Fermenting chicken feed, Good idea?

[rosemarythyme]

Don't!

You don't need to agree with how I do it, but no two people will get the same results, so we each need to do it how it works for us. I don't lid my FF. I don't store it outside either. I keep it temperature controlled inside, I keep it on the dry side, I feed it anywhere from 24 hrs to 5 days old, and I reuse the same dirty jar for the next batch. That's what works for me.

 

[Humanbean68]

I ferment my scratch....super easy in a small bucket covered with an inch or so of water. it’s pleasantly sour after the first day, stronger on the second day. It lasts two days and then I fill the bucket again. It’s ridiculously simple. I don’t ferment mash, they have access to that in their feeder as well. I tried fodder and sprouting but both are more time and space consuming and the chickens prefer the fermented grain.

 

[MotherOfDuckens]

I love doing FF. Sometimes I get lazy and fail to restart the ferment, so I keep regular store feed on hand. I use a 5 gal plastic food grade bucket, and cover with a lid that I push to seal on part of most of the bucket, so it's basically covered but not enough for pressure to build up. I use a base of whole oats, wheat, barley, and sometimes corn. I often add a handful or two of alfalfa pellets, and soybean meal if I'm going for higher protein. I've started adding a vitamin top dressing and powder as well. I've not had good luck fermenting feed pellets and the like, so I tend to feed those as-is.

For starters I've used whey (leftover from yogurt making), kombucha, and water kefir. The ducks seem to favour the ferments started with whey, but they are happy to chow down on any of them. With enough starter I can get some lively fermentation with plenty of bubbles even within 24 hours in my cool house.

I wouldn't say I save any money fermenting the feed, but I enjoy it from a mad scientist perspective, and I have noticed positive benefits in the flock when I feed it. Even my highly skeptical roommate agrees wholeheartedly that it practically eliminates the smell of the duck poop. That alone makes it worthwhile!

 

[Rangergord]

Maybe a little late to reply to this thread but I enjoyed reading all the varied points of view. Especially Eggcited4life! I have found fermented feed to be worthwhile but I would like to say that my conclusions are like everyone else’s here a subjective opinion. The numerous scientific studies backing up the benefits of FF are objective observation. That’s because the experiments included controls of groups of chickens that did not eat FF. There was also a process of peer review and hypothesis were tested against the observations according to the scientific method to greatly reduce subjective opinion and produce more objective observations. This process is not always perfect and some research is designed to give results that the research sponsors desire to see, but still has more validity than my observations that do not include a control.

So Eggcited4life is entirely entitled to conclude that FF for 82 birds is not worth the time and effort. I am also entitled to my belief that feeding 4 hens FF is worth the minor inconvenience. When I go away for the weekend and let the chickens feed freely on dry layer ration, I observe on my return the stench and mess of sticky manure and can’t wait to feed FF again!