DOES FERMENTED FEED WORK?

[igorsMistress]

I ferment off and on. No particular pattern, sometimes I get busy and forget to make it, or I decide it's been a while and change it up. Sometimes I just wet the feed, others I let it ferment a little. I don't ferment for cost savings but for the health of my flock. When I fermented regularly I saved about 1/3 on feed costs.

ETA my chickens have bricks with various coarseness to keep their beaks in order and are not kept in a run.

 

[Criticalicious]

what is your carb and protein source if you do not use corn or soy?

Peas, Barley, Wheat, Oats, Fish Meal. Ingredients here.

 

[Conan]

They are creatures of habit... so many things new takes time. When I introduced dry feed though... no adjustment time required

Were those spent grains dry? The wetter the mash the less the birds like it.

Maybe I did something wrong? My fermented feed stunk pretty bad by the end of the day. Very sour and lots of flies - - plus untouched. Again though, my birds are ranging all day and likely just prefer bugs. I should also point out that they eat very little feed in general during the warm months, which is when I tried the fermented feed. Perhaps I should try when it is cooler and bugs are less available and see how they like it.

The spent grains I supplied were soupy. Pretty darn wet, but smelled very sweet - dunno? Maybe just the type of beer they liked (haha)

 

[Criticalicious]

Maybe I did something wrong? My fermented feed stunk pretty bad by the end of the day. Very sour and lots of flies - - plus untouched. Again though, my birds are ranging all day and likely just prefer bugs. I should also point out that they eat very little feed in general during the warm months, which is when I tried the fermented feed. Perhaps I should try when it is cooler and bugs are less available and see how they like it.

It shouldn't have any flies and it should be kept loosely covered while it's fermenting. The consistency should be like thick oatmeal, not soupy. Now that it's hotter I'm going to cut down from 3 days to 2 days and I'm reducing the amount of FF, because I think it's fermenting too much and going sour.

I feed in the mornings and sometimes refrigerate it the night before or I add some frozen veggies to keep it chill longer.

I should note that my birds don't free range because we have a lot of predators. I expect that if they free ranged for bugs, they'd ignore anything I fed, whether dry or fermented.

 

[CindyinSD]

I recently started my very first little chicks on fermented unmedicated chick starter after reading a thread here. They love it... but they need little chick bibs. I’ve been making it pretty runny because my feeder is one of those screw-on bottle ones. I’ve ordered a troth one so I can mix it drier.

I don’t know a lot firsthand about chickening, but I do know quite a bit about fermentation. It didn’t appeal to save money. I didn’t believe that. I make yogurt and kefir and bread, and have made kombucha and wine. What fermentation does is convert sugars and starches (starches are complex carbs while sugars are short chain carbs) to acids or alcohol plus CO2 gas (which the yeasts and/or bacteria give off.) You may get a slight increase in protein from the microbial bodies added to the food, but not a lot. The microbes eat and excrete... they don’t significantly add calories.

The trick with a bacterial fermentation (as opposed to purely yeast as in wine or beer, which require strict cleanliness) is to keep an acidic environment. This discourages bad bacteria (the spoilage kind) from proliferating. This is why it’s safer to can old-fashioned High acid tomatoes than newer super-sweet ones. Super-sweet anything will attract bad bacteria.

It may also explain why older chickens sometimes don’t take to fermented foods right away. Plain unsweetened yogurt is an acquired taste for folks accustomed to sweetened yogurt, too. Once you’ve gotten used to it, though, the plain often tastes much better. It’s got that “umami” flavor we find so addictive once we’ve been away from the unhealthy corn syrup addiction for long enough—especially when it’s homemade.

You can add vinegar to up the acidity of the feed. You really don’t need it active in order to start fermentation—vinegar-producing microbes are everywhere. If you have a high sugar/carb feed (as in mostly corn), the vinegar becomes more important. I’m using active ACV because that’s what I have and because it makes me feel good aesthetically. LOL I don’t know how much to add. I’m just pouring some in... maybe a half cup for a half gallon jar. Once you get your fermentation going, the vinegar is less important because the vinegar microbes will reproduce, making their own acid environment. I’m adding new food to the old, a little vinegar just because of insurance, sufficient clean water, and stirring up. I’m not completely emptying the container before starting over. The fermented food gives the new food a kickstart, discouraging spoilage.

**If you prefer to empty the old food first, the vinegar (acid) becomes more important to avoid spoilage.** You will need more for mixing a greater volume of food. My 17 two week old chickens don’t eat that much so I only mix half a gallon. Does it help them develop faster? I don’t know. Here’s a photo. Those of you with more experience can tell me what you think. Do keep in mind they’ve been in the coop outside with their “mother-hen” brooder since 3-days after I received them. From what I’ve read here, that will also push feather development.

View attachment 1518855

 

[Perris]

I think the saving is significant, and the hassle minimal if you have a small/ish flock - I don't think I'd be doing it if it meant lugging big heavy buckets around. Re: changing over, as others have pointed out, if your birds are not familiar with it, they may take a while to recognize that it is food, so give them a day or two before concluding whether they do or don't like it. My broody introduced her chicks to it at a couple of days old, and they took to it immediately and like it at least as much as chick crumb.

 

[snow5164]

It definitely cuts my costs because they eat everything when it’s fermented, there is powder in the bottom of the bags but they eat them once it’s wet .

I feed in plastic rain gutter troughs , you have to rinse it out every now and then

I like that I can add apple cider vinegar or electrolytes or garlic as needed

 

[CindyinSD]

I think the saving is significant, and the hassle minimal if you have a small/ish flock - I don't think I'd be doing it if it meant lugging big heavy buckets around. Re: changing over, as others have pointed out, if your birds are not familiar with it, they may take a while to recognize that it is food, so give them a day or two before concluding whether they do or don't like it. My broody introduced her chicks to it at a couple of days old, and they took to it immediately and like it at least as much as chick crumb.

Yes, I think it’s a matter of the birds getting a taste for it... not unlike humans learning to like healthy food.

 

[CindyinSD]

It definitely cuts my costs because they eat everything when it’s fermented, there is powder in the bottom of the bags but they eat them once it’s wet .

I feed in plastic rain gutter troughs , you have to rinse it out every now and then

I like that I can add apple cider vinegar or electrolytes or garlic as needed

Good point about the powder and the waste. I hadn’t thought about that. My little ones definitely “lick” the platter.

 

[Criticalicious]

I use a metal kennel cup and I wash it everyday, but then I only have 6 birds. I would probably choose a trough feeder if I had more.