Fermented Feed Dangers

[NicoleSmith06]

Hello. I see a lot of benefits to feeding fermented chicken feed but what are the dangers? I've read that the longer you ferment feed the more probiotics are available as long as it smells okay and doesn't produce molds. I've also read 3-4 days for fermentation before feeding and starting over again. Does anyone have more knowledge about length of fermentation and dangers associated? Also, potentially as silly question but does alcohol start to form after a certain point in fermentation?
Thank you for your help!

 

[pibb]

Mold is a danger. I haven't fermented actual chick feed (which I think has a bigger danger of mold since its not submerged in water) but I've fermented cracked corn as a treat. I do 3 days. I have gotten mold above the water line but since then I clean my container every time it's finished and no more mold but I still look before I give it to the chickens.

Yes alcohol could form but it takes yeast to do that. There is wild yeast in the air from my understanding so I don't know how likely it is to happen.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm a lazy fermenter... anywhere from 24 hrs to 7 days is usually fine with me to feed.

Only real danger I can think of is mold. If you have mold formation, I would not feed it, just to be safe. But mold is fairly rare... I only have sporadic issues with it here during the hotter parts of summer (so during hotter weather I make smaller batches, like 2-3 days worth, due to the fact that heat increases the speed of the process).

You'll need to educate yourself on the difference between mold and yeast growth though. Yeast is absolutely normal and fine to feed and stir back in.

 

[NicoleSmith06]

Mold is a danger. I haven't fermented actual chick feed (which I think has a bigger danger of mold since its not submerged in water) but I've fermented cracked corn as a treat. I do 3 days. I have gotten mold above the water line but since then I clean my container every time it's finished and no more mold but I still look before I give it to the chickens.

Yes alcohol could form but it takes yeast to do that. There is wild yeast in the air from my understanding so I don't know how likely it is to happen.

Perfect. Thank you! I have been keeping a close eye on mold formation. I have yet to see any and it smells like fermented food.

 

[NicoleSmith06]

I'm a lazy fermenter... anywhere from 24 hrs to 7 days is usually fine with me to feed.

Only real danger I can think of is mold. If you have mold formation, I would not feed it, just to be safe. But mold is fairly rare... I only have sporadic issues with it here during the hotter parts of summer (so during hotter weather I make smaller batches, like 2-3 days worth, due to the fact that heat increases the speed of the process).

You'll need to educate yourself on the difference between mold and yeast growth though. Yeast is absolutely normal and fine to feed and stir back in.

Thank you for this! It's snowing here today - mid May so I definitely have the advantage of a cooler climate to help prevent mold growth. Will still keep a close eye on it.

 

[blackdog043]

I've been fermenting feed for 3 years. I do a simple method of fermenting, it's called back slopping. I only ferment regular feed not whole grain. After getting your initial batch fermented, feed out the days portion, leaving about 1/2 to a cup of the fermented mixture. To that add more feed and water to the consistency that your chickens like. My flock likes a thicker consistency. Leave that sit until the next days feeding, it will swell up, so leave some room in your container for this. If the consistency is not what you want before feeding, just add whats needed before feeding, I have to do this sometimes. If I don't feed them any the next day, I stir it to mix it up. I've never had any mold grow on mine. You might see a white coating on the top, this is not mold, it's yeast, mold will be fuzzy. I've had my current batch going for at least 6 months, with the back slopping method. When I go away for vacation, I put the crock in the refrigerator. This basically stops the fermenting process, because it is to cold. When I get home I take it out and continue as before. I keep the crock on my kitchen counter. A good temperature for fermenting is 70 degrees. Hotter(90) it ferments faster and colder it ferments slower. You do not need to have the feed covered in water, as you will see in the pictures below. This would create a soupy mess that my flock wouldn't touch.

This is before feeding out for the day. You might be able to see a slight white coating, yeast.

This is what is left after feeding out. I add more feed and water to back slop.

This is the consistency that I feed to my flock.

 

[Dephora]

I ferment my feed with excellent results. I ferment crumble or pellet organic feed with some scoops of some additions I want them to be eating. I do just 3 days. Any longer and the chickens don't eat it as quick. I always keep the "juice" after I drain my feed , I always have two intches of water on top, for the next batch.

The main thing to remember is that "There are two primary types of fermentation - yeast fermentation and lacto-fermentation. Yeast fermentation produces alcohol, but lacto-fermentation produces lactic acid. Yeast tends to dominate when there are lots of simple sugars (such as in fruit, or adding molasses to barley) and lactic acid bacteria tend to dominate when there are more complex carbohydrates or lower amounts of sugar (such as in cabbage or dairy products)."

The fermentation you are doing for chicken feed is lacto-fermentation, we are converting the carbs in the feed to lactic acid, which produces great probiotic effects, and improves the nutritional intake of the feed. This is how you make kimchi, krout, and pickles. Which no matter how hard you try, can't get you drunk D:

Interestingly some fermentation methods are a mix of both fermentations, like kombucha, great probiotic that does create alcohol in trace ammounts, or if you leave it on the counter long enough and keep giving it sugar, lots of alcohol!

 

[NicoleSmith06]

Thank you for the details and pictures, that's perfect!

I've been fermenting feed for 3 years. I do a simple method of fermenting, it's called back slopping. I only ferment regular feed not whole grain. After getting your initial batch fermented, feed out the days portion, leaving about 1/2 to a cup of the fermented mixture. To that add more feed and water to the consistency that your chickens like. My flock likes a thicker consistency. Leave that sit until the next days feeding, it will swell up, so leave some room in your container for this. If the consistency is not what you want before feeding, just add whats needed before feeding, I have to do this sometimes. If I don't feed them any the next day, I stir it to mix it up. I've never had any mold grow on mine. You might see a white coating on the top, this is not mold, it's yeast, mold will be fuzzy. I've had my current batch going for at least 6 months, with the back slopping method. When I go away for vacation, I put the crock in the refrigerator. This basically stops the fermenting process, because it is to cold. When I get home I take it out and continue as before. I keep the crock on my kitchen counter. A good temperature for fermenting is 70 degrees. Hotter(90) it ferments faster and colder it ferments slower. You do not need to have the feed covered in water, as you will see in the pictures below. This would create a soupy mess that my flock wouldn't touch.

This is before feeding out for the day. You might be able to see a slight white coating, yeast.
View attachment 2136944

This is what is left after feeding out. I add more feed and water to back slop.
View attachment 2136954

This is the consistency that I feed to my flock.
View attachment 2136968

 

[NicoleSmith06]

That is very helpful and eases my mind about the alcohol fermentation. Thank you very much for your help!

I ferment my feed with excellent results. I ferment crumble or pellet organic feed with some scoops of some additions I want them to be eating. I do just 3 days. Any longer and the chickens don't eat it as quick. I always keep the "juice" after I drain my feed , I always have two intches of water on top, for the next batch.

The main thing to remember is that "There are two primary types of fermentation - yeast fermentation and lacto-fermentation. Yeast fermentation produces alcohol, but lacto-fermentation produces lactic acid. Yeast tends to dominate when there are lots of simple sugars (such as in fruit, or adding molasses to barley) and lactic acid bacteria tend to dominate when there are more complex carbohydrates or lower amounts of sugar (such as in cabbage or dairy products)."

The fermentation you are doing for chicken feed is lacto-fermentation, we are converting the carbs in the feed to lactic acid, which produces great probiotic effects, and improves the nutritional intake of the feed. This is how you make kimchi, krout, and pickles. Which no matter how hard you try, can't get you drunk D:

Interestingly some fermentation methods are a mix of both fermentations, like kombucha, great probiotic that does create alcohol in trace ammounts, or if you leave it on the counter long enough and keep giving it sugar, lots of alcohol!

 

[CatsandCrops]

I ferment their feed for 3 days. I have a really simple system - 4 plastic tubs (the ones that organic greens come in from the grocery store) with lids that I rotate on an previously unused microwave cart with shelves. Day 1's container when I first started = their measured out food, a splash of apple cider vinegar then water to cover, plus about an inch. That container got moved into Day 2's slot, started another Day 1 and did that until there was a container in Day 3/had been fermenting for 3 days. On that day, I took the food out to feed them and poured the water into the 4th plastic tub to start a Day 1. Waaah la. It takes about 3 mins in the morning to rotate the bins into their new spots, empty that days feed into trays to take outside and start a new bin.

I like doing it this way in smaller batches for a few reasons
1) I can control how much food they are given daily without taking a ton of time to measure or scoop
2) if a batch goes sour/grows mold, I haven't lost a ton of feed or a big interruption in the process
3) the rotation/moving of the bins gives it the jostle/stirring it needs to keep fermenting
4) anyone else can feed them the appropriate amount of food and start a new one easily with the handle measuring cup I keep next to the feed bin.