Water from Fermented-Feed

[Todd & Kristine]

Thanks, BackYardChickens Staff and Members! May we feed (excessive, drained-off) nutrition-saturated water (from fermented-feed) to our flock, instead of fresh-water? Or as a fresh-water supplement? If not, why? Again, thanks!

 

[azygous]

Great question! I'll be interested in what others think about this.

My view is that clean fresh water has no equal and cannot be improved upon. Some add ACV to it, but if you feed FF, this is a needless exercise.

Regarding the FF excess water, I feel the best thing to do about that is to adjust the ratio of dry feed to water to achieve a thicker consistency. I feed FF at the consistency of thick oatmeal, adding more dry crumble toward the end of the bucket as the mixture "sheds" water.

Here is my "recipe": To 24 cups (7 quarts) of water, I add 28 cups of dry feed.

I keep two buckets, starting a new batch in the second bucket as the first gets down to one day of feed-out remaining. I use a cup of the previous batch to jump start the new bucket so it ferments in just 24 hours. It needs to be at least 70F to achieve this quick fermentation.

 

[lazy gardener]

Regarding the FF excess water, I feel the best thing to do about that is to adjust the ratio of dry feed to water to achieve a thicker consistency. I feed FF at the consistency of thick oatmeal, adding more dry crumble toward the end of the bucket as the mixture "sheds" water.

Agreed with Azygous. If done properly, there will be no water drained off. I'm not saying that it's wrong to keep your ferment covered with water. What I AM saying that IME that is totally un-necessary, and simply makes the process more difficult/time consuming than it needs to be.

I simply plop the ferment into the feed trough/bowl. When my bucket is almost empty, I add more feed/water and mix it to the consistency of: mashed potatoes, soft serve ice cream, drop biscuit dough. It is thick enough that the serving spoon stands up in it. Then, I walk away and leave it to percolate until it's time to feed the birds again.

I would not give the ferment water to the flock. They should have, and need good clean fresh water. If you continue to have excess liquid, a good place for it would be in your compost pile.