Quick fermenting question.

[Henriettamom919]

Everything seems on track, bubbles rising, no bad smells, etc. My only concern is there are little bits floating on top, pieces of seed hull, a tiny bit of alfalfa, etc. I know the water line must be well above the seed below so does that mean I need to fish every tiny piece of debris off the top of the liquid? Or are some floaties acceptable?

 

[Leigti]

You don’t even need to have water above the level of the fermenting feed. And you don’t have to get all the floaters out from the water. I have done fermenting for years for my chickens. I use one bucket, mix in the same amount of water as feed and stir it once a day. That’s it. Very very easy. When it starts getting low I add more feed and water. Never even change out the bucket. It does not have to be a complicated process.

 

[Henriettamom919]

You don’t even need to have water above the level of the fermenting feed. And you don’t have to get all the floaters out from the water. I have done fermenting for years for my chickens. I use one bucket, mix in the same amount of water as feed and stir it once a day. That’s it. Very very easy. When it starts getting low I add more feed and water. Never even change out the bucket. It does not have to be a complicated process.

Thank you! It's my first batch and I was hyper paranoid about horror stories involving sick birds from mold, etc. I'll settle down now

 

[Loveak9]

We fill it to about a 1/2 inch about the dry food level. In a few hour food is no longer under water. I usually let it sit 24 hr or so, then stir it, then drain it in a mesh screen for our flock [picky things like it drier]. The drained water goes back in to the batch, to keep it going. I add another scoop of dry food and a bit of water mix and start the process again. I sometimes start over, if it becomes too sour smelling ( not because it's bad (harmful) to birds, but because it smells too strong for us (humans)) .

 

[Perris]

I pick out larger bits (of straw or ears that escaped the mill) but find other bits that start off floating either sink when they've absorbed enough water or get incorporated when I stir. In either case the birds are fine with it - they'll leave what they don't want to eat