I start with about 1/3 of a quart jar of feed, stir in enough water to cover it a couple of inches, put a cover partially over it so some air can escape. Once or twice a day, I stir it and add more water if needed. The feed expands! And you always want to make sure it's covered with water. Also, it won't work if the temperature is cold, so my family gets to deal with me making this in the house.
Usually by day 3 it is ready...it will have, what some call, a yogurt-type smell. My kids gag if I mix it when they are standing next to me - they certainly don't think it smells like yogurt!
Drain the liquids to be used for fermenting your next batch. I was nervous about doing this at first, but it's really quite easy. There's lots of info online about the health benefits and different ways of doing it. (Great videos, too!) I love that it promotes gut health, fills the girls up, and helps with minimizing waste as I mentioned earlier. Oh, and it's easier for them to digest. The girls picked here and there at it in the beginning, and now they all come running. From what I understand, after 30 minutes or so of it sitting out for your chickens, it starts to lose it's health benefits (the live bacteria), so it's good to start off small and see how they do. (In my picture of the 3 jars, I will be adding more feed to the one jar tomorrow and then I will stir in an appropriate amount of water to make sure the grain is covered.) Hope you get a chance to try it!
