Fermenting Food- Stopped laying!

[ChickNanny13]

Agree with Ruralhideaway, think too much treats is "diluting" the nutrition in their feed. Is your friend also feeding as much treats as you?

I used to feed too much treats until I was advised how it off set the nutrition of their feed. They were light weight but after I cut way back on the treats, their weight & body mass got way better.

I feed as much as they want as lazy gardener states. I have 4BOs, ferment FR which I don't measure out, just scoop out 2 soup ladles full in the morning & early afternoon. In the afternoon they get some leafy veggies as they do not free range. IF any left over in the evening, I put aside for in the morning. I scatter BOSS/Scratch (1/8cup ea) at close up in the evening to give them something to scratch.

I was getting 4 - 3.5 per day, prior to Oct - Dec but when our weather changed (non stop rain & stormy) in Jan it's 3.25 per day. Weather's changing, the Sun's showing up more often, will see if production increases. If it doesn't it's ok with me, I don't want them "over worked" as they are Pets w/Benefits.

 

[ilsa]

Interesting. I was soaking the wheat for about 5 days, so it was fermented and my chickens slowed right down with their laying. That was in summer. Going in to spring now and they are just starting to lay and I was thinking of trying it again once they were right in to laying and see if it happened again. They love it, but maybe if it's fermented too long there is something in it that stops them from laying??

 

[FrostRanger]

Interesting. I was soaking the wheat for about 5 days, so it was fermented and my chickens slowed right down with their laying. That was in summer. Going in to spring now and they are just starting to lay and I was thinking of trying it again once they were right in to laying and see if it happened again. They love it, but maybe if it's fermented too long there is something in it that stops them from laying??

Are they only getting wheat? Wheat doesn't provide the nutrition they need by itself, I would switch to a proper chicken feed (you can ferment that if you wish although I wouldn't do longer than 3 days). Are they only getting fermented or do they also have dried feed available?

 

[ilsa]

No they are getting plenty of greens, free ranging and also porridge, cooked rice and occasionally layer pellets. But they were getting fermented wheat at least once a day. Just wondering if there is something in the fermenting process that can affect them When plants sprout they have a natural protection to as not be eaten, so maybe if I sprout it too long there is some chemical in it that can have an affect. Anyhow. I'll try again and see what happens.

 

[nuthatched]

Interesting. I was soaking the wheat for about 5 days, so it was fermented and my chickens slowed right down with their laying. That was in summer. Going in to spring now and they are just starting to lay and I was thinking of trying it again once they were right in to laying and see if it happened again. They love it, but maybe if it's fermented too long there is something in it that stops them from laying??

The majority of their diet should ne the layer feed, greens and grass is very low nutrition and rice has no nutrients at all.

 

[FrostRanger]

No they are getting plenty of greens, free ranging and also porridge, cooked rice and occasionally layer pellets. But they were getting fermented wheat at least once a day. Just wondering if there is something in the fermenting process that can affect them When plants sprout they have a natural protection to as not be eaten, so maybe if I sprout it too long there is some chemical in it that can have an affect. Anyhow. I'll try again and see what happens.

Just feed them layer feed and let them freerange. All the extras they're getting (wheat, rice, porridge and greens) aren't providing the nutrition they need and if hens don't get what they need nutritionally they won't lay very well at all. You can ferment the layer feed if you wish (still provide some free choice) but the wheat and other stuff is doing them no good

 

[Mother of Chaos]

^^^ This.

It’s the classic “spoiling your appetite” that our moms warned us about. The more just-grains, just-greens they eat, the less of the balanced feed they eat. So even though the individual things aren’t particularly “bad”, they reduce the total nutrition needed.