Ferment Your Chicken Feed
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2017
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~~~~~~~~~~~SAVE 40% or more on your chicken feed costs!
Our large family loves fresh eggs, we love healthy home raised chicken for dinner, not to mention turkey, duck and goose.
But man, the feed can get expensive!
Here is one of the main ways we have learned to save $, and increase the health of our birds.
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Just a thought, as I think you’re wasting the final days water when you drain your bucket.
You should make a stand that you can place the drinking bucket above the new days bucket and let the nice strong probiotic water from the final day drain into the new first day as this will significantly expanded on your fermentation process.
I was curious about that as well.
Yes, my chickens go crazy for the "juice", so I give it to them in a bowl...gone in minutes!
Matthew, great thought! I'll be doing this. I hated the idea of wasting so much water. Thank you.
Drunk Chickens are Happy Chickens LOL ;)
Can you break it down dummy terms for me lol im getting lost a little in video im new to this i have 4 chickens lol
I miss videos like these. I like the pantry chat and others but I love the one where youre out in the yard actually showing what youre doing.
A few years ago, we had 350+ layers and found a wild rice processing place that gave us their machine and floor sweepings. We ended up with about 800 lbs. of free, good feed for the hens. We soaked 3, 10 gal., 1/2 full buckets twice a day for them. Doubled the feed and soaked up about 3/4 gal. water. Chickens loved it, was very nice on the pocket book, their production was impeccable. They still got their rolled corn before lights out and people loved our eggs. A lot of times we ran out of eggs for selling, just from our house. Anyways, love your videos guys, very informative!
Thanks for sharing this anecdote. Could you tell me more about your daily process of fermenting and feeding birds?
@@katieuncutwaters3452 me too
Thanks for your story,can you share more with me please.
Could you tell me about your process and feed mix by chance? I'm building my flock up and am expecting to have 100 layers before the end of the year.
How much fermented grains do you give each chicken per day?
Put the bucket with holes on top of the next new bucket and RECLAIM the fermented water to start your fresh grains with!
I agree with that
Just did our first batch of grain for our girls. They loved it! We have an older hen that hates anything but corn in the grain. She actually ate everything! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
How are the meat chicks doing ?
I love the way you and your wife explain things.
Thanks for thorough info video. Last week I fermented my pellets and it did make a messy mush, but the girls went crazy for it. I just bought cracked corn and wheat scratch and am going to ferment it. Thanks again. 😊
As your wife makes cheeses what about putting the whey into the feed. My grandma did that and she said it was good for the hens and economical use of waste
Full of proteins
I love this. It seems that also that there is so much water making/cleaning the cheese. So this is another great way to whey.
Growing up on a dairy farm we would wash out the milking machine with fresh water keeping the first few gallons and storing it in drums turning it to curd and whey which was then fed to the pigs (best pork ever!!) and the chickens would come RUNNING to get a treat
My Barredrocks and wyandots (12 total) are about 6+ weeks old. Started making my mash by the Qt jar. 1/2c oats, 1c crumble, a drizzle of molasses.
It was really neat watching this after you guys answered my questions on chickens on Sunday. Thanks for the cool ideas! By the way, I personally do not have any chickens right now. I just really like information gathering.
Thank you so much for helping me take better care of my little homestead and my family. God bless!
+jacquelyn hiers - So glad we can help other... thanks for the encouraging words😉.
Been doing just for my chickens, but you said ducks and turkeys and now, man I am gonna be a fermenting queen!
I was thinking the same thing!!! We have both ducks and chickens! Yay for fermentation!
Just a little from our experience. If your chickens aren't totally free range, or given other protein, scratch alone is not enough protein. but even bigger is that premixed poultry feed has extra calcium in it. This can be solved by keeping oyster shell available free choice. They sell a calcium carbonate as an oyster shell replacement. it doesn't stop soft shell eggs. Oyster shell does.. We have found a nongmo ground poultry feed mix we are very happy with and ferment for 24 hrs... we could have done longer in the winter but in the summer that seems to work best for us.
I leave the same water and keep topping with water as I go. No need to change the water and is much quicker fermentation keep lid on. Incidentally you maybe surprised to know you can consume the corn as well. We call it kaanga pirau, ( fermented corn ). The aroma is like parmesan cheese and obviously there is a process and cooking cooking method. It's absolutely delicious.
I love the smell! I’ve been fermenting scratch for years to get my girls in the coop but will try the chicken food the same! Tx for sharing!😊😊
Grow Russian Comfrey bocking #14. It's perennial and 20-30% protein. 100-120 tons per acre. Livestock love eating it and it can really lover your feed costs even more. Malted grain is full of enzymes and extra sugar. I raise mealworms to add fat and protein to my bird feed.
I like more information about this.
I've lined my flock fence run with comfrey they love it. purple flowers not wild yellow. It's nickname from Indians is knit bone used all over world for tea.
Illegal here in states but in South used like hay. 22-37% protein. Chickens sheep. Plant next to fruit trees will fertilize them
10 ft. Tap root. Used as poultice also/ burns. Do your research. ..
Thanks Homesteading Family! I've been doing something close to this, only sprouting the grains instead of fermenting, 5 days, I'm going to try fermenting after sprouting! so 7 days, possibly 5 times the food for the chickens, my dogs and me! E buying food grade barley & wheat from our local Co-op.
I'm looking into both fermenting ( which this vid was great for ) and gleaned some additional good thoughts in comments.. but also thinking of sprouting .. my idea is to use black plastic grow trays ( like for seedlings) and put holes into one and set it into one without holes so it can drain a bit.. ....and to build a rather high edged frame/s that can be placed around the combined boxes that will have hardware cloth on top so that they can only eat the tops of the plants which I can continue to water ( hopefully)... I live where there is nothing green in winter so I'm going to try grow lights I usually use to start plants in early Spring..
I do a daily soak in the house of corn, wheat, whole oats, and sunflower with ACV and the hottest tape water (well water no chlorides) as the starter and set it next to the wood stove-. It gets topped off with table scraps, left overs that aged out, cooked cracked eggs and egg shells. They Love it.
Thanks Josh for sharing how to do this.
Great demo and explanation - thanks!
*Awesome! Gonna try this. Thanks for the video!*
Amen! We use WAY less feed and the birds get their fill. Plus the nutrition is better...too many benefits to not do it. Thank you!
Great video, what I do is strain the fermented grain with the perforated bucket inside a clean one, so I use this to start the new batch, also to spray the mulch inside the cop to soften the straw and help the composting process...
Rodrigo Garcia
Yeah, I liked the idea of starting the fermentation with water from a mature bucket. I did something similar to this with my fishtanks. The process of stabilizing the water takes time. You can shortcut the process by "seeding" with water from an established tank.
I do continuous ferment like with my kombucha. Large 3 gallon container in the house. I take grain out to feed - about 1/4 of it - and add back fresh feed. Cover with water and stir well. Once a week, I add a TB of ACV. Keeps the ferment going well - nice and bubbly - and I don't need to wash. I just scrape down each time and when I think it needs it, I wash the whole container. My container is glass.
Denise Rollick what is ACV?
Apple Cider Vinegar
Denise Rollick, What is TB?
@@lindajohnson2950 tablespoon
Do you cover your jar?
I do this with a mix of corn, red wheat, and oats (couldn't get barley locally). Birds love it and egg production is double of what the chicken pellets got. Birds LOVE it.
Do you do equal
Parts? Thx
Thank you for teaching us
I'm putting my sprouted wheat and barley water on my lemon,orange and lime trees they love it
Very well done! Keep the fowl videos coming! We are in our 50's and just getting started!
Inez Vasquez never too late! Felicidades!
Inez Vasquez
Same here, Inez! Good luck! We’re loving it although it’s hard work!
The wheat berry or most grains have a coating that protects it during digestive process in hopes of being excreted in manure and having a good nutrient dense start in life.
You can also start a soldier fly larvae container. The larvae contain 40% protein and you can just create a compost bucket that allows the adults in to lay their eggs. Free chicken food
Love your Family’s videos! Thanks for taking the time to share them. What type of whole grain do you use and does the type of grain need to be rotated?i.e. wheat for a bit then switch to barley
I would love to know what to purchase as well
We do this with our broiler chickens. Really cuts down on feed costs, less feed in the poop
Great video! I don't think stirring or dumping is necessary since lactobacillus is an anaerobic bacteria, it does not need oxygen to survive. Most lactobacilli tolerate oxygen but some strains may grow poorly in the presence of oxygen which slows down the fermentation process. That being said, the bucket should be tightly closed with an airlock to let the gas escape and keep air out...
Great info!!!! 👍
Lactobacilli are just one kind of probiotic, I believe the one helps prevent yeast infections. I would hope we could get more than the one species.
That is so interesting the main cost of raising is feed .I know my 20 could eat 2 bag a month .As you show would cut that down a great bit .Thank you for sharing really interesting and on keeping them healthy .
+charles foster - Yep... we all want to take great care of our stock, but it can get expensive if we don't look for healthy alternatives!
So true chicken feed starts to add up over time .And the amount spent VS buying gets near the same as buying .But healthy is the key word as to hormones and many other added to feed and who knows on chicken farms with so many being raised .I had some and they have a short life span there feet start to give the trouble after 9 months then they can not walk .Geno is set that way is a I can fig .Or breeding in the blood line .So I will take a yard chicken over any raised in houses any day .We have game hens and such they are great layers and survive lean not overweight look healthy also .So has to be good for eating I would think .Found your video very good thank you o much we will be getting more soon and will use this in raising them .
@charles foster - you probably accidentally got meat birds. They're bred to grow fast and to be butchered at 8-12 wks. Some try to keep them as pets and they usually die of heart attacks or broken legs before 1 yr.
One other step that you might like to consider, is as you are draining the last bucket allow some way of catching the water and reusing it, as a starter culture, for bucket number one. Just a thought.
Very efficient little set up. I’ve fermented grains for a while and my chickens got nuts when I give it to them. My chickens have crushed grain on hand at all times and they get fermented grain as a treat. I also grow the grain in my veggie patch as green manure when nothing is growing in there at that time. Very cost effective and so very simple
can u please explain this to a newbie-thanks
anew beinging which part? Green manure is just another name for cover crop, as in when the typical growing season is over, you plant green manure or cover crop. It's used to rejuvenate the soil, but in BB's case, they're also using them for feeding the flock.
Busy Bumblebee what kind of grains do you grow?
I use hard white wheat berries to grow a cover crop, then let the girls in to till and eat it.
OK, LETS GET REAL HERE. THE CHICKS LOVE THE BUZZ THEY GET.
My hens wouldn't eat the mash or pellets but would pick out the cracked corn, oats, sunflower seeds, etc. that was mixed in.... until I added water to the mash and pellets and they crowded around and gobbled it down! Who knew?
Do you keep lids on your bucket throughout the day or do they remain open?
When I ferment apples for apple cider vinegar, I place a coffer filter over the jar to keep bugs out and allow air in. In this case I guess you don’t need to keep bugs out.
Super good info thank you!!
Very informative vid. Thanks!
Use rain water. Tap water often has treatments add with can effect the fermentation process.
We just got some chickens (& a couple of ducks) this spring. Fall is now approaching, and as it does, I'm wondering how does this process work/what does it look like in the winter months? I'm sure you get very similar weather to me - I am right beside you in Montana - specifically subzero temps. I assume you move your buckets into a climate-controlled area so that they don't freeze. If so, where do you put them - do they need to come inside the house or a slightly heated garage? What is the lowest the temperature can be outside for the grains to ferment outside, then at what temperature do you move them inside (assuming that's the case)? Thanks in advance!
Can we feed the fermented grains along with the liquid fermented? I really wish to know if it is good to do this.
Thank You!
Grain fed chickens are healthier and they actually get the nutrients they need. Good video on stretching feed. Keep up the good work! Thank you.
Small poultry feed pellet line for sale: th-cam.com/video/mAKiJm9QwYk/w-d-xo.html
Lol . Grain fed chickens are not! That’s not their native good.
@@nadezhbg5653 I wanted to make meal worms etc for chickens, but I realized they are contaminated with parasites and dangerous bacterias
@ff - meal worms are dried, no parasites. If your chickens spend anytime outside, they're eating more parasite infested wild bugs. Add DE or pumpkin seeds to their feed and/or regularly deworm them with fenbedazole.
Don’t add so much water and feed it all to them. I ferment to a soupy mixture and feed it all, no water drained or wasted. They peck the feed trough clean everyday. I also leave a little in the bucket and add some homemade fruit vinegar to start my next batch as a great started
@homesteadingfamily Hi I have one question if I have access to a bunch of grains oats and stuff from my local brewery after they're done using it is that enough food or do I have to give other stuff and I am also fully free ranging them too
Specificly what grains? Have you tried growing wild grains and seeds?
Wheat for winter is what I do
THANK YOU!!
Excellent video :) Great to see exactly how you set this up (the draining bucket and moving from bucket to bucket, helping to "stir the mixture" - I now also have a better understanding of the why. I am getting back into ducks shortly, so very good information - Thanks for taking the time to share this!
Thanks for the video.
If you soften the grain like that will the chicken need as much grit to grind the grain up in the gizzard
?
Thanks!
Ty👍
At the last of your video you said that the eggs will be heavier, and have thicker shells..... ---- I hatch my eggs and am wondering if the THICKER egg shell will drop my chicken hatch rate. Any thoughts on folks who have experience with this would be appreciated. BTW... have about 75 hens eggs that I use for hatching.
Do you have a recipe for your poultry grain mix?
Great! video, thanks!
Great presentation!
My chooks have become fussy since the pizza shop started giving us leftovers. Now they just dial a pizza.
Do you used grains that have fertile and/or fermentation products already mixed in?
Thanks mate 👍 ya rock 💪 ya saving me money and make me 🐦 healthy Aussie Aussie Aussie oiy oiy oiy 😀
Can you do the mixed feed like this also? I have Oats, Sunflower Seeds peas and Flax all mixed in with my scratch.
Do you add any vitamin / mineral premix? cause they might need it.
What if you put a rack and pan under the draining bucket and use it to add to the starter bucket along with fresh water??
Could this be applied in a gravity style feeder? Does the fermented feed need to be eat completely due to mold?
I started fermenting, it smells so sweet like baked bread, yum! What amount of fermented grains should be fed for each hen?
He goes over this in the video.
I've been meaning to do this for a few months, finally started yesterday. It's been really hot, so I just left it for about 30 hours. I had an old bucket that already had a few holes in it, so I decided to use it to drain. Apparently the holes are too big (5/16") because 2/3 of the feed ran out onto the ground...
Informative video, thanks. I only have six hens so will use coffee cans. Wanted to see you feed the fermented grain.
Now I know what I’m going to do with my coffee cans. I only have six hens too. Thanks for the tip.
Nice! I use juice pitchers with lids. I find the handles make for easy refilling and straining. The lids have strainers and the containers soak enough for a few days feeding. If you get the lighter ones you can see how many grains are left from the outside and refill. :)
@@emgreen2159 p
We have 10 chickens. Coffee can?
@@algonquinwoman1921 the cans coffee comes in to ferment the grain.
Question . I want to do this but am thinking in the winter here in Canada wont the food freeze ? Or do you put out the food in the morning and evening that’s it ?
Can you do this process with a fresh milled grain that has molasses added to it? I buy my grain and bulk from a local feed Mill but would love to try this method!
Yes, molasses will actually help it along!
Great video. Do you feed once a day? Enough for all day? Twice a day? Also, I read many asking what grains for your recipe but didn't see any answers.
This may have been answered but do you do anything with the water that drains off? I would imagine there are some nutrients that wash off and out the drain. Thinking maybe stack your drain bucket on your starter bucket. Idk just looking for thoughts
hie thanks for the feed saving tip.at what stage can one start giving fermented feeds on broiles and layers.thank you
2 months old
With the scratch grain how big of a hole are you using and where do you place them for drainage?
What do you do in the winter time so this does not freeze? Do you just bring it inside or is their something different you do for the cold?
+Dustin Moon You have to bring it into a protected spot so it doesn’t freeze...
Use a wallboard mud mixer on a drill to mix water in and get a good mix I always liked to feed wet feed to hogs
Great video! Thanks 👍
Glad you liked it!
How do you determine how much to feed? I have 6 hens
Lacto boost from the bucket you are draining to use as feed. In cooler weather that will boost the start.
This will make for thicker shells? Perfect, I've got 2 hens laying soft shelled eggs every time and was looking for a proper solution! Thanks!
Give them crushed oyster shell.
As an alternative for thin shell, I also give them sweet corn as a treat because they love it so much. I pour eggshell grit all over the corn and stir. I pulverize the egg shell using a coffee bean grinder.
How do you manage this in the winter? The grain is wet and the ground is cold and where can you store it to keep it from freezing?I assume you do this year round.
What I do when I see ads for vegetarian chicken feed 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Chickens eat bugs, frogs, mice, each other, they are definitely not vegetarian, lol.
You're so right, alot of chicken protein comes from insects.
dreamingfool2 I have seen videos of beef being in cow feed. That is probably why they do that.
sure dose,, my chickens love to jump up and grab the flying bugs and my chickens is even killing moles and eating them
I agree they are omnivores and eat almost anything they can swallow. Raised them for years and its always amazing what they will eat.
Vegetarian Diet = GMO corn and GMO soy
Ronald Cain how do I teach my chickens to do that? Please, do tell, lol. The moles are tearing up my place.
Subbed …thanks.
Can you tell me what your chicken feed is made of? And what portions of each grains you use. Tha ks
great video
Do you use heaters to keep the buckets from freezing during the winter, or do you only ferment feed during the warmer months? Thank you!
Just curious wouldn't it be good to capture the water so that any nutrients that's in it you could use to water the animals with as well, I mean sounds like you have a few animals that will need fresh water daily anyway?
But just curious.
I soak my whole corn for chickens and gravel also
👍 inspire
Is that just whole corn or is it cracked or what grain is it?
Do you use fermented grains also for chicks?
You mentioned in the winter time you give your chickens oatmeal I'm assuming you're saying you give them cooked oatmeal is that correct? I'm seriously considering starting to have egg laying hens myself this spring. So I've been watching every video reading as much as I can. And I will be relatively small , six hens at most.. I'm having a very hard time learning how much I need to feed them. Or maybe I'm just missing it. I'm also interested in understanding the process from hen House to freezer.
Thank you
You should reserve your water and feed it to your animals. Also cutting cost from not running your well pump.
How does this method compare to sprouting your grain?
What do you add for extra protein in the winter when your birds are not getting bugs?
Where do you store it after you fill it up with water? Outside or inside a shed?
very good film I want to know how do you do the ferment feed in the winter ..Is it ok to feed chicken with frozen food? Hope can hear from you thank you