How do you ferment chicken feed? Is it worth it?

[LoveChickens27]

My knuckleheads won't eat anything special that I make an effort to provide. Whole grain mixes? Pick out what we like and leave the rest. Fermented grains? Not feeling it. Sprouted grains? Meh. Chopped fresh veg? Take it or leave it. Mostly leave it. They're satisfied with what they forage and their regular old feed.

My chickens love those things... but chickens have their own diet or food they want to eat. LOL They maybe can eat tons of things but they don't want to. LOL

 

[Crow craftsman]

Well, what i do is i take a bowl and put:
Ground corn (called chyakhla in nepali)
Whole wheat
Raw rice, i use brown rice ( bhat)
Lentils of any sort (dal)
And oats of any sort
I soak it for a bit, making sure water level is above the feed in the bowl, then ladle it out to the chickens. They gobble it up very well. Similar stuff used to feed empires, and the kathmandu valley (before westernization) used to live off rice, lentils and ground corn porridge for centuries. These carbs and proteins powered farmers who tilled the paddies all day and gurkha soldiers, so it'll be awesome for chickens. Rice, to me, is the main part. Hope this helps!

 

[LoveChickens27]

Well, what i do is i take a bowl and put:
Ground corn (called chyakhla in nepali)
Whole wheat
Raw rice, i use brown rice ( bhat)
Lentils of any sort (dal)
And oats of any sort
I soak it for a bit, making sure water level is above the feed in the bowl, then ladle it out to the chickens. They gobble it up very well. Similar stuff used to feed empires, and the kathmandu valley (before westernization) used to live off rice, lentils and ground corn porridge for centuries. These carbs and proteins powered farmers who tilled the paddies all day and gurkha soldiers, so it'll be awesome for chickens. Rice, to me, is the main part. Hope this helps!

OOH! Sounds yummy.... if I were a chicken. LOL I am not suprised your chickens love you!

 

[LoveChickens27]

your 2 minute read 'article' is just assertion, like your post here. You could equally well say the moon is made of cheese; it does not make it so. Has it occurred to you that you are the one spreading misinformation? If you practice what you preach and checked your assertions, please cite the source, so your readers can check it for themselves.

I do practice what I preach, but thanks for the reminder to always do that whenever I post something on chicken forums. Here is a test done on how many eggs were layed when chickens were fead, on dry chicken feed vs. fermented chicken feed.

https://projects.sare.org/media/pdf/F/o/o/Foothills-Farm-study_Full-report.pdf

And here is a website explaining the benefits of fermented feed. https://harvestsavvy.com/fermented-chicken-feed/

Also, i know the moon is not made of cheese. LOL

 

[Altairsky]

I do practice what I preach. Here is a test done on how many eggs were layed, on dry chicken feed vs. fermented chicken feed. ttps://projects.sare.org/media/pdf/F/o/o/Foothills-Farm-study_Full-report.pdf

Also, i know the moon is not made of cheese. LOL

You need to learn the difference between whole grain feed and processed feed like crumbles.
So far, all the studies you posted, were referring to whole grain feed, conferming what me and perris are saying, therefore you're basically proving that you're wrong, lol.
Learn the difference between whole seed and crumbles\pelleted feed.

 

[LoveChickens27]

You need to learn the difference between whole grain feed and processed feed like crumbles.
So far, all the studies you posted, were referring to whole grain feed, conferming what me and perris are saying, therefore you're basically proving that you're wrong, lol.
Learn the difference between whole seed and crumbles\pelleted feed.

This website said:
https://harvestsavvy.com/fermented-chicken-feed/

Experiment with Feed: Explore various feed options, including legumes, grains, oats, and seeds. Commercial pellets and crumble can also be fermented. For ducklings or chicks, use specialized duck or chick feed.

This was used in one of the articles, by the way.

 

[Perris]

From your first citation @LoveChickens27 (for which the address you pasted was clipped, btw; it needs a h at the front; proof read your stuff before posting to avoid such errors in future): "Results from this study represent the first quantitative on-farm data relating to feed fermentation for poultry..." Oddly, this Final Report is not dated, but it says the experimental work went on in 2019, so it's quite recent. As Altairsky pointed out, they used a whole grain feed not an ultra-processed pellet:
"3. Methods
All diets in this study were prepared from the same complete mixed ration, a whole-grain mash"

And the website you linked to is not an article. It refers in a vague way to articles in journals like Poultry Science but it doesn't actually give any details or references, and it is apparent from reading the website that the author hasn't actually read them or doesn't understand them.

So you also need to learn to distinguish between an article and a webpage. Start with the clear distinction that a webpage is something on which anyone can write anything, including people who know zero about what they presume to write on. An article in a proper journal, by contrast, has been written by someone who specialises in the topic they write on, includes a section on methods where they will, for example, spell out precisely what feed they fermented (as the SARE paper does, but the website does not); it will have been read by at least 2 other experts on the topic, and it will probably have been revised on the basis of their comments on the first draft submitted BEFORE the final version was published in the journal.

Research is like statistics: junk in, junk out.

 

[LoveChickens27]

From your first citation @LoveChickens27 (for which the address you pasted was clipped, btw; it needs a h at the front; proof read your stuff before posting to avoid such errors in future): "Results from this study represent the first quantitative on-farm data relating to feed fermentation for poultry..." Oddly, this Final Report is not dated, but it says the experimental work went on in 2019, so it's quite recent. As Altairsky pointed out, they used a whole grain feed not an ultra-processed pellet:
"3. Methods
All diets in this study were prepared from the same complete mixed ration, a whole-grain mash"

And the website you linked to is not an article. It refers in a vague way to articles in journals like Poultry Science but it doesn't actually give any details or references, and it is apparent from reading the website that the author hasn't actually read them or doesn't understand them.

So you also need to learn to distinguish between an article and a webpage. Start with the clear distinction that a webpage is something on which anyone can write anything, including people who know zero about what they presume to write on. An article in a proper journal, by contrast, has been written by someone who specialises in the topic they write on, includes a section on methods where they will, for example, spell out precisely what feed they fermented (as the SARE paper does, but the website does not); it will have been read by at least 2 other experts on the topic, and it will probably have been revised on the basis of their comments on the first draft submitted BEFORE the final version was published in the journal.

Research is like statistics: junk in, junk out.

Thanks for the notice on my mess ups. BUT REALLY MISTAKES HAPPEN.

So y'all are telling me too prove I am right. PROVE ME YOU ARE RIGHT. Give me a lab, please.

 

[Perris]

PROVE ME YOU ARE RIGHT.

start here https://www.fao.org/3/x2184e/x2184e06.htm
It has 55 references at the end, each of which you could pursue if you wish because all the details you need to are there.

You might also look for this
N F Haard et.al. Fermented cereals. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 138, 1999.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I do practice what I preach, but thanks for the reminder to always do that whenever I post something on chicken forums. Here is a test done on how many eggs were layed when chickens were fead, on dry chicken feed vs. fermented chicken feed.

https://projects.sare.org/media/pdf/F/o/o/Foothills-Farm-study_Full-report.pdf

And here is a website explaining the benefits of fermented feed. https://harvestsavvy.com/fermented-chicken-feed/

Also, i know the moon is not made of cheese. LOL

SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education; https://www.sare.org/) is a highly reputable grant program under the USDA that funds research initiated and led by farmers, supported by PhDs in structuring and reporting the experiments. I’m pretty sure that they aren’t peer-reviewed, as are journal articles, but they come from traditional experimental designs that can be duplicated.

I posted on another thread that backyard (=small-scale) gardening and chicken-keeping is not well supported by traditional university research, with funding from and focus in Big Ag. This leaves us the options of trying to translate data that applies to megafarms, relying on “how we’ve always done it”, or finding individuals with experience and insight who dig in. <- this is the space that SARE inhabits.

So, first citation: good reference, incorrect conclusion (by you.) The article specifically says it used whole-grain layer feed (Scratch and Peck brand Naturally Free Organic Layer, 16% protein.) It makes no reference to other forms, such as crumbles or pellets. There is no reason to assume that the results are the same for non-whole-grain feeds.

Second citation: It’s a dot-com site. The article is unsigned. The Author link on the article is a dud. The About Us link is a dud. (These last two are duds on my phone, while links to other articles work fine.) I could buy a dot-com domain, create a site, and write an article that the reason my pullets are laying early and daily is because there are pots of nasturtiums outside their fenced yard range, which they can’t reach, but their orange-gold blossom color stimulates egg-laying hormones. (It doesn’t.)

When researching, go for .edu or .org or .gov sites. They can have their own issues, but they are less likely to be complete fairy dust like my imaginary nasturtium dot com site. Yes, there are excellent dot com sites, but you should investigate the authors and the site itself for credibility. Remember, dot com sites mean “commerce” - they’re trying to sell you something! - if only your clicks.