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It's a process of elimination in figuring out these issues. You are feeding the exact same feed you fed when dry? If so, the protein and nutritive levels did not decrease so any changes could not be attributed to less nutrition. Are you feeding the same number of scoops you fed when feeding dry? This could be the source of your problem, as you are essentially feeding less feed in the same size scoop....the new measurements should reflect that the feed/grains are now engorged with fluid and so take up more space in your scoop.
You can try an experiment to see how big that difference really is by taking some fermented water in a clear or opalescent container and placing the same amount of dry feed in the fermented water as you place~dry~in a container right next to it. In the morning look at the total volume of feed in the containers. You will find the wet feeds seem like so much more due to the addition of moisture and their subsequent swelling to take up more space in the container. Then apply this concept to your scoop volume as well and figure you might have to increase your total number of scoops to dish out the same level of nutrients, even though the act of fermenting will increase the absorption of those same nutrients it does not actually increase the nutrient levels themselves.
In other words, you might inadvertently be feeding less total nutrients than you used to feed if you are going by total scoops being fed. My birds naturally thin out a little in the spring/summer months when the bugs are starting to rise because they are putting more miles on their bodies in their foraging efforts as they try to compete for the plethora of bugs and also because I start feeding less grains and let them get more natural proteins.
Sometimes it seems I use less scoops than I used to when feeding dry but I've since noticed that it all varies and sometimes I use less and sometimes more, just like when feeding dry and adjusting to food abundance on the free range.
The blowing of the undercoat in the spring is typical and this is getting rid of the winter insulation. You should see sleek new forms on your adult hens as those downy under feathers release in a spring/summer mini molt~I found a pocket of feathers in the yard one day that looked like a pred had gotten a hold of one of my birds and then I looked for the bird...noticed the rooster was loosing his underpants around his legs!
He won't start getting fluffy around the legs and thighs again until fall. This is his usual spring/summer putting on of the summer drawers, so to speak, but I'd just never seen him lose them all in one place before so it looked like the scene of a crime!
If it is really hot where you live, those new feathers on the youngsters are going to grow in a little slower than normal because feather growth responds to the ambient temps....if it is cold outside, feathers grow in faster. When it is hotter, birds will thin down their coats or, in this case, not put as much nutrition into growing feathers as they will into growing the bird because protection against the cold is not a priority. Fall/winter chicks always put feathers on faster than spring/summer chicks.
The chicks I'm currently raising are also showing slow feather growth because they arrived here later in the year and are feathering in warmer weather but chicks received in March last year feathered rather quickly and that's saying a lot when speaking of CX chicks.
Here's a current example of birds at the same age but raised at different ambient temps:
This is one of last year's CX at 7 wks...this chick was born in Mid-March. CX typically are pretty scanty on their feathering because they grow so quickly, but you can see this bird has his full set of feathers.
This is 7 wk old dual purpose chicks, fed the very same FF mix, but born in the last part of April. You can see the bare patches, the patches that are still downy and the barely started feathering on the breasts and backs.
You can try an experiment to see how big that difference really is by taking some fermented water in a clear or opalescent container and placing the same amount of dry feed in the fermented water as you place~dry~in a container right next to it. In the morning look at the total volume of feed in the containers. You will find the wet feeds seem like so much more due to the addition of moisture and their subsequent swelling to take up more space in the container. Then apply this concept to your scoop volume as well and figure you might have to increase your total number of scoops to dish out the same level of nutrients, even though the act of fermenting will increase the absorption of those same nutrients it does not actually increase the nutrient levels themselves.
In other words, you might inadvertently be feeding less total nutrients than you used to feed if you are going by total scoops being fed. My birds naturally thin out a little in the spring/summer months when the bugs are starting to rise because they are putting more miles on their bodies in their foraging efforts as they try to compete for the plethora of bugs and also because I start feeding less grains and let them get more natural proteins.
Sometimes it seems I use less scoops than I used to when feeding dry but I've since noticed that it all varies and sometimes I use less and sometimes more, just like when feeding dry and adjusting to food abundance on the free range.
The blowing of the undercoat in the spring is typical and this is getting rid of the winter insulation. You should see sleek new forms on your adult hens as those downy under feathers release in a spring/summer mini molt~I found a pocket of feathers in the yard one day that looked like a pred had gotten a hold of one of my birds and then I looked for the bird...noticed the rooster was loosing his underpants around his legs!
If it is really hot where you live, those new feathers on the youngsters are going to grow in a little slower than normal because feather growth responds to the ambient temps....if it is cold outside, feathers grow in faster. When it is hotter, birds will thin down their coats or, in this case, not put as much nutrition into growing feathers as they will into growing the bird because protection against the cold is not a priority. Fall/winter chicks always put feathers on faster than spring/summer chicks.
The chicks I'm currently raising are also showing slow feather growth because they arrived here later in the year and are feathering in warmer weather but chicks received in March last year feathered rather quickly and that's saying a lot when speaking of CX chicks.
Here's a current example of birds at the same age but raised at different ambient temps:
This is one of last year's CX at 7 wks...this chick was born in Mid-March. CX typically are pretty scanty on their feathering because they grow so quickly, but you can see this bird has his full set of feathers.
This is 7 wk old dual purpose chicks, fed the very same FF mix, but born in the last part of April. You can see the bare patches, the patches that are still downy and the barely started feathering on the breasts and backs.
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I have small bunch of older hens that, while at first glance appear healthy enough, when I really got to looking at them, I realized that they are not 100% and that I should be doing better by them. 
