I have been feeding FF since 2015. I had a 8 year old hen hatch 9 last week . She has been eating FF her entire life. Doesn't seem to have done her any harm.
Just wanted to come back and add some more info. I have changed the way I do my fermenting a bit. I have switched to Eden Feeds (a more local feed supplier that I love, and it is much more economical to feed) and I no longer use tap water as I realized that mine contains chloramine, which is...
wow! you're brave! :lau
just out of curiosity, why don't you trust your chickens' judgement on chicken food?
Or, to put it another way, why do you think you know better?
No, only fermenting for more than 24 hours in hot weather raises doubts on bacterial nutrient consumption.
If you make a mash with water it's great, if you make a mash with yogurt is also great because you add probiotic.
Fermented processed feed is not all bad, it still has plenty of...
yes you could.
Fermenting that will first remove the misleadingly named 'anti-nutritional factors', which are better thought of as *anti-digestive* factors, which are compounds the plant puts into the seed to try to stop it being digested, so it can germinate when the consumer poops it out...
ferment chick feed for 12-48 hours and put it in a bowl they will realize its good and later feed them from your hand, you can also make a sound when you give them this fermented feed so they know its you. Also don't tower your hand above them because they'll think you're a hawk. Try to reach in...
Don't get me started on fermented feed myths.
Too many variables.
Birds tend to waste a LOT of feed as crumble. Up to 10%. Rendering it into a wet mash reduces waste much like serving pellet reduces waste. They are more likely to see and eat the bits they spill out of the bowl when its oatmeal...
The speckled poop does look unusual and contains some undigested corn, and the second picture is of some cecal poop mixed in with the speckled poop. Cecal poops come from the cecum where food is fermented between the small and large intestines.
^^^ great summary here!
I’ve moved to one large serving of fermented whole grain feed in the morning, with the same feed in dried form available through the day in a hanging feeder. I was going crazy trying to guess how much to ferment for 100% fermented meals each day, as the amounts they ate...
I use what's available in my area. Right now I use non-medicated Nutrena starter/grower at 18% in my hanging troughs and 22% fermented broiler mash in my heated dog bowl at 50/50 ratio to hit an average of 20% protein.
Her regular diet consists of greens like lettuce and grass, as well as some fermented food and pellets that we put vitamins in with. We also give them a little bit of dmaticious Earth in there food.
Thank you everyone. I have them on Scratch and Peck dry, and fermented wet to help the smaller ones. I did just moistened yesterday and they like that. I also have Scratch and Peck chick grit and they are using it. They seem to be selecting all the above.
I ferment all kinds of things. On...
I have 6 (7 week) chicks, I ferment 1+ 3/4 cups of food in quart mason jar. I feed them 2 mason jars a day which they finish by the afternoon . They free range during the day. Should I be feeding them more of the fermented food being that they finish it all by the afternoon or are they getting...
...but if me, I’m going with Chickhouse Reserve with shell on the side for the indefinite future, even though mine are laying now.
Mine eat it fermented, and also dry for when they need a bit more. All the fermented is eaten, and when it’s dry, I just dump the “bits” they skip over into the run...