Feeding chickens wet feed?

[seminolewind]

I've always tricked mine. They think a wet feed mash is this great treat, and gobble it up. Same with the chicks.
ChickensRDinos, thanks for the explanation. I didn't know there was a specific process with it.

 

[Greening crew]

Can any one tell me is it ok to wet my chicken starter... I couldn't get them to eat when they first arrived so I was told to put a little water to make their food like mash but I've since read that wet feed can kill chickens. The only problem is they don't seem to like the food dry what should I do??

 

[bucky52]

my girls love wet feed.and they also have exess to dry feed.in the summer months wet feed will sour.the last couple of weeks the day time temps.have been really cool.and they eaten every crumble of feed.

 

[Den in Penn]

You can wet the starter for the chicks. I think I would filter what that person was telling you. Wet feed will cause no problems, just like we can eat dry crackers but wet them, you can still eat them. The problem would come later when it might bet moldy. So just give them what they can eat in a day.

 

[missy_cbell21]

I was feeding FF a few months ago and it stunk the house up to much so hubby vetoed it. Then my girls would not eat just dry feed so I added water and they go crazy for it. I just fill their bowl with dry pellets, cover with water and a tsp of acv with mother and stir. Wait about 3 hours and add more water and deliver. Suddenly I am the coolest one in town. They like it more then the FF but I know it does not have all the same benefits this way. I just started feeding it to my chicks and they are not as happy but are at least trying it.

 

[Katt66]

I started feeding my little flock wet feed about two weeks ago because it was easier for my slightly crossbeaked EE rooster to manage. They all went crazy for it. So I started a batch to ferment. Left it for two days with an inch of water above the feed as instructed. Smelled AWESOME. Just like my husband's sourdough bread starter so I know I was doing it right. It was nice and yeasty with a slight tang to it. The chickens stood there looking at me like I was nuts for trying to make them eat this stinky funny tasting stuff. I tried it for three days. They just picked and my poor crossbeaked rooster sorta wandered around the dish putting and clucking at it like I'd swear he was mumbling under his breath bitching me out. XD
So I'm back to just wetting the feed with warm water before serving. My chickens are little spoiled brats I believe.

 

[write2caroline]

There are some threads on fermenting feed.

I am also feeding my chicks wet feed with a little Apple cider vinegar in it. I am using a small frosting bucket with a lid and it does start to ferment. I stir it up twice a day. They are growing nicely. When it starts to ferment you can smell the fermentation. I may not be doing it exactly correctly but my chicks are doing so well, I am encouraged to continue.
I find that they drink less of the water. Since they are under a heat lamp I think any type of moisture is good. I don't put it in a regular chick feeder and they do stand in it and on it sometimes. When I had the feeder lid with the oval holes they wasted much more of the feed. I have not lost a single chick so far and they hatched 09/23/2013 so they are nearly 4 weeks old.
I noticed their poops are not runny or frothy like some of my previous brooder chicks seem to have. They are active and happy. I mix up about 4 cups of feed at a time and they consume it in about 3 days - I have 6 bantams and 5 standards. I keep a plastic rice paddle in the bucket for stirring and dishing it out and I fully clean the bucket between batches.

Some of the fermented feed threads get off topic because they have been conversing for a while but there is some good information there.

Caroline

 

[Beekissed]

Alright I'm interested in fermenting feed for my hens, but I'm also really nervous. It says you can smell a bad batch but is that smell something you learn over time or is it as obvious as soured milk? How obvious will bad ferment be to the rank novice?? Should I make a few batches up and toss them until I get a bad one for sure so I know the difference? Sorry to be a pest but this just seems so risky to me when I don't have a clue.

FF doesn't "go bad" if reasonably tended to, so the information from that site is wrong. I've been doing it for 2 yrs now and have never smelled anything but mild fermentation or strong fermentation, but no smell that would denote a "bad" batch as opposed to a batch that was just fermented at different levels.

It's very, very difficult to get fully fermented feed to go "bad"..one would have to neglect it for a long time, without keeping it moist or refreshing it with fresh food(new grain) before the good bacteria would die off in such numbers to let bad bacteria take over.

Don't be afraid of fermented feed..it's not at all risky... and please, don't put too much stock in that site....a good bit of their information is not based on time or experience, just things they've read and repeated. There are big threads on fermented feed on this forum where many, many, many people are fermenting their feed and some have been doing it for years, so their collective experiences with FF is incredibly more accurate.

What is the difference between fermented feed and feed that's been left out after it rained, and a day later it stinks?

One is a controlled ferment that converts the proteins and sugars in the grains to amino acids, something the chickens can actually absorb and use, so that the feed doesn't pass through their system undigested to land on your coop floor, there to rot and stink. It can increase the protein absorption by 12%, make your simple feed into a super feed that lets you feed almost half of what you used to feed. Meanwhile, it's populating the chicken's bowels with beneficial bacteria that inhibit the growth of harmful pathogens like coccidia, salmonella, e.coli, etc. It makes the yolks larger, the intestinal villi grow larger(thereby increasing total area of absorption of nutrients), increases laying, improves overall health, improves the appearance and quality of feathers, decreases the smells of the feces while attracting less flies to the coop, the poop breaks down in deep litter more quickly, improves the culture in the coop and soils of the run, renders the feces less "hot" for composting purposes for a quicker turn around to the garden, and cuts down on feed waste merely by wetting the feed and the manner of feeding it in meals instead of continuous feeding.

The other is just wet, moldy feed.

Can any one tell me is it ok to wet my chicken starter... I couldn't get them to eat when they first arrived so I was told to put a little water to make their food like mash but I've since read that wet feed can kill chickens. The only problem is they don't seem to like the food dry what should I do??

See above. Try fermenting their feed and get the benefit of all the good from it without worrying about feed spoilage when it's merely wet and sitting under a heat lamp.

 

[RoseMarie1]

FF doesn't "go bad" if reasonably tended to, so the information from that site is wrong. I've been doing it for 2 yrs now and have never smelled anything but mild fermentation or strong fermentation, but no smell that would denote a "bad" batch as opposed to a batch that was just fermented at different levels.

It's very, very difficult to get fully fermented feed to go "bad"..one would have to neglect it for a long time, without keeping it moist or refreshing it with fresh food(new grain) before the good bacteria would die off in such numbers to let bad bacteria take over.

Don't be afraid of fermented feed..it's not at all risky... and please, don't put too much stock in that site....a good bit of their information is not based on time or experience, just things they've read and repeated. There are big threads on fermented feed on this forum where many, many, many people are fermenting their feed and some have been doing it for years, so their collective experiences with FF is incredibly more accurate.


One is a controlled ferment that converts the proteins and sugars in the grains to amino acids, something the chickens can actually absorb and use, so that the feed doesn't pass through their system undigested to land on your coop floor, there to rot and stink. It can increase the protein absorption by 12%, make your simple feed into a super feed that lets you feed almost half of what you used to feed. Meanwhile, it's populating the chicken's bowels with beneficial bacteria that inhibit the growth of harmful pathogens like coccidia, salmonella, e.coli, etc. It makes the yolks larger, the intestinal villi grow larger(thereby increasing total area of absorption of nutrients), increases laying, improves overall health, improves the appearance and quality of feathers, decreases the smells of the feces while attracting less flies to the coop, the poop breaks down in deep litter more quickly, improves the culture in the coop and soils of the run, renders the feces less "hot" for composting purposes for a quicker turn around to the garden, and cuts down on feed waste merely by wetting the feed and the manner of feeding it in meals instead of continuous feeding.

The other is just wet, moldy feed.


See above. Try fermenting their feed and get the benefit of all the good from it without worrying about feed spoilage when it's merely wet and sitting under a heat lamp.

Me also on fermenting mines food and it hasn't went bad and I've been doing it for months. Only feeding wet food isn't going to change nutrients, it's just food and water but once it's fermented you get better nutrients as well as probiotics as well. Some good stuff for the chickens! I've had VERY good results with it. Listened to Bee and been doing what she said and it's been doing very well and my chickens are mega happy campers.

 

[UrbanChickenKid]

you should be careful with that because, yes, the food does get moldy very fast. I also make sure that the scoops and buckets are dry and that the feeders can't get wet if it rains.! hope that helps!