Follow Along - Fermented Duck Feed

[Teneniel]

When i have seen this done before people use sourdough starter or the naturaly present yeasts and bacteria (same thing) . Brewers yeast does not do well in my expirence as a polyculture, it just takes over and dominates. Interested to see the taste test!

ooooh I might try that! So far all I’m smelling is oregano
Not my favorite herb

 

[Teneniel]

Well yesterday I had some really good activity, but by this morning it had blown past active to starved. I’m going to toss most of this batch and try again with some of my sourdough starter and some of this batch’s juice.

 

[Knighstar679]

The web things I have read say it takes three days for frementation to reach a feeding level. At least with many grains.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is the method I use
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ter-easy-fermented-feed-method-w-video.65375/

 

[Teneniel]

The web things I have read say it takes three days for frementation to reach a feeding level. At least with many grains.

that’s what I expected too, but my activity stopped already.

also @Miss Lydia thank you for that link!! I’ll try that one next, since it’s specific to formulated feed. She uses more vinegar than I used, which is super helpful knowledge!

 

[Ratchnick]

Why does it matter if the activity stopped? I eat stopped sourdough all the time.

 

[Teneniel]

It's more that I'm worried I did something wrong and don't want to risk harming the ducks. I can't taste this one myself. Do you let it ferment then feed off of the stopped grains? Maybe that's the whole idea and I'm thinking about it wrong.

 

[Ratchnick]

Yes, i think your supposed to feed them the stopped grains. You dont have to taste it just smell it and look for mold. It should smell like sourdough, that fresh acidic smell. Once its populated with the culture you want the microbes work to kill other microbes reducing your chance of spoilage hugely.

 

[Teneniel]

That's definitely what I was looking for. The day of peak activity it smelled like fermented barley. Now it just kinda smells like ACV, but not that gross feet smell that a bad ferment gets.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Mine smells like an Italian restaurant because of the oregano.