Heck they got me sweating bullets because I still need to get a few more pullets from
TSC.
@TJAnonymous glad you're all right!
Windy today, will water in a bit. I ran out first thing to feed and water the chickens and they were all over me. Jumped up on my wrist, walking all over my feet. It's pretty hilarious how friendly they get when they want something. I need to rig a larger waterer and get my feed fermentation going.
To those who want to know. I have used, with tremendous success in the past, a five gallon bucket. I had a two-three foot piece of PVC, about an inch in diameter so it was stiff pipe, that I used to stir and here's the quick version.
Fill five gallon bucket one third of the way full with feed. I've fermented store bought pellets and milled grain before with equal success. Add enough water until it just begins to cover but not quite. Then add two to three generous "glugs" of apple cider vinegar with the mother in it. Stir thoroughly and leave in a warm (above 60F is best) dark place with the lid on but not sealed. It needs to burp. I think they might make lids for this, but I haven't looked. Check it and stir once or twice a day and keep adding water to get it nice and damp but not soupy. Thick like oatmeal, not thin like soup. It will begin to smell and bubble after a few days or less depending on how hot it is. The hotter the bucket, the faster the ferment up until it gets tooo hot. I can't remember the top cutoff temp. It's not a "bad" smell. Just a smell of fermentation. almost sweet and sour at the same time. Can't miss it when you smell it. Now fill the bucket up some more, no more than 3/4 of the way full because over that it puffs up too much (oh yeah, it expands considerably) and gets too hard to stir.
Feed directly out of the bucket. As you take fermented food out, throw more food in to keep the ferment running, keep adding more water to maintain consistency, but you don't need more ACV unless you get a ruined batch and have to start over.
There's a whole thread on here somewhere, hundreds of pages long, that has more details if you want them, this is just a "primer" if you will.