There are a few Trends on BYC about fermenting your feed I do forget were I saw it but if you put it in the search box at the top of the page you should be able to get something on it the interesting part is I had the same problems you are having several years ago and it was suggested to me to add the water to let the poultry I have better absorb the nutrients and vitamins in the feed and the dark waddles went to red and the waddles really tell the health of the chicken ..... All of my chickens are doing great now and the best part is when or if you feed your hens separately you can add oyster shells in to the feed and the lad's will be eating more oyster shells then normal .....
