The Quack Shack

[Supercow]

Where I grew up sorguhm was raised for two reasons. Put up in silos for winter feed for the cows and distilled into molasses for the humans. I have some in the pantry. Better than map!e syrup.

Yes, maybe we'll try that... I'll try anything once just building experience and assembling a toolbox of things that worked out well.

 

[Supercow]

Yeah, fermenting the whole plant as silage i assume. @Supercow wants to harvest the grains and that's a pita without the proper equipment…
Sorghum syrup? That sounds interesting, where's the river…
Can you also use that for baking dark bread? - At the moment i am using molasses and cleaning off the spoon is my personal highlight of the baking-day...

A combine harvester will do the job. Hopefully

Yes, one should be able to bake bread with sorghum flour, it's a bit on the heavy/dense side like corn, or buckwheat, or hemp so as I understand it a mixture of various flours is normally used.

 

[Supercow]

We'd like to get started with home prepared kefir again.

Will / should the ducks eat surplus kefir grains? I would guess yes?

There was a thread on BYC exactly about this but it ended inconclusively in 2018

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

She is such a pretty duck. Is she a white layer? I forgot what breed she was. She did seem to be using that right leg more. I think in time it will be fine.

Yes, she is my oldest White Layer. I still remember the day when my phone started to quack at 7:30am, USPS calling and telling me that my birbs are waiting for me. She hatched on January 28th 2019.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

She's so pretty. Your doing a great job working with her hopefully it will pay off and she'll be back to running the flock very soon.

Thank you very much for the undeserved credits! - Blanca is doing most of the work herself, including the physical therapy.
Btw. She is planning something, i saw her having an intense discussion with Chaos and Mayhem and when they saw me at the windows they stopped quacking immediately and acted suspiciously normal…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Shea extremely positive happy duck. She's seems happy to be rid of those toes. As they were dead she seems relived they are gone and is walking much better. Her webbie is now normal when she walks. Despite the limp she's a speedy little thing.

That's good to hear! - Still waiting for a blurry video or hazy pictures…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

A combine harvester will do the job. Hopefully

Yes, one should be able to bake bread with sorghum flour, it's a bit on the heavy/dense side like corn, or buckwheat, or hemp so as I understand it a mixture of various flours is normally used.

I was more thinking of using the Sorghum Syrup for the bread. I have already used several grains in my bread, from Sunflower-seeds to millet, quinoa and bulgur, with bulgur providing the best crunch-experience so far.
Never thought about mixing Sorghum-, Millet- or Amaranth-flour into the dough though. I used to have one third rye-flour in the mix, but sadly that has become incredibly expensive during the last years here in the U.S.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

We'd like to get started with home prepared kefir again.

Will / should the ducks eat surplus kefir grains? I would guess yes?

There was a thread on BYC exactly about this but it ended inconclusively in 2018

Kefir is some kind of milk product, right? - If the dux will eat the grains its fine, just keep in mind that all birds, not being mammals, are lactose-intolerant by nature. Chaos and Mayhem wanted to have some milk-rice last year and despite what you have read, ducks can have gas and they can fart! Loud and explosive . Way worse than when the sh¡t hits the fan…

 

[Supercow]

Kefir is a fermented milk product. The grains are agglomerations of bacteria and yeasts that perform the fermenting. They are very beneficial for human gut flora and as I understand it that should also work for animals.

At the heart of the fermenting process is the fact that the microorganisms eat up the lactose (the milk sugar). Therefore fermented products (and I guess the fermenting little critters themselves) should not cause a lactose-intolerance reaction, or at the very least, are much less likely to cause it than just plain milk.

On a related note I wonder if ducks would eat sauerkraut, or dogs enjoy it (probably because of the stinky, ie. very dog-friendly, aroma).

Farting ducks does sound kind of threatening tbh.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

That's good to hear! - Still waiting for a blurry video or hazy pictures…

I can't do video because I have no accounts anywhere to post itto, but I am the queen of blurry pictures.