How often can I feed chickens fermented feed

[Bryce Thomas]

So since youtube keeps shoving these videos of fermenting chicken feed and save on money hacks I have finally watched them and they really do seem legit. I am wondering how often can I feed them this fermented chicken feed, does it work with flock raiser feed and is it dangerous in large amounts

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Daily. Its not dangerous.

My own experience has not shown it to benefit me as advertised, but neither has it hurt. and I'm in a climate where things ferment very quickly. If it happens, it happens (I do feed food wet, oatmeal-like consistency - seems to help my birds with the heat), but did not see the promised savings in feed consumption.

Other posters here have reported far superior results to mine, and I've no reason to doubt them.

So. Its safe. In terms of benefit, your mileage may vary.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Daily. Its not dangerous.

My own experience has not shown it to benefit me as advertised, but neither has it hurt. and I'm in a climate where things ferment very quickly. If it happens, it happens (I do feed food wet, oatmeal-like consistency - seems to help my birds with the heat), but did not see the promised savings in feed consumption.

Other posters here have reported far superior results to mine, and I've no reason to doubt them.

So. Its safe. In terms of benefit, your mileage may vary.

Is your feed the commercial pellet/crumble or a less processed feed where you can tell what's in there without looking at the label? It seems to work much better with the latter, but I can't really afford it so I just ferment scratch and add it plus some of the water to commercial feed. It's not quite halving my feed, more like reduced it to 2/3rds, but that's still great for me.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I use a commercially produced crumble from the local mill. Supplemented by what my birds free range on my acres. As I already get by with just 10# a day in feed where 13-14# would be expected, a further reduction of 20-30% +/- as is often claimed would be too much to hope for.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You can feed it exclusively (so put out measured amounts a few times a day), or as little as once in a while, almost like a treat.

I feed fermented daily in the mornings. The birds polish off the fermented feed and then have dry feed available the remainder of the day.

 

[saysfaa]

I feed FF almost exclusively (not counting greens and grubs from the garden). They are doing very well.

I have no idea how much difference it makes in the feed bill or nutritional benefits. But I no longer throw out the large amount of fines like I did before starting FF. And the chickens don't scratch feed out of the feeder anymore. I think the fines might have a larger proportion of the vitamin powder so I like that getting into the birds besides the straight up volume difference. I like fermenting this feed a little better than the crumble. The texture of the crumble after it soaks is a little harder to manage.

My feed is not pelletized or crumbles so I'm sure I have a lot more fines than most people. But I can get it for about $8 for 50 pounds and the fermenting is easy. I put some feed in a jar, add some juice from the last batch (or not), add some water (or not if there was a lot of juice from the last batch.) Stir to begin and maybe (or maybe not) stir occasionally through the day. And maybe (or maybe not) shift some to an emptier jar if I didn't allow enough expansion room since I'm pretty new to it. And feed some or all of it soon after starting it or later in the day or the next day or the day after. If it is too soon then it is soaked feed and that is good too. I don't strain it (tried that once), I pour off most of the liquid and spoon out any extra liquid. Or pour/spoon over the bulk of the solids if they are on top of the more liquidy layer.

I keep two or three quart jars going beside my kitchen sink (for 8-11 chicks who are now 7 weeks old). If I forget which jar is oldest, the one that smells most like sourdough bread is the oldest. Everyone in my house happens to like the smell of sourdough bread. Only once has a jar smelled like anything other than fresh feed or soughdough. I added a tablespoon of vinegar and it soon smelled like sourdough again. I threw that one out anyway because it was only a little of it and the internet isn't always reliable info.

I planned to set the fermenting up in the storage area of my coop but that part of the coop isn't ready. If a couple three or so quart jars isn't enough when the chicks get bigger or the weather gets colder then I'll move the set up to the coop.

Fermenting works with any grain based chicken feed and possibly with any feed at all (sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, wine, vinegar, ect) but might need to be done differently for some foods than others.

 

[ogronyra]

Would you be willing to share with us where you get the feed for $8 per 50lb bags please
[email protected]

 

[saysfaa]

I messaged you.

I was wrong - it was for 25 pounds rather than 50.

And the price went went up since then. It is back down some - it was just under $12 a bag last time I bought some.