Brewer's Spent Grains?

[oherin]

Does anyone have experience feeding spent brewer's grain to your chickens? I live in a Craft Beer Mecca and would like to take advantage of my spent grain resources. Would I use this as a treat? Do I have to cook it first? I have done some preliminary web research, but wanted to see if anyone has first hand experience?

Thanks!

 

[Kelsie2290]

I have fed them to the chickens, usually as a protein supplement when the hens are molting etc in the winter. Around here they are usually 26-28% protein and can be a mix of various grains, we can also get straight corn distillers at times, there is also a mix sometimes that is the distillers and what is basically everything else the mill had left over, the ones I have gotten have always had a label with ingredients, but who knows how accurate it actually is. The main problem I have found with them is that they are a really fine grind, almost a coarse powder at times. I usually mix them in with poultry mash to the protein level I am looking for, soak it, and feed it wet, they chickens have no problems eating them that way. I have not fed them as over 25% of the diet, and never for long term (usually only do a couple of weeks at a time). My chickens are pretty much free range all the time and I feed a mixed diet of commercial or mill poultry feed, whole grains, and scraps anyhow, so I am really not that worried about how "balanced" everything is since they have so much to pick from.
They are used very commonly around here as a cattle feed, and I know most of the neighbors who have cattle and chickens just running around feed it to their birds, or the birds can get the cattle leftovers anyhow.

 

[Percheron chick]

I would feed it as a treat only. Make the main portion of the diet come from free ranging and layer. It's going to have a high water content so it's actually not a bad treat in the hot summer. You're getting extra water into them. If the consistency of the poop changes to runny, than they are eating too much. Nutritionally, it will vary depending upon the grains used but "averages" are 25%+ protein (high), moderate calories (lower than whole grains), inverted Ca of 1:2 (should be closer to 6:1 meaning you need more Ca if you feed a lot), moderately high in fat and decent minerals. It will spoil if it sits around for more than 2 days. You can freeze ziplock bags of the mash and put it out in the afternoon as a way to help cool them down. With 23 hens, start with about 2# and you can work up to about 5# a day.

Mine don't care for the mash high in hops as much as the barley and wheat.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Forgot to mention that you can get it dried or wet here. The dry is usually corn distillers in 40 or 50# bags, the wet is usually by the ton. I get the dry, unless I just grab a couple of bucket fulls from somebody who bought it as cow feed, we only have 4-6 cows so it is not worth the trouble for us personally to handle the wet and have no idea how that would work storage wise for chickens.

Interesting on the hops vs wheat and barley with yours, mine prefer the corn distillers, and are happy with the brewer hop or wheat mixes, they hate barley, they also hate rolled barley when I try to feed that just as a grain. No idea why.