FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[redsix]

I added some alfalfa to their feed when they were chicks. So I don't think you have to wait that long. Are the pellets huge? If so just break them up and add a little water. You can add it to the ferment or not. I think they'll like it either way.

I don't know about feeding alfalfa pellets. We don't let our chickens free range either. They are in a movable chicken tractor, but they clean up the grass long before I get around to moving it again. I try to pick some clover and grass for them each day. I plan on adding a portable chicken tunnel connection to the chicken tractor using some 5 ft. high welded wire fencing bent into an arch and held that way by some pieces of PVC pipe with the ends notched and zip tied to the wire..

 

[bbhorsefly]

Oh no! You must've read my post when I did keep my chickens locked up with nothing but FF. Well, they didn't eat it for three days. So I decided I would just let them out. I wasn't going to let them starve to death on my watch. Maybe they wouldn't have but still I wasn't going to force the issue.
They all eat it now, I started my new chicks out on it and they eat it relatively well. I'm still not sure if they eat it any better than they would if it is just wet it down but who knows. There seems to be some advantage to fermenting, and also I think it helps just too wet it down even if it's not fermented. So when I started out my bucket I wasn't worried about waiting until it fermented to feed it to them.
Because of the food I feed, scratch and peck brand, I feel it is vital to wet it down at least because then they get the nutrients from the powder. Otherwise they're not getting it. Which would be a huge waste of a very expensive food.
So anyway, to end my ramblings, I think chickens will eat what they will eat. I've heard they won't starve themselves and I've heard that they will not over eat, I think neither statement is true all the time. My chickens have made liars out of anybody that says chickens like apples, bananas, cat food, pumpkin, squash, and yogurt or scrambled eggs. Mine won't touch yogurt or scrambled eggs. Mine won't touch

Not just you, but you're experience does beg the question. If chickens have no preferences/taste/smell/sight/etc., and solely eat for caloric intake, then why did they not eat for three days? They weren't hungry? Or their disdain for the provided fare overwrote their need for calories? I ended up talking to a man at a livestock sale that had had the exact same experiences too. So you're not the only one. He also ended up giving up after DAYS of his flock refusing to eat the fermented. But with a batch of new chicks that didn't know the difference, soon everyone was preferring the fermented. I asked him if he was on BYC and he didn't know what it was because the experiences were so similar. Haha

 

[Mosey2003]

Mine were on dry crumbles for weeks and attacked the fermented immediately.

 

[saraem]

I haven't read the whole thread, but it seems like from the last few posts other people are having the same problem I am...my chicks (4 weeks and 2 weeks) won't eat the FF! I have not removed the dry food because I don't want them to starve being they are still growing so quickly, but the 2 times I tried FF it just sat there until someone eventually pooped in it and I had to remove it.

I am completely convinced of the benefits of FF, both for the health of the birds and my wallet - now how the heck do I get them to eat it?!

 

[Beekissed]

I haven't read the whole thread, but it seems like from the last few posts other people are having the same problem I am...my chicks (4 weeks and 2 weeks) won't eat the FF! I have not removed the dry food because I don't want them to starve being they are still growing so quickly, but the 2 times I tried FF it just sat there until someone eventually pooped in it and I had to remove it.

I am completely convinced of the benefits of FF, both for the health of the birds and my wallet - now how the heck do I get them to eat it?!

1. They absolutely will not starve themselves....don't know why folks are convinced this will happen, but it won't. They are born with an instinct for survival and will eat dirt or each other in the absence of available food, so presenting them a choice is the first mistake everyone seems to make.

2. Just present the FF and leave it there until they've eaten it. You don't have to sprinkle dry on top to "get them interested", you don't have to teach them to eat it no more than you have to teach a chick how to drink....that's all instinctive.

3. If using a heat lamp, keep the food away from the heat source or it will bake the top and keep them from being able to access the feed well. If it does tend to dry out on top, just stir it up and they will eat it just fine.

4. For every one person who has trouble with getting their chicks or chickens to eat the FF, there will be a hundred more that post they dug in like hungry pigs and never looked back, so it's probably more user error than picky chickens. They won't starve nor do you have to starve them in order for them to eat it...they just need to get hungry enough to try something different than their norm...once they try it, you'll have a hard time getting them to eat dry food. It's all in what they are used to eating and the options you give....give no options and they will get used to the "new" feed, which is just their old feed being fed wet instead of dry.

 

[paneubert]

I haven't read the whole thread, but it seems like from the last few posts other people are having the same problem I am...my chicks (4 weeks and 2 weeks) won't eat the FF! I have not removed the dry food because I don't want them to starve being they are still growing so quickly, but the 2 times I tried FF it just sat there until someone eventually pooped in it and I had to remove it.

I am completely convinced of the benefits of FF, both for the health of the birds and my wallet - now how the heck do I get them to eat it?!

The problem is that you are not removing the dry food! I know you don't want them to starve, but if you leave two options, they are going to go with what they know. Take away the dry for a day and see what happens.

 

[saraem]

Don't worry, I don't actually think they're going to starve...I have kids and have tested this theory quite thoroughly I just was thinking I didn't want to stress their systems when they were so young. Maybe that's not an issue, though.

No heat lamp (using MHP) and their food/water are on the opposite side of a large brooder from their heat source, anyway. I'll go ahead and remove the dry food and see if they change their tune.

 

[paneubert]

Don't worry, I don't actually think they're going to starve...I have kids and have tested this theory quite thoroughly I just was thinking I didn't want to stress their systems when they were so young. Maybe that's not an issue, though.

No heat lamp (using MHP) and their food/water are on the opposite side of a large brooder from their heat source, anyway. I'll go ahead and remove the dry food and see if they change their tune.

For an example of what happened with me...

I got birds that were 8 weeks old. I assume they were on crumbles before. I started them with FF from day one. They did not eat anything until late day 2. So they might hold out for a while, but they should come around.

 

[saraem]

8 hours later, they still won't touch it. Stubborn things. We did take them for a field trip in the backyard and they ate some grass etc. out there.

Now they are just digging around like mad for any scrap of dry food left on the floor of the brooder.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Had my first bad experience with FF. Put the evening panful of FF in the smaller chick enclosure and went to chase the larger chicks into their enclosure from free-ranging. Had a few other things to do, but came back to do my final checks before leaving (my house is on a different property than the chickens/goats). Saw a body in the pan with the other chicks kind of pecking at and around it. Ran in and found one of the mille fleur bantams trampled into the FF! Must have happened during the initial rush.

Well, he was still alive, though seemingly barely, so I ran him inside and gave him a warm bath to remove all the goo and warm up his icy body. Wrapped him in a towel and had to use a twig + kleenex to clean the guck from his mouth and throat so he could breathe without gasping. Popped one of the chemical hand warmers in next to him, propped him up in the passenger seat, and headed home. Realized on the way that I didn't have anything to dry and fluff his feathers, so a brief detour to Target for a hair dryer. By now he was starting to peep and complain (sweet, sweet sounds). Got him inside, got him dried off with the hairdryer (he was starting to enjoy it), then popped him in the brooder with the chicks who hadn't feathered out enough to get kicked outside yet. When I finally turned off the light, he was moving around like a creaky old man (there was obvious bruising when I was bathing him), but he was moving, alert, and if he makes it to morning I will be very encouraged.

The grrr factor is that I was just working on the garden coop today with plans to finish it up tomorrow (I needed supplies) and move quite a few of the chicks from that enclosure into it since I thought they were getting too crowded. The new coop has a nice trough-style feeder, which would have prevented this. Sigh.