My expierence wih fermented feed...

[AnotherKim]

did not go so well. It was bubbling beautifully. My chickens were loving it. Then. I got mold. Waa. I think there's something in my house. my kombucha tea got mold, too. And don't even ask about my flour. So I'm back to dry feed and veggies. I'll decide later if it's worth it to try again.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

where did you get the mold growing?

I had problems with mine on the water surface, I wasn't stirring it often enough to keep the surface disturbed so ended up throwing out a batch. Now I try to stir it everytime I walk by.

 

[AnotherKim]

I think that was my problem too. It was a powdery mold across the top of the water.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

How long were you keeping it? When I do ff I make it 1 day and feed it the next.

 

[AnotherKim]

It was about a week old. I fed it every other day.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

How long were you keeping it? When I do ff I make it 1 day and feed it the next.

how do you make ff in one day? It takes several days to even get mine started fermenting.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

When I do it I always have about an inch of FF left in the bottom of the bucket each morning after feeding. I dump in new feed, add warm water, stir it up, by the next morning it's bubbling with that beer smell. I don't add any ACV, secret herbs & spices, supplements or do voodoo over it.
If I kept it for a week it would be just plain rotten instead of fermented.

 

[AnotherKim]

So, Chicken Legs, does that mean you start a new batch each week? I thought it was like sourdough or kombucha, where you just add feed to the original batch every couple of days.

 

[subhanalah]

When I do it I always have about an inch of FF left in the bottom of the bucket each morning after feeding. I dump in new feed, add warm water, stir it up, by the next morning it's bubbling with that beer smell. I don't add any ACV, secret herbs & spices, supplements or do voodoo over it.
If I kept it for a week it would be just plain rotten instead of fermented.

It shouldn't smell like beer. Alcohol is dangerous for chooks and is not the desired fermentation we look for in fermenting feed.

It shouldn't go rotten after one week, that indicates an imbalance somewhere.

So, Chicken Legs, does that mean you start a new batch each week? I thought it was like sourdough or kombucha, where you just add feed to the original batch every couple of days.

I add more water and feed daily with enough in the ferment bucket to last several days, so when they eat it, there is grain at all levels of fermentation.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

So, Chicken Legs, does that mean you start a new batch each week? I thought it was like sourdough or kombucha, where you just add feed to the original batch every couple of days.

If you reread their post you will see that they are leaving some "starter" behind and just adding to it. Exactly as you would with sourdough.