Anyone else have picky eaters?

[Auntiejessi3]

Curious... how do you or others make mash?!

Just put some feed in a bowl and add water, mix until it's the consistency of oatmeal. If it's hot outside, I use cool water, if it's cold outside, I use warm water. If it's their first time with mash just make a little (maybe a cup) and sprinkle some feed on top to get them interested. My ladies go nuts for it!

 

[Debbie292d]

Once I made the mistake of sprinkling a few grubs into their 7lb feeder. I swear they would have beaked the whole thing if I hadn't intervened! Glad you found a solution. Ours love fermented feed.

Once I put some in the jar I fermented. A day later they were all floating and bloated. DISGUSTING. Do not ferment bsf (black soldier flies) as it's gross!

 

[Debbie292d]

Curious... how do you or others make mash?!

For the little ones, I use a small ceramic dish, fill it almost full of their starter crumbles and then run the warm sprayer back and forth over it a few times. I don't bother mixing it as it stays more in the crumble form for them. For the older ones, same principle, just their crumbles with a larger container. I never mix it up, just get it wet.

 

[Debbie292d]

Sorrry - if this is a dumb question - I am new to owning my four chickens... how do you ferment feed?

Not a dumb question at all. We all have to start somewhere. Here's how I do it. Pretending you want a quart of it every single day. I do this every other day though for 14 adults and 3 chicks:

You need three 1-quart jars and some cheesecloth or flour sack or something light to cover so bugs don't get in it but it can breathe. You need what you're going to ferment. I use 6-grain scratch, some henhouse reserve feed, and a tablespoon of chia seeds, but you can do whatever you like. Grains like wheat, oats, etc. are extremely healthy fermented.

Day 1: Fill jar half full of your dry grain/feed. Fill almost to the top with unchlorinated water and stir it, cover. Sit room temp out of the sun.

Day 2: Stir day 1 and make sure there's a layer of water on the top. You always want a layer of water on top to keep it from molding. Make another jar like above.

Day 3: Stir the other ones and make another jar just like above.

Day 4: Drain and serve Day 1.

 

[Goldenwahintofboss]

I don't understand how an animal with a handful of tastebuds can be so selective when it comes to chicken food. There's no rhyme or reason to it either, especially with 95% of commercial feed ingredients starting with "corn, soy, wheat, etc."

My girls enjoy Nutrena Chick Crumble and All-Flock Pellets, but REFUSE the Layer Crumble. Dumor Organic Layer, which I imagine can only be organic food waste, is their absolute favorite. Kalmbach Organic, despite smelling fresh and delicious, must be figurative poison after their 24-hour hunger strike.

Please tell me I'm not the only one. What commercial foods do your girls like? Any insight into their chicken psyche?

They know what garbage most feeds are. Buy organic watch them thrive and devour it all.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, just getting the feed wet and serving it is not fermenting. That's just feeding a wet mash. What @Debbie292d describes is truly fermenting. Chickens will often prefer a wet mash over dry feed, especially a nice warm one on a cold day, but it won't have the probiotics a fermented feed (FF) has.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh, and please never apologize for asking a "dumb" question. If you don't ask you don't learn, and we were all rank beginners once. The only truly dumb question is the one not asked, because ignorance can hurt your chickens. If you don't know, please ask, we're here to help and teach.

 

[koko365]

Not a dumb question at all. We all have to start somewhere. Here's how I do it. Pretending you want a quart of it every single day. I do this every other day though for 14 adults and 3 chicks:

You need three 1-quart jars and some cheesecloth or flour sack or something light to cover so bugs don't get in it but it can breathe. You need what you're going to ferment. I use 6-grain scratch, some henhouse reserve feed, and a tablespoon of chia seeds, but you can do whatever you like. Grains like wheat, oats, etc. are extremely healthy fermented.

Day 1: Fill jar half full of your dry grain/feed. Fill almost to the top with unchlorinated water and stir it, cover. Sit room temp out of the sun.

Day 2: Stir day 1 and make sure there's a layer of water on the top. You always want a layer of water on top to keep it from molding. Make another jar like above.

Day 3: Stir the other ones and make another jar just like above.

Day 4: Drain and serve Day 1.

Thank you so much! I'm going to try this, but it will be after Christmas and the New Year. I appreciate your helping me.

 

[PoppasGrill]

Our ladies love the mash, 17% pellets-3 grain scratch, and a cup full of mealworms mixed in. We make 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket at night for them to have for breakfast . Also a couple cups of dry for those that are too good to eat mash. Oyster shell on the side.
We have 75 laying hens 15 Roosters and 11 chicks.
We haven’t fermented, but just the mash in the morning is saving us quite a bit in volume compared to just dry feed.
They also freerange daily, and we toss them scraps and some leftovers, though some will not run to the fence to get scraps , so it’s just the bullies and fatties that waddle out if they see us approaching .

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Ours are picky about the form of the food. Most healthy treats. Diced yes. Large slice or just whole form nope. (Aside from tomatoes they swarm). Now any junk food treats whether diced are whole they go bonkers over. Specially our geese lol.

We would love to switch over to pellet form rather than crumble but we've gave them pellets for a few days before that we got from a family member because we ran out and the birds wanted nothing to do with it.. I don't think cold turkey switch is an option at all lol.