Whey to up protein in feed?

[SheaLoner]

I use a local soy free feed for my birds. Well this year there has been a $10 a bag price jump on the 21% chick feed. I will be doing a run of 50 in the fall. I have access to free goat cheese whey, I want to order the 18% feed and soak it in whey to up the protein and save $$. Anyone done this?

 

[RoyalChick]

I use a local soy free feed for my birds. Well this year there has been a $10 a bag price jump on the 21% chick feed. I will be doing a run of 50 in the fall. I have access to free goat cheese whey, I want to order the 18% feed and soak it in whey to up the protein and save $$. Anyone done this?

I don’t raise meat birds so not exactly the same situation but I make my own kefir and routinely make a mash of my birds’ feed and whey.
They seem to like it a lot.

 

[Perris]

I offer whey when I have it, either as liquid, or soak some bread in it, or both in different dishes, and let the chickens help themselves. They typically consume it quickly, though don't drink a lot of the liquid form.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I do this when I have it from making yogurt. But, I'm not exactly sure how much protein whey has. Of course it has a little because that's what they make whey protein powder out of, but you have to remember how concentrated that is. If you're looking to add a significant amount of protein, you might want to research how much protein is actually in liquid whey. If you don't care that much and adding any extra protein and vitamins is your goal, then go for it. It can't hurt. Although if you do notice loose stool, cut back on the whey a little.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

there are some old recipes using whey either to make a mash or offered as a water substitute to up protein intake. As @HenriettaPizzaNolan observes above, the protein concentration in whey is quite low - which is why some old farmers offered instead of water. Whey is only about 1% protein, around 5% carbs (sugars, almost exclusively) and about 1/2% fat. As a natural product, that's going to vary of course, and I used the figures for cow, not goat, whey.

I've not tried it, and in my climate, even if I had free whey, I wouldn't try it (whey instead of water) - but it has been done.