Fermented Feed?

[Sammbalina]

I know fermented feed is a good thing for chickens, but I was wondering if it could be done for quail? One youtuber I watch experimented with his cornish crosses and did one batch with fermented feed, and one batch without, and he used less feed and had larger birds when he fermented it. Just wanted to know if anyone had tried it with quail.

 

[JaeG]

It's great for quail - makes them a lot less smelly. Mine love it.

 

[Sammbalina]

I was just reading a link, https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/ from an old post to the chicken forum, and it says that fermenting increases the protein content by 12%. If that's the case, it should be safe to use a lower protein feed? I have been having a hard time finding a feed with high enough protein that is also organic. No one near me sells any so I had to order a bag off of Amazon, but if I can increase the protein by fermenting and be able to purchase something locally it would be a lot easier for me. I even went to my local Co-op and asked for an organic turkey starter and the guy says "We have chicken scratch" like they're the same thing...

 

[JaeG]

Mine get a 20% protein feed as that’s the highest I can get in my country and they do fine on that. Fermenting the feed adds new vitamins (B vitamins and K2) and enzymes to the mix as a by-product of the lactic acid bacteria.

Feeding fermented feed improves a birds absorption of the food (the villi in the digestive tract grow larger, increasing the surface area and so their absorption of the food) and even just soaking it uses up ‘antinutrients’ in the grains, making more nutrition available. But just soaking it can leave it open to bacterial and fungal attack, whereas fermented feed is preserved and the good bacteria keeps bad bacteria and fungi at bay.

I don’t think the protein is increased so much as more can be absorbed by the bird.