Fermenting Chick Feed...

[allihagi]

Hi all!

I am trying out fermenting chick feed for the first time. Currently using Scratch and Peck Chick Starter and following their guidelines for fermentation and I find myself with a few questions.

1) when fermenting feed they say to do 2 parts water to 1 part feed. Is this by weight or volume?

2) what do you feed in? I currently have the long red plastic trays that have oval holes in the top (picture below) but they don't seem very interested in eating the fermented feed out of those, they will eat out of them with dry feed in them though. I put some fermented feed out on the lid of a bucket and they went right for it so I know they like it. Should I just take the lids off of the little trays?

3) approx how much do you feed per chick? I feel like I shouldn't leave the fermented stuff out for more than 24 hours and I have quite a bit of waste, I especially feel this way because I fill the red feeders up to the top to make sure they can reach the feed (they are only 3 days old so pretty small still) but there is no way they can eat all that, but I want there to be enough feeder space that they can all reach! I'm also hyper conscious about waste because S&P is so expensive. The idea is to save money by fermenting, not spend more because I'm having to toss so much.

3.5) can I give what the chicks don't eat to my adult birds?

4) pasty butts, in your experience does fermented feed help with pasty butts? I have quite a few and have just been cleaning them all up but am hoping the fermented feed could curb some of it.

Also any other insights you have about fermenting feed for chicks would be great!

Thanks!

 

[AngieMaesChix]

Just following as I am also wanting to start fermented feed starting as chicks. Though my chicks won’t be here until late March setting incubator the tenth!!

 

[paneubert]

It is by volume. So you could use the same measuring cup for both the feed and the water. That's what I used to do back in the day. Scoop some dry, then fill same container with water and dump it in the bucket.

I would use whatever container they will eat from since them eating is so crucial at a young age.

I would make more than I need and then feed the extra to the big birds, or just toss it.

Pasty butt would hopefully be reduced since the feed is wet and they are intaking more water. But sometimes the reasoning for pasty butt is a mystery. So fermented cant be counted on to 100% avoid pasty butt.

 

[paneubert]

When I did this for quail, I used the same style trough feeder you tried. It worked fine. I don't see why your chicks would eat dry out of it but not wet.

 

[blackdog043]

I use a chick waterer and put some fermented around the base. I leave the bottle screwed in, to keep them out of it better. Yes, give left overs to your big girls. My whole flock gets non medicated starter grower all the time, so it makes it easy to give some to the chicks.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1) I eyeball it rather than worry about food to water ratios, the reason being temperature and climate impacts how much water you need. So you can start with their recommendation, then adjust as needed to get the consistency you want (my birds want it quite stiff). Hotter drier climate, you need more water. Colder or humid, less water.

2) I find it easiest to put it in a small shallow dish, like a cat food dish or something like a little ceramic tart pan. Something heavy enough to not flip over easily, shallow enough that they don't fall in and get stuck, and ceramic or glass is easy to clean. It's fine if they want to stomp around in it.

3 & 3.5) If the S&P is their sole diet I'd leave it out a good portion for the day and then give the rest to the adults. I don't actively measure what I feed so not sure how much each chick will need.

And since S&P isn't medicated yes it'd fine for the adults. They will GOBBLE it up. My chicks wouldn't take fermented feed until about 4 weeks so my hens got quite a bit of fermented chick feed.

 

[goodb]

Thank you for this post. One question I haven’t been able to find an answer to is; how long past day 3 can you keep the feed? Another I have is: how do you thicken if it’s to soupy on day 3 or 4?

 

[paneubert]

Thank you for this post. One question I haven’t been able to find an answer to is; how long past day 3 can you keep the feed? Another I have is: how do you thicken if it’s to soupy on day 3 or 4?

You can keep it until you see fuzzy mold growing on it. And even then some people will just mix it in. I go my smell. When it smells rotten, I know I went too long. Many people don't completely use up or clean out their fermenting container. They just add more water and food. So in reality, there is the high chance that some of the food in there is really old. Haha. Yes it would go down each time you refresh, but even after a year you would still have some small amount of "original" in there.

As for thickening it.....add more dry food. Not complicated. Yes, the fresh dry food wont be fermented, but it will have sucked up the fermented water/juice.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for this post. One question I haven’t been able to find an answer to is; how long past day 3 can you keep the feed? Another I have is: how do you thicken if it’s to soupy on day 3 or 4?

There's no set time that it's good after day 3. Since I usually just keep refilling my jar (until I decide it needs to be cleaned) the mix of stuff in there is anything from 1 day old to remnants that are possibly several weeks old. I got a much bigger jar now so I usually make about a week's worth of feed at a time.

And yes if you need to thicken it, just add more feed.

You can keep it until you see fuzzy mold growing on it. And even then some people will just mix it in.

Personally I wouldn't (if in doubt, throw it out!) but stuff like yeast growth can just be stirred back in. If it's anything fuzzy, I toss it. White-ish and kinda flat and not fuzzy, stir it in or serve it.

 

[goodb]

I didn’t mean to hijack this post but thanks to all for your input. I feel better now.