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.
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- 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.
