Nothing. If your feed is fermented ideally they have all the nutrition they need until the next feeding. They are better able to utilize the nutrients in the feed so they eat less.
FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?
- Thread starter Beekissed
- Start date
Nothing. If your feed is fermented ideally they have all the nutrition they need until the next feeding. They are better able to utilize the nutrients in the feed so they eat less.
By fermented feed, I mean that I take store bought commercial layer crumbles and mix them with water until it is fermented. That is the only feed my chickens get other than table scraps on a RARE occasion and a scratch mix put out for them to play with about every 2 weeks.
Well, sometimes it takes my girls around 2 hours to gobble it down. Are you giving treats or offering any other type of food for them?
No not really, sometimes a few BOOS and they free range. When i have red grapes they eat those
They're just PICKY. They've been FF for at least 2 months.
- Thread starter
- #5,345
Feeding too much is all. Cut back and see what happens.
I ferment their feed, corn, wheat, and soon going to add in some BOSS once we pick a bag up today.
I am having a different experience, I guess, with FF. If it ferments for more than a day, they won't eat it. I reuse the liquid I drain off, so the "sour" is already there when I add the crumbles. I also sprout wheat and barley. They stopped eating the wheat and gobble up the barley in a short time. They eat the FF throughout the day, and I give them a fresh scoop every morning along with dry crumbles in a separate dish. They free range just a short time in the evening because of the fox and hawks hanging around. So, until I can get the mealworm population up and running, they've done some grasshopper/cricket hunting augmented by what I can catch for them. They are laying faithfully and look healthy. There's no doubt, though, I am their food goddess, no matter how full they are .
.
I don't know... i have 4 hens and i put probably about 3 cups out and now they're starting to pick out the grains/seeds (i feed Scratch n Peck organic layer crumbles) and i'm really kind of getting tired of it all... (in the beginning i used to grind it in a coffee grinder to thoroughly mix the grains in but worried about rancidity with ground grains/seeds)
i guess i just keep scooping it back up and adding it into the FF and re feeding the next day. Also started feeding an organic Layer PELLET which they love, right before they go to roost to ensure their crops are full...tried putting it into the Ferment to ferment but idk....
Also tried cutting way back on the pellets (it's not like they eat a huge amount of it, stuff is SPENDY) and mixing it into the ferment i scoop out and feed before they go into roost and they do eat some of that but i've noticed now that the seeds/grains are missing and most if it just sits there in their feeding trough.
I actually noticed this when i went DOWN from 20% protein Scratch n Peck Layer crumble (fed while they were molting) back down to 16% because the CS person advised me they could get too fat on the 20% but it did have less seeds/grains in it.
Maybe i'll just go back to mixing the Organic pellets and the SnP crumbles and Ferment and if they don't eat enough or like it, TOO BAD. Tired of messing with it all and worrying.
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It does sound like you're just giving them too much. They pick through and get the parts they like best first, then by the time they have picked those out they are full so they ignore the less desirable parts. Try giving them only a 1/2 cup each (so 2 cups for 4 birds) and no dry pellets. If they expect that you'll be giving them more whenever they finish of the bits they like best, then they'll just keep doing that. They won't starve themselves. If that is the only thing offered, they'll catch on and eat it.
I give mine sprouts/fodder (I feed it at the in between stage with about an inch or so of grass but still not a real solid root mass) in the morning - 1 cake pan size tray shared between 35 chooks and 8 ducks. Then they free range all day, and get 1/2 cup each of FF in the evening. If they had a particularly bugalicious day, they only eat about half of it before going to bed, but will polish it off by morning. If the pickings were slimmer, then they eat most of it before bed.
One thing i do is scoop out what they've left in their feeders and after i let them out to free range, put it in a large bowl and they'll eat it through the day, only thing i hate about that is (and this is why i put in new feeders a couple weeks ago) they'll kick and mash it all over. Well i suppose one can't have everything perfect, LOL.
Their feeders are attached to the run so they can't get into it and kick it all over, not going to bring them out on the property so only thing i can do is put it in a large bowl. Well at least they're eating it, anyway even though i have to play little games
Their feeders are attached to the run so they can't get into it and kick it all over, not going to bring them out on the property so only thing i can do is put it in a large bowl. Well at least they're eating it, anyway even though i have to play little games
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