Fermenting Feed?

[Serin]

What is the benefit of this versus dry food?

 

[Criticalicious]

Similar benefits to eating yogurt - probiotics and it's tasty (or so the chickens tell me since they go nuts for it). Eating wet food (versus dry) means the chickens drink less water because they get hydration from the food.

 

[Molpet]

What is the benefit of this versus dry food?

from https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/
Why?

1) Superior nutrition

Fermenting creates new vitamins; specifically B vitamins, and new nutrients. Some of those nutrients are amino acids. The soaking and fermenting also breaks down the anti-nutrients and toxins in the grains that prevent the digestion of available nutrients.

“http://www.fao.org/docrep/x2184e/x2184e06.htm

Quote:


Bacterial fermentation produces lysine, often increasing its concentration by many fold and making grains nearly a “complete protein”, i.e. one that contains the ideal balance of essential amino acids as do animal proteins (11, scroll down to see graph). Not very many plant foods can make that claim. Fermentation also increases the concentration of the amino acid methionine and certain vitamins.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/05/traditional-preparation-methods-improve.html
In addition to the reduction in toxins and anti-nutrients afforded by soaking and cooking, grinding and fermentation goes much further. Grinding greatly increases the surface area of the grains and breaks up their cellular structure, releasing enzymes which are important for the transformation to come. Under the right conditions, which are easy to achieve, lactic acid bacteria rapidly acidify the batter.” {http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them/2220 }

So, your birds are going to be healthier.

2) Less waste

This alone was appealing to me, not including the expansion of the feed, so it goes further than dry feed. The feed isn’t kicked all over the ground and lost to the subterranean trolls that hover and wait for scratched out nuggets of goodness.

I’m seriously still saving AT LEAST 2/3 on my feed bill, even with adding 14 more babies.

3) Less stinky poo

It’s always about the poop, isn’t it? Not only is the poo less stinky, it’s more solid. Cecal poops are always going to be cecal poops, so we can’t get rid of those. BUT. The other ones- even more solid, and drier. This makes cleaning *a lot* easier because less the cecals, you aren’t dealing with a ton of smearage.

I haven’t noticed the no smell like some report, but I do agree that they definitely don’t smell as much. And guinea poop, OH MY STARS, smells absolutely DELISH compared to regular feed poops. That stuff was toxic, I’m tellin’ ya. Now it’s tolerable and doesn’t require the HAZMAT suit and re-breather. Whew.

4) Glossier feathers

I’m not aware of any studies that measure feather glossy-ness, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. And, they grow back faster.

 

[jlwquilter]

Even if you don’t ferment and just add some water to the dry feed right before you give it to them makes them like it more.

I didn’t think of the hydration part - bonus!

 

[Henriettamom919]

What is the benefit of this versus dry food?

I, personally, have only been FF for a month but have already seen several benefits:

Increase in egg quality and regularity, even laying during extreme change and moving into a new coop!

Way less waste! Whatever they don't eat I sow into pots or flower beds and they eat the sprouts later!

Less aggression at meal time; one of my hens is just generally bossy but especially during feeding time and they each get their own scoop so no fighting at the feed dish.

Better overall appearance; my Buff Orp was bullied back in late winter and looking a little rough but her feathers and comb have improved a ton!

Their poop doesn't smell nearly as bad. My four babies were on starter crumbles until last week and the difference in smell was...well, it was very obvious to say the least.

But my most important factor in doing this- they LOVE IT! They are excited at meal times despite getting to free range grass and weeds and all the slugs and bugs that go with those things. I initially did this because they weren't showing much interest in their feed and that is no longer the case!

 

[jlwquilter]

I’ve started storing the FF in the fridge. It’s so hot here that it makes me a tiny bit nervous to leave it out all day every day. I’ve cut way back on the amount of FF I make at one time as I’ve gotten a better handle on how much is eaten over the course of a few days. I’m now using a half gallon capacity plastic container I already had. And even then I’m only making half of it. Every other day or so I replenish the amount. That day I leave it outside for several hours. It is fermenting when I bring it in later on.

It’s not a big deal for me to take the container out in the morning. I’m liking this new method better as I said I feel less worried the FF will go bad.