Fermenting for "the others" chickens, geese, guineas........

[dobergoat]

I was asked to start a thread on fermenting feed. I'm NOT AN EXPERT at this, just started, but this is how I'm doing it. Please post how you do it, etc. suggestions etc

I do the bucket within a bucket method. Have 2 batches going. One for am other for pm feeding.

How I started: Put in desired amount/type of grain, water to cover it x2, 2 glugs of apple cider vinigar with "mother" in the food grade buckets. Stir, put a lid on it - tight ( important as this is a anarobic, without oxygen reaction) and then let it sit for 2 days. By then you should have a decent fermatation going and it will get better with age.*

After 48 hours I start "harvesting" the fermented grains, never taking more then half the fermented grain. I have an am bucket and pm bucket. I take what I need from the appropriate bucket, and stir in some dry grain to replace what I took. S

So far one batch went a little funky, I wasn't closing the container lid tight enough. I rinsed it, and feed it to the chickens, no problems - let's be honest they eat poo... NOTE: it was just starting to go off and smelling a little off, not rancid or anything. Other bucket has been going for 4 weeks now. My husband is a engineer and happens to work with fermentations for human consumption - you can keep it going indefinetly but eventually it will fail and you have to restart, just have to watch to keep things clean, and sanitary. I keep the buckets in my basement.

Like fodder fermented feed is recommended to only be a portion of the diet as fermented, as it i acidic. I personally belive that a little of everything is better then alot of one thing. My birds are nuts for it. Also helps the laymash stick to it so no more wasting. I ferment one part oats/barley and 2 parts wheat.

I feed 1 part fermented, 1 part sprouted ( oats/barley/BOSS) and one part dry ( layer, wheat,game-bird feed when I have it) all mixed together, along with hay, haylage and scraps for the coop. When laying season comes I will mix in brewers yeast and kelp for the geese and turkeys. The coop dwellers - chickens, guineas & ducks will get it then by default. My manure pile for the winter is always in the winter coop run so that those birds can pick throw my wasteful grow out bucks scraps...
I'm also copy

* Technically for "true" lactic fermentaion you don't need to use the ACV but I like it as it helps to kill off the bad bacteria and gives time for the lactic fermentation to start. Using ACV is no the right way to do a Lactic fermentation according to diehard fermenters, but it will turn into a lactic fermentation eventually. People that ferment for themselves would not do it this way, but were talking chickens and birds here, not people.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

now that is interesting.. I heard for this for people and how good it is for them.. I wouldn't do it for rabbits .. but I would for birds.. So you just mix some of your grains in a buck with water.. how much? and how long do you keep it in there for ? I know the birds like wet mash.. I like to try this. I am not into the sprouting part as I know it will mould here for sure..

opps.. just read it over again... so you use two buckets.. put your grains in and cover with water and how much ACV?

 

[dobergoat]

just two glugs, I would say 3 tablespoons for 2 gallons of water and 6 cups of grain. These are all estimates. The important part is that the grains are submerged ( remember they will expand as they swell). And that the bucket/ container has a good lid that fits tight. Alot of people do not use the ACV but it makes it work faster. Also remember the warmer it is the faster it will ferment. I've read about 4 days and the fermentation is well under way. But you can feed as soon as you want, just won't have the same effect.

I noticed day 1-7 e birds were eating way less, food left over in the feeder. And then day 7-10 the gorged like crazy birds. I think there systems were adjusting. My coop consumes 14 cups of feed per day for 7 guineas, 8 silkies/showgirls, 5 malines ( big chickens, 3 muscovies, 5 Sebrights. My geese ( 21 too many! eat 10-12 cups twice a day. I feel it's like when you switch a dog from kibble to raw, they eat less, the gorge and get fat and then stableize. Not sure how long it takes for birds in comparison. My birds are all free range and pastured so they are fairly "natural".

 

[Frecs]

That is excellent information! Do you know what the optimal temperature is for the lactic acid fermentation?

 

[dobergoat]

No idea. I can ask my husband but with a quick google search I came up with 6 to 36 C. So a very wide range, as I remember him telling me. This type of fermentation is very forgiving which makes it awesome.

Does anyway know why you should not be feeding rabbits fermented feed? of course you would introduce it to them slowly but I don't understand why they won't do well on it. I read somewhere that it is ideal for ruminants, people feed to fowl, humans eat it, dogs etc.

So why are rabbits one of the few species that can not have it? I can understand why you don't feed it to reptiles or amphibians but are rabbits so different from every other mammal? ( this is an honest question, not trying to be snarky or anything)

thanks

 

[dangerbunny]

I ferment for chickens! I've been fermenting chicken feed for a couple months now, it is a hassle in the winter but super easy in the summer so I guess it evens out. I got on a fermenting kick while reading "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz. and was all "FERMENT ALL THE THINGS"

I keep mine in the house by the front door (I'm in MI everything freezes outdoors) I have two buckets going, to start you fill it up with feed about two thirds full and cover it with water, stir a couple times and make sure all the feed stays submerged. If the feed is exposed to air it will get funky. I scoop it out into a bucket and mix a little dry layer to soak up the extra liquid. We raised some chicks on it and the were much hardier than the others. Whole grains take a longer time, layer mash is a much shorter time to ferment, it goes quicker in the warm and slower in the cold. A good ferment smells kinda like sourdough bread or ACV. The birds LOVE it.

Re: rabbits, I do know someone who feeds brew mash to her rabbits and they do fine on it, and it is common in some other countries to feed haylage to horses. I wouldn't ferment feed for horses or rabbits, they have too sensitive a digestive system and when things go wrong it goes quick. Also I remember reading about probiotics and rabbits naturally have low levels of lactobacillus, which is what you are encouraging with a lacto-ferment.

My theory on rabbits is when young they need to eat dropping from their mother to populate their gut and establish a healthy gut flora. Then through their life they eat their own cecotropes and put the bacteria back in their cecum. It's kind of a closed system and pretty easy to mess up.