Fermented food?

[Hatching2024]

I am expecting day old chicks and ducklings in about 2 weeks. I am a first time flocker, and am doing all I can to be prepared and to ensure safe, happy and healthy birds. One thing I have been coming across lately is the idea of fermenting the food. I get the jist of it, sure. I do have some questions...

So first, some general questions with regard to feed:

• I understand their protein needs change week by week, and that ducklings have a different need than chicks; What exactly is the duckling schedule and then the chick schedule?
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• I know I start with starter feed (Grit's Farm Supply provide me with Flock raiser crumble. From what I can tell it is appropriate). I know that as adults (approx 3-5 months?), since I opted for females only, I'll need to provide egg laying feed, and from what I can understand it is okay to have them on the same feed?
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• I know at some point (how many weeks?) I have to switch them from starter feed/ crumble to something else. I know for ducks that time comes sooner than for chicks. Is this the time I switch to the adult feed? Or is there something in between crumble and adult feed I should be giving them?

Ok and now my questions surrounding fermentation feed:

• Is it safe for all ages?
• What are your experiences? methods?
• What are the draw backs?
• How long have you been using this method?
• What is the best practice in terms of actually feeding the flock? Twice a day? Left out for grazing( seems unpractical, but I'm trying to be open minded)?

And just some more questions I thought of while writing this;

• Supplements and vitamins? which ones? (I know niacin for the ducks- any thing else for either species?) Where do you purchase them?
• What foods are toxic?
• Best snacks/treats?

 

[azygous]

Don't get all tied up in knots over feeding chicks and ducklings according to some schedule. Purina Flock Raiser or any all-flock feed will feed baby chicks through growth to maturity and then will serve them when they lay, and also when they are no longer laying. Roosters can also eat the all-flock feed. This is how many of us do it when we have a mixed flock. You may ferment it. After baby chicks learn what is food, they may eat fermented feed and thrive on it.

 

[rockethoe]

If it’s your first time, I can recommend not getting to fancy. Keep it simple stupid!

Just use bagged mash crumb/pellets for the first few months - experiment with fermented feeds next year.

Formulated feeds (pellets and crumb) have been specifically and carefully created to provide everything poultry need.

I would swap them from crumb to pellets about 8 weeks. In the 8th week, start mixing some pellets in with their crumb, the next meal shift the balance further in favour of the pellets and so on until you’re feeding just pellets.

Twice a day is best feeding regime for egg productivity. I saw a study on this somewhere although I forget where.

If feeding fermented feeds definitely need supplements, the amount will depend on the quality of the forage they have. If the forage is good and they have plenty of range, and your a backyard keeper they probably will be fine on a good well balanced scratch, although not that productive. If you want to get the best out of them I would mix in some seaweed meal, niacin, and if youre commercial I would also mix in some bicarb at about 1%.

We did a lot of experimenting with fermented feeds over the last year. I’m not convinced of it’s efficacy. Certainly would not replace their full ration with this.

 

[Penpal]

If the food is wet, it will freeze if they don't eat it all at once. Once it is frozen, they can't peck at it to get the food. I have two Brahma, which are pretty big, and they cannot tackle the soaked whole grain when it freezes and I'm sure the crumbles or pellets would be just as bad. Just be aware so you can make changes as needed.

 

[Debbie292d]

Referencing fermenting:

I do not ferment feed because it becomes mush.

I ferment grains and Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve (HHR). I bought 50# sack of Hard Red Winter Wheat from the local feed mill. I take a bucket and mix it half and half with the HHR. For a flock of 14, I use 3 one-quart jars and make a quart every other day.

Fill a jar half full of your mix. I then add a tablespoon of Chia and Flax seed. (Not too much of either of those or it gets gummy, but you can use whatever grains you want.)

Fill the jar with non-chlorinated water almost to the top, cover it with cheesecloth or something that breathes and keeps dust/bugs out.

Stir it daily and keep it covered in water (ensures mold can't start). Three days later, it's ready. I serve it in silicone bread pans which they can't scratch over and are ice/heat safe.

I start one jar every other day. I feed it to the little ones at about two weeks old and provide them with grit. The adults all get it and love it.

 

[Hatching2024]

If the food is wet, it will freeze if they don't eat it all at once. Once it is frozen, they can't peck at it to get the food. I have two Brahma, which are pretty big, and they cannot tackle the soaked whole grain when it freezes and I'm sure the crumbles or pellets would be just as bad. Just be aware so you can make changes as needed.

I appreciate the input, but I dont think anything is going to freeze here in southern Florida lol

 

[azygous]

Permit me to offer a tip if you plan on feeding fermented feed to new chicks.

Baby chicks like to wallow in their food. I've seen them take "dirt" baths in dry crumbles. When I first gave my new chicks fermented feed, they literally dove in. I hope to spare you the mess that I had on my hands. Fermented feed sticks to chick down like cement and is as hard to clean off.

What I learned to do was to use tiny cups glued to a board for stability so the chicks could not get their whole bodies into them. It solved the problem. Fancy Feast cat food tins are just the perfect size.

There are so many benefits from feeding chicks fermented feed, it's worth getting it right from the beginning. Many people assume that fermented feed has to be soupy. Not true. You can make it very dry as I do, and it still will ferment just fine. If it's too runny, I just add more dry feed to it until it's the consistency of cookie dough. This also helps keep my chickens with beards from wearing their food and the subsequent helpful hens who take it upon themselves to go around "cleaning" the messy beards, ending up eventually with bald faced EEs.

You will need to use dog bowls or something on that order for the big chickens since regular chicken feeders will not work with fermented feed. I like the bowls that sit atop a stand, getting the food up off the ground so dirt isn't kicked into it. For the chicks.

I've been feeding my flock fermented feed for fifteen years. They love the stuff. I feed it twice a day, and they eat it all within minutes. I do live where winter days are often below freezing. The femented feed is eaten so quickly, it has no time to freeze. Also, by virtue of the fermentation, it actually has some heat in it.

 

[Shadrach]

• Is it safe for all ages?
• What are your experiences? methods?
• What are the draw backs?
• How long have you been using this method?
• What is the best practice in terms of actually feeding the flock? Twice a day? Left out for grazing( seems unpractical, but I'm trying to be open minded)?

Here are a couple of articles that may answer some of your questions.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...o-fermented-facts-myths-and-experience.74414/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...fluence-it-may-have-on-feeding-regimes.79124/

 

[Penpal]

Hatching2024 please put your location in.

 

[Chickengirl209]

Hatching2024 please put your location in.

They said South Florida