with my fingernail! And interesting stuff about SCOBY, I am only familiar with this from making kombucha and embarrassing enough, still don't quite understand the difference between that and the mother of acv even after reading about it lol some stuff sticks in my dusty mom brain, some stuff don't

 

[FrankHomestead]

Oh yes about the bread, it produces alcohol

 

[horsesNchicks]

Umm stupid question but what are the benefits to fermenting the chicken feed? I feed my pullets an organic feed but just curious....thanks

 

[FrankHomestead]

Umm stupid question but what are the benefits to fermenting the chicken feed? I feed my pullets an organic feed but just curious....thanks

Lots!!
The fermentation process creates probiotics which are great for good gut bacteria, immune system and overall health.
The process also "breaks down" food to make the nutrients more easily absorbed, so they will be extracting more vitamins and protein.
Because of this^ you will use less feed so your supply will be spread further, easier om the budget!
A lot of ppl say it makes their feces more solid and less odor.
The chickens don't waste it for the fact it doesn't go flying everywhere like dry feed.
Last but not least they LOVE it!!

 

[Dayrel]

Lots!!
The fermentation process creates probiotics which are great for good gut bacteria, immune system and overall health.
The process also "breaks down" food to make the nutrients more easily absorbed, so they will be extracting more vitamins and protein.
Because of this^ you will use less feed so your supply will be spread further, easier om the budget!
A lot of ppl say it makes their feces more solid and less odor.
The chickens don't waste it for the fact it doesn't go flying everywhere like dry feed.
Last but not least they LOVE it!!

^All this. If it wasn't for the extra work to convert commercial feed into fermented, everyone would do it. Follow the fermented-feed-faq link above. It really is easy. My girls took to it right away.

 

[lazy gardener]

Umm stupid question but what are the benefits to fermenting the chicken feed? I feed my pullets an organic feed but just curious....thanks

No such thing as a stupid question. The best information can be find in Tikki Jane's article: https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

Fermenting the feed produces probiotics. It breaks down the antinutrients in the grains. It acidifies the gut to make it more resistant to pathogens. Chickens who eat FF have longer villi in their guts. Those villi are the structures that hold the capillaries that absorb the nutrients. More and longer villi = better nutritional absorption. Chicken poo does not stink as much when chickens eat FF. Chicken poo is dryer when they eat FF. They get better nutrition, so they don't eat as much. There is NO waste. Rodents and pest birds can't carry the feed off like they can do with dry feed. Your feed bill will go down. The fermentation process produces Vitamin B-12, greatly increases the amount of Lysine, and Methionine in the feed, making it very nearly a complete protein.

 

[ChickNanny13]

LOVE FF! AGREE with lazy gardner, Dayrel, FrankHomestead & you should check out the thread/link that lazy gardner provided, very informative. Very good question