Fermenting Nutrena Layer Crunmbles! ...

[rosemarythyme]

As for switching from Nutrena to Scratch & Peck -- I'd like to try switching foods BC Scratch & Peck is a higher quality feed.

Do any of you feed Scratch & Peck?

I feed S&P fermented. While my birds like it dry they do end up picking out favorite bits that way, so I feed pelleted feed dry. Not sure how feasible it is for you to switch (shipping cost + feed declines in freshness and nutrients if you have to buy in bulk and have to store the feed for an extended period of time), but I guess most of your feed has to be shipped in regardless of brand

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Any reason you want to make this feed switch? Sounds like it was working nicely before.

If you can't keep refilling fermented feed all day, then try what I do: ferment in the morning, with dry feed available all day.

I have no knowledge on fermenting chicken feed, but this person has the right idea about leaving feed out all day. At minimum, they need all they can eat at least twice a day to keep up production.

 

[OffGridChook]

Is anyone not liking Nutrena layer anymore? My 4 girls were raised on Nutrena and have only had two bags of Purina layena before I switched back to a Nutrena. I generally will feed them wet food in the morning or maybe a little in the evening and also free feed dry. And a little bit of black oil sunflower seeds. Plus random green of the day (spinach, micro greens, miners lettuce, chickweed? Brussels sprouts, broccoli, whatever) They are normal weight and lay every day with an occasional day off once a month. They don’t really molt and laid throughout this past winter. Their egg shells are hard, they are fed their egg shells and do have oyster shell available but they don’t eat the latter. Even though they have layer crumble, they eat their crushed shells regularly.

I just started the ferment of the crumble last night. No actual fermentation yet so I don’t even know how they’ll respond. They will still have dry feed available.

Do you all not like Nutrena layer? Is there something I should know? I don’t and won’t feed my girls soy.

Thank you!

 

[OffGridChook]

Do you all not like Nutrena layer? Is there something I should know? I don’t and won’t feed my girls soy.

It has soy in it . That should probably say I don’t WANT to feed my girls soy. Is soy bad or No? There is a soy free version. I just started fermenting it. On sat three I feed them. It smells sweet by the third day and has bubbles. I feed them 1/4 each, so a lb dry for four of them and then add the water. They do eat all
Of it by afternoon. I still have dry crumble out and they eat that too but mostly before bed. They eat a lot but are not fat.

Nutrena Layer Crumble Ingredients​

Ground Corn, Processed Grain By-Products, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Soybean Oil, Salt, Citric Acid (a preservative), LLysine, Colored with Organic Tagetes (Aztec Marigold) Meal, Organic Dried Kelp, Dried Trichoderma reesei Fermentation Product, DLMethionine, Choline Chloride, Dried Bifidobacterium thermophilum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Verxite Granules, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yeast Culture, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Silicon Dioxide, Oregano Essential Oil, Thyme Essential Oil, Rosemary Essential Oil, Star Anise Essential Oil, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Feed Grade Hydrolyzed Vegetable Oil, Mineral Oil, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative).

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Old thread but it seems to have been revived! Here's my two cents.

I started fermenting my chickens' feed a few weeks ago (Producer's Pride mini pellets from TSC). I haven't noticed a change in egg production. This might be due to me giving them free choice of the non-fermented pellets all day as well. They get their fermented feed in the morning and they go back and eat pellets if they don't get much free-ranging that day it seems.

 

[OffGridChook]

Old thread but it seems to have been revived! Here's my two cents.

I started fermenting my chickens' feed a few weeks ago (Producer's Pride mini pellets from TSC). I haven't noticed a change in egg production. This might be due to me giving them free choice of the non-fermented pellets all day as well. They get their fermented feed in the morning and they go back and eat pellets if they don't get much free-ranging that day it seems.

Thank you! I didn’t realize how old the thread was I’m such a Luddite sometimes.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

It has soy in it . That should probably say I don’t WANT to feed my girls soy. Is soy bad or No? There is a soy free version. I just started fermenting it. On sat three I feed them. It smells sweet by the third day and has bubbles. I feed them 1/4 each, so a lb dry for four of them and then add the water. They do eat all
Of it by afternoon. I still have dry crumble out and they eat that too but mostly before bed. They eat a lot but are not fat.

Nutrena Layer Crumble Ingredients​

Ground Corn, Processed Grain By-Products, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Soybean Oil, Salt, Citric Acid (a preservative), LLysine, Colored with Organic Tagetes (Aztec Marigold) Meal, Organic Dried Kelp, Dried Trichoderma reesei Fermentation Product, DLMethionine, Choline Chloride, Dried Bifidobacterium thermophilum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Verxite Granules, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yeast Culture, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Silicon Dioxide, Oregano Essential Oil, Thyme Essential Oil, Rosemary Essential Oil, Star Anise Essential Oil, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Feed Grade Hydrolyzed Vegetable Oil, Mineral Oil, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative).

No, Soy isn't bad. In the plant world, it has one of the most complete amino acid profiles available, and a good protein level overall, without the high fat of a comparable near-grain like Flax seed. There aren't a lot of substitutes for it, and most of them contain the same chemicals over which the typical objections to soy are made. But the anti-Soy movement is mostly not grounded in nutritional science.

There are a few people for whom soy is a problem. Just as there are people for whom wheat is a problem, or shellfish, or peanuts, or any number of other allergens. The severity of their sensitivity may make feeds containing those products unsuable due solely to the dust generated while measuring pouring what-have-you, even if the offending chemicals in those products don't survive the chicken's digestive tract, and aren't deposited in the chicken's flesh, or eggs. There are some chemicals which do - such as the caretinoids in marigolds, turning egg yolks more orange.

Whether a particular person with a particular allergen to, say "soy", is allergic to one of the few chemicals which passes unchanged and is deposited - or not - is a level of discrimination most do not have knowledge of, and few allergists test for.

For a few, soy may be bad. For most, its a very good and useful component of chicken feed.