Fermented feed, free choice.

[Aquella]

I would like to start feeding my mixed flock, (chickens, ducks, a goose, and a turkey,) fermented feed. I've researched the topic thoroughly, and feel confident to start the process. Except...

I currently feed pellets free choice. Feeders are filled in the morning enough to last through the day.
Every article/instruction I've come across advises feeding twice per day, as much fermented food as the flock can eat in an allotted time period. Usually half an hour. (I have also seen the suggestion of feeding only once per day. I'm definitely not comfortable with that.)

- Some of the birds, most notably the ducks, do not eat for a while, surely more than half an hour, after being let out in the morning.
- I often don't get home until after a good number of the birds have gone to roost. Occasionally not til after sunset.
- I'd like to use fermented feed for chicks/ducklings as well, and certainly they need unrestricted access to the food throughout the day.

So what's the problem with feeding fermented foods free choice? Is it that they'll eat more than they need, effectively cutting any cost savings? Will the food go bad if left out? Both? Something else?

 

[Rose Quartz]

I would like to start feeding my mixed flock, (chickens, ducks, a goose, and a turkey,) fermented feed. I've researched the topic thoroughly, and feel confident to start the process. Except...

I currently feed pellets free choice. Feeders are filled in the morning enough to last through the day.
Every article/instruction I've come across advises feeding twice per day, as much fermented food as the flock can eat in an allotted time period. Usually half an hour. (I have also seen the suggestion of feeding only once per day. I'm definitely not comfortable with that.)

- Some of the birds, most notably the ducks, do not eat for a while, surely more than half an hour, after being let out in the morning.
- I often don't get home until after a good number of the birds have gone to roost. Occasionally not til after sunset.
- I'd like to use fermented feed for chicks/ducklings as well, and certainly they need unrestricted access to the food throughout the day.

So what's the problem with feeding fermented foods free choice? Is it that they'll eat more than they need, effectively cutting any cost savings? Will the food go bad if left out? Both? Something else?

I took care of my friends birds for a few weeks while she was in hospital and she did fermented feed.

It doesnt keep very long so if you mix it all up it should be eaten same day.

One of the ingredients she mixed in she had gotten wet before she left and it had rotted in 2 days. So definitely doesnt keep.

Then again maybe you're not mixing more stuff into your grain.

She was feeding them 7lbs of feed, fermented grain, hemp, crab meal, and seaweed. To 8 chickens, 3 geese, and 13 ducks. While she was away the only feeding time was morning because there was no one there through the day. They all seemed to get enough food.

For her chicks she feeds dry grain put through a blender until they're a couple weeks old and able to eat the same as the adults.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Would you consider doing a mix of both? I offer fermented feed in the morning, but I also put out a feeder of dry pellets. The FF lasts my flock several hours, but after that it's just pellets. That way they always have food available even though they eat slightly varying amounts each day, and there's no waste or mess.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

I have had chickens since June 2018. Soon after getting those first chickens, I started feeding fermented feed. I only feed once a day and when it is not hot outside, I leave the leftovers out til the next day. So far so good! The very first time I made the fermented feed, I let the wet feed sit out three days, then fed most but not all of it to the chickens. I added more dry feed to that reserved amount and used that reserved amount as a starter or culture for the next day's batch. The next day I feed the fermented and once again reserve some, add new dry feed and repeat over and over every day. It may take a little bit of time to figure out how much they need to eat each day because in general they eat less if it is fermented. I feed some fodder that I grow, but my 18 eat about a quart of dry feed every day. When it gets warmer, they will free range which will also reduce the amount of feed they eat.

 

[rjmyooper]

I saw somewhere a mix of fermented feed (no meat) that included; cracked corn, peanuts, oats, barley, beans, etc. and they let it ferment for a few days. So they mixed fridays feed on tuesday, and so on.
The post I saw here said they used "crab meal" which I think is the one item that would go rancid.
I live on a limited income and with the way prices are going these days, I really want to do this. My feed mill has pretty much everything except some of the grains which I can get through azure standard.
Thank you for this thread.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I saw somewhere a mix of fermented feed (no meat) that included; cracked corn, peanuts, oats, barley, beans, etc. and they let it ferment for a few days. So they mixed fridays feed on tuesday, and so on.
The post I saw here said they used "crab meal" which I think is the one item that would go rancid.
I live on a limited income and with the way prices are going these days, I really want to do this. My feed mill has pretty much everything except some of the grains which I can get through azure standard.
Thank you for this thread.

Oddly enough the hemp has a pretty short shelf life too once it's wet.

 

[saysfaa]

Try it and see. Then let us know.

I left fermented feed and regularly leave soaked feed out and haven't had any spoiling over multiple days. Not many multiple days, though, as I like them to empty it more often than that.

I agree that crab in it would spoil a lot faster than chicken feed. Climate might make a lot of difference too.

 

[chfriedmam]

I've been fermenting a bit of scratch and peck and then mixing it with a bit more water and some pelletized feed and leaving that out all day. I stir it up early evening when they go back for their pre-bedtime meal. It's fine.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The concern is that undesired "things" (bacteria alnd molds, primarily) present in the environment might successfully out-colonize the beneficial "things" already present in your ferment - which is sort of silly, as almost everyone uses that same environment in which to start the ferment. And while jump starting it with live culture yogurt, kefir, the "mother" from a sourdough or live ACV ferment helps ensure desired "things" have a head start, its neither a guarantee nor a consistently followed process. (Setting aside that the sourdough itself was likely a ferment based on the native environment, rather than a packet of Fleischman's Instant, left to overproof...).

Secondary concerns are that they may attract pests, whether insect (which your chickens will likely gobble up) or rodentia (which they may, or may not, gobble up) - but those are true of any feed left out.

Tertiary concerns I can hardly imagine.

Conclusion? Claims that fermented feed can't be free choice are probably largely overblown. I'm not aware of (which is not to say that they don't exist, simply that I am ignorant of them) any common biological processes which are likely to make fats in feeds go rancid more quickly in a ferment.


*And having said that, I am talking about fermented feed. Anything not well colonized by beneficial "things" is ready feeding ground for oportunistic and much less beneficial other "things". We aren't talking about filling a kiddie pool two thirds full of water, adding a 50# bag of feed, waiting two days, then calling it a free feed ferment, to which dry food is added any time it looks a bit low. We are talking about preparing fermented feed normally, then pouring enough in rain gutters, rubber bowls, or similar that you can walk away for the rest of the day - and next day, pouring more prepared fermented feed in.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I feed both. I don't like leaving it out, though, for a different reason: if it dries out, it's so hard to clean - lol! I give fermented in the morning, go feed the goats, and pick up their dishes. They have access to pellets the rest of the day.