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Well, there are a few more good things about doing fermented feed I have found:
1. chick poop doesn't stink! It is also firmer, smaller, easier to clean up...
2. they waste less food, and actually EAT less too They don't throw the wet stuff out of the feeder looking for something.. although they do shake their heads and wipe their beaks off to get off the stuck stuff, but somebody comes along and eats that flung food too..
3. they don't drink water as fast either - their food contains moisture
4. no "food stuck in the throat" scary gasps in the really little littles, and no having to crush it to avoid this
5. so far I have not had any signs of cocci in any of the chicks I started on fermented feed. I use the non-medicated flock starter - so there is no protection. I expose them really young to the grass from where my chickens poop. I know I have cocci - the batch I got in last year I had a really bad case and lost 2 or 3 chicks, all from cocci (and they WERE on dry medicated starter).
ONLY DRAWBACK I have seen so far - they WEAR their food... silly chicks... at least until somebody else helps them clean the tops of their heads off...
I do a very small separate batch for the chicks (I also ferment for the grown ones). I put it in a clear large tupperware bowl that I keep on my kitchen windowsill. I fill the tupperware bowl half full of water and put in one glug of un-pasturized ACV, stir the water and then pour in the dry food in small batches until it starts to get thick, add more water, more food - until the bowl is full of sloppy watery goop. I let it set until the water is absorbed, then pull about half (or more) of the firm food out and add more water until it is over the top of the food, stir well and let it set. It is very similar to sourdough starter in some ways. When it is warm it ferments really quickly - I started it the day the chicks hatched and it was bubbling the next day... I fed the first "pull" to the chicks, it took almost two days for them to eat it so I removed the un-fermented food when the fermented was done, just in case.
To use it I add more water to the watery bubbling stuff (about half bowl), add more food and water until it looks like wet concrete (wet sloppy mud) and the bowl is almost full and let it set. It will rise up and soak up almost all the water. I stir it down again, take the moist food off the top and put in the food bowls (and yes, it always makes me want fresh baked bread ) and then add water to what is left, put it back to ferment until the next day. I use only plastic bowls. I suspect the vinegar might cause a reaction with any metal bowls - even though it is used to ferment the food. Every once in awhile I will add more vinegar, just if it seems I took too much out and it isn't fermenting properly. This is not rocket science, but if you add too much vinegar the chicks won't want to eat it... then back off a bit, water it down with water and food.. and off you go again.
If it smells sour, do not use it. If it gets mold of any color (except there is a white "mother" that grows on the top of the water sometimes, that is not mold) do not use it. It is very easy to start a new batch to be on the safe side - and I want no chance of poisoning my chicks.
That's my method.. has worked great since the beginning of this year, I started with my Ameraucana chicks and am now feeding all the chicks...
. Has anyone been able to start two different batches of eggs at different times in one bator? Does the lockdown period prohibit this?
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