FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beer can]

I can get grains cheaper than chicken feed but I don't want to cause deficiencies.

Check and see if you have a local mill that does chicken feed. I'm lucky I do. Ours has what they call layer mash. They also do pellets. The mash is the same ingredients just not ground up and pelletized. Basically some whole grains, some cracked, some legumes, some powder (vitamin/mineral additions) 'balanced feed'.
My chickens are not real enthusiastic with the mash if I feed it dry. Fermented though they gobble it up. And sooo much easier and better to ferment. I posted pics here but can't find them. Stuff doesn't turn mush slop mess like pellets. Scoop it out water runs right off drains off nice like whole grains would.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I have been doing a "wet feed" at worst( read as my daughter finally "remembered" to add water to the feed at 6 pm the day before) and at the best we are backsloping and resetting the buckets as soon as we are done with the morning feeding and by the next morning we have a beautiful ferment going most of the time! I feed a lot of very fine ground ingredients so I prefer to feed wet at a min. I do feel it helps the birds get all the "good" stuff that otherwise they pick around.

 

[Mossy Dell]

I think I answered on this thread earlier that I feed fermented oats year round. I feed 20-50% sour oats mixed in my pellet and grain ration.

This past summer, I got a lot of good wheat so I started fermenting it too. Since wheat lacks the husk oats have, I feared the wheat might disintegrate. That hasn't been a problem.

As with oats, fermenting wheat allows me to feed more wheat without it causing digestive upsets.

I raise American games, and they are in maintenance mode most of the year. Here is my current feeding regimen, post-molt and pre-breeding:

1 part Bluebonnet Conditioner, 16
1 part whole corn, 7.5
2 parts wheat, 21.6
1 part dry oats, 11
.5 part Kalmbach pellet, 10 [high energy corn, soy]
.5 part Diamond Small Breed Puppy, 16
.5 part BOS, 8.5
13.9% [6.5 parts]
6 parts 13.9% = 83.4 + 4 parts oats = 12.3%

+ MWF & sprayed with cod liver oil
3 parts sour oats, 33
3 parts soaked wheat, 32.4
2 parts whole corn, 15
1 part Super Spur, 32 [high lysine, methionine, calcium]
.5 part 17% Blue Seal Show Hutch Deluxe pellet, 8.5
.5 part sunflowers, 8.5
12.9%

 

[Bocktastic Quackles]

I'm bringing this thread back to the top because the one in the meat bird forum is getting some layer traffic now. I haven't been weighing my girls or anything, and I haven't used the 5 gallon buckets yet, but I have been making the fermented mash. I have run out of ACV as well as the pasteurized stuff so I'm going to have to drop back to dry feed until I can scrounge up the money to get more. I will say, my girls gobble it up like I haven't fed them in days.

Once they reach about 18 weeks, I'm going to have to develop them a layer formula with whole and/or cracked grains bought in bulk, like Beekissed has done. I can't wait for the first eggs. I'm at 8 weeks tomorrow.

May I ask a follow up/extended question for you - and anyone else that would like to input?

First, how were the first eggs?!

Second, when did they begin laying?

My gals have been eating fermented feed since winging them off their chick meal. They were born in April and May 2020. They have still yet to lay any eggs. Is there something else I should be introducing to their diet to help them develop?

Their diet includes free ranging 6-8 hours per winter day (10-12 hours in warmer months) when I can sit outside with them, organic dried grubs, barley, flax seed, wheat, grain, blue rye, sunflower seeds, peas and oyster shells. Am I missing something? I added some pics of the fermentation mix. They seem to be obsessed with the barley and flax seed at the moment. Last ingredient: patience

 

[jolenesdad]

May I ask a follow up/extended question for you - and anyone else that would like to input?

First, how were the first eggs?!

Second, when did they begin laying?

My gals have been eating fermented feed since winging them off their chick meal. They were born in April and May 2020. They have still yet to lay any eggs. Is there something else I should be introducing to their diet to help them develop?

Their diet includes free ranging 6-8 hours per winter day (10-12 hours in warmer months) when I can sit outside with them, organic dried grubs, barley, flax seed, wheat, grain, blue rye, sunflower seeds, peas and oyster shells. Am I missing something? I added some pics of the fermentation mix. They seem to be obsessed with the barley and flax seed at the moment. Last ingredient: patience

What part of the country are you in and what breed are they?

 

[Bocktastic Quackles]

What part of the country are you in and what breed are they?

Colorado and Easter egger and speckled Sussex

 

[jolenesdad]

Colorado and Easter egger and speckled Sussex

I still have an April bird that has not started to lay. Last year, my birds born in April did not start laying until January. Don’t worry, they’ll still lay just as many eggs over their life, they’ll just lay for longer!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Colorado and Easter egger and speckled Sussex

First, you have declining sunlight - that tends to cut into laying, and will sometimes cause a new layer to delay until light levels start climbing again.

Second, Sussex are moderately slow to develop. While I've seen plenty of sources claiming 20 weeks for them before they start laying (which really means 20-24 on average), my sense of the thing, particularly in view of the season, is that you are likely at 24+ as a more reasonable guesstimate.

and Easter Eggers are mutts - depending on the original stock, that answer can be all over the place.

But since they apparently haven't started yet, I suspect they will "hold it" till late winter/early spring.

 

[Bocktastic Quackles]

I still have an April bird that has not started to lay. Last year, my birds born in April did not start laying until January. Don’t worry, they’ll still lay just as many eggs over their life, they’ll just lay for longer!

thank you! Patience is so hard! I want them to have good long happy life

 

[Kimi BK]

thank you! Patience is so hard! I want them to have good long happy life ☺

That's a good argument for starting chics ih the fall! They'll mature when days are getting longer and hopefully have a nice long egg-laying summer...