Fermented Feeding options for less mess?

[MrsChicky55]

I love using fermented feed for my chickens it's decreased my expenses quite a bit. However..... Fermented feed is REALLY messy. All my flock are dirty. I feel like this will increase the chances of my birds getting lice or mites. And my poor Polish!!! Every day is a bad hair day with fermented feed! Are there better options for serving fermented feed to decrease the mess?

 

[ChickNanny13]

What type of feeder are you using? Do you have it raised or on the ground? Feather footed birds also can get messy but I've found putting the feeder off ground helps. The BOs I have now don't step in their feed tray (molded plastic dog bowl) but I also have the plastic red trough style for chicks that my Hubby mounted to (2) 2x4 with stainless steel screws. That helped with the feather footed, your Polish may need a hair net

 

[lazy gardener]

You posted the same issue on an other thread. I see your problem: your ferment is too wet. Dry it out a lot, and you will not have this issue. Even my bearded gals have clean beards for the most part. At most, the girls will have a bit of FF crusted on their beaks.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Wow that is some messy hair!

I agree it is to wet. It should be like thick oatmeal in consistency.

I feed in a open dish that is about 3 inches deep. I put out only what they can consume in about 30 minutes. Dry food is always available though.

 

[Kusanar]

I agree with the others, dry your feed out some, it should be a paste that they peck, not a soup that they have to slurp. Also, it would help to drill some holes in your feeder so that excess liquid can run out of the feed and not make the bottom feed into a soggy mess.

 

[PirateGirl]

It totally depends the food you use. I bought new food because it was on sale and I couldn't pass it up, and a light went on in my head and I was like "oh, this is why people don't like to ferment feed"

I used to ferment a whole grain feed, which was by far the least mess, now I have pellets, total mess. My bearded gal no longer has a beard and I think it's from the others picking the feed out. Soooo, I don't have an answer for your current situation other than when you next buy feed keep in mind that more whole grains/seeds equals less mess.

I'm thinking of buying a separate bag of my other feed just for fermenting and doing half and half or something.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have been fermenting pellets or crumble for years, and have never had "messy feed".

 

[Sara Ranch]

My experience with fermented feed and messy birds was/is --

In the beginning when I started offering fermented feed, there was a feeding frenzy. Everyone was filthy!!! Everyone.

I actually took a break (of about two days) and hit the reset button. Started feeding it to them again. Again, messy birds!

It's been about 3 weeks this time and the honeymoon is over with. The is no longer a mad dash to feeding bowl and everyone is much calmer when eating. LESS mess on the birds.

For those that were really, really food encrusted, I started washing their combs and their wattles. I threatened that they would all need to take a bath and I would give them one. (As you know, chickens are not overly fond of baths until they have had their first one.) The chickens cleaned up on their own. Helped each other out. Less mess.

My turkeys - and I don't understand this one - will step in and through the food dishes. Yet, they are always immaculately groomed. Not a drop of food on them when they are finished.

My duckies end up wearing some of their feed. But they are really good about grooming and cleaning up after themselves.

If the bottom picture is a pic of your fermented feed, it looks fine (for thickness). The only concern is the width of the container. If you are serving it in that type of container, the chicks will have to get their whole head in there to clean it out.

I use large feed bowls (1, 2, & 3 gallons bowls), large plastic containers (1.5, & 3 gallon containers). Sometimes the slop (what I call fermented feed around here) barely covers the bottom of the dish. But it's enough to feed that group.

What else are you adding to the fermented feed? (In the pic, it looks like more than just food. But who knows? It could be your feed....mine doesn't look like that though, regardless of whether I use crumble or pellets.)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

It totally depends the food you use. I bought new food because it was on sale and I couldn't pass it up, and a light went on in my head and I was like "oh, this is why people don't like to ferment feed"

I used to ferment a whole grain feed, which was by far the least mess, now I have pellets, total mess. My bearded gal no longer has a beard and I think it's from the others picking the feed out. Soooo, I don't have an answer for your current situation other than when you next buy feed keep in mind that more whole grains/seeds equals less mess.

I'm thinking of buying a separate bag of my other feed just for fermenting and doing half and half or something.

I have only ever fermented crumbles or pellets. When I first started many of my birds had this issue of messiness and yes I ended up with practically no beards on my bearded birds. Just like you say.. it would dry in clumps and the other birds would pick it off taking feathers as well. When I posed the question, I was told to dry up my feed... or essentially make it thicker. So I did, and haven't had a single issue since then! Hope it works out for you to.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have only ever fermented crumbles or pellets. When I first started many of my birds had this issue of messiness and yes I ended up with practically no beards on my bearded birds. Just like you say.. it would dry in clumps and the other birds would pick it off taking feathers as well. When I posed the question, I was told to dry up my feed... or essentially make it thicker. So I did, and haven't had a single issue since then! Hope it works out for you to.

Honestly it is such a relief to read this because I have not (yet) had behavior/pecking order drama in my flock and I have lately been concerned about her "bald spot" wondering if the other girls are picking on her, or she has some sort of irritation/mites/other that needs to be addressed, or is starting a molt... and I will keep an eye on other options, but it's just since we switched food and she had quite a beard before, so I really hope it's simple as this food mess in this case.