Putting water in the feed

[Mrs. K]

First time with meat chicks here, and I had read how they need more water. I was filling up their water 4 & 5 times a day, and additional nipple waters. I kept adding the water bowls because they seemed a little too desperate for water.

Then I read on here, how a person (I apologize, I went back and can't find the post) talked about fermenting the feed helped with dehydration. I immediately soaked the feed, and the desperation is gone. The chick feed is darn dry, adding a bit of water to it, keeps it in the bowl better too. Only disadvantage I see, is a traditional chick feeder won't work. Not a a big deal.
Mrs K

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

good information to know.

 

[lazy gardener]

Excellent! If you want even more benefit from it, add that water and let it ferment. The first ferment will take up to 3 days, there after, the turn around time is 12 - 24 hours if you start with warm water. There is an article in my signature about the how and why of FF.

Fermentation can also be sped up if you add some scratch grains to get the first ferment going. Even faster still is using rinse water from sprouting grains!

 

[Kiki]

Soaking the feed even for just a little while and not actually fermenting it is an AWESOME idea.
I think it is a great way for people in the South to help combat heat related problems in our summer months.

(I feed fermented feed )

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't think the fermentation will hurt, many swear by it on here, but I do think the water in the feed will really help against dehydration, within an hour, they were much more relaxed, and not just swarming the water.

 

[Maeschak]

First time with meat chicks here, and I had read how they need more water. I was filling up their water 4 & 5 times a day, and additional nipple waters. I kept adding the water bowls because they seemed a little too desperate for water.

Then I read on here, how a person (I apologize, I went back and can't find the post) talked about fermenting the feed helped with dehydration. I immediately soaked the feed, and the desperation is gone. The chick feed is darn dry, adding a bit of water to it, keeps it in the bowl better too. Only disadvantage I see, is a traditional chick feeder won't work. Not a a big deal.
Mrs K

I started adding water to my chicken feed about a year ago- initially I did it so the chickens wouldn't waste as much feed billing it, looking for their favorite bits, etc. but it's also helped out immensely with watering issues. They now drink a lot less water than they used to and clean out their feed bowls completely with no waste. I don't think I'll ever stop adding water to my chicken feed! (Fermenting works great too- once warmer weather returns I may do that again for awhile).
Glad you found a solution to your problem!

 

[RUNuts]

I'm a little confused here. I received 2 week old CX chicks that were accustomed to eating dry feed. They go crazy for it. I will soak 3 horse cubes of alfalfa and mix the feed into it to make a mash. They will eat it, but not as voraciously. If I put dry next to the skillet of wet mash, they will mob the dry feed. I'm confused. 3 weeks later and they still prefer the dry. They will distend their crops with the dry. Not that much with mush. I'm not with holding feed. If I leave dry in the tractor, they will eat it all. I will have wet left over. Trying to feed the same, but it isn't the same.

I'm using the nipple water and they will drain that in a week (3 gallons) with 6 - 5.5 week old chicks.

Do yours prefer the wet or dry if given a choice?

I'll be trying the fermented stuff by adding apple cider vinegar with mother to the soak.

 

[Kiki]

I'm a little confused here. I received 2 week old CX chicks that were accustomed to eating dry feed. They go crazy for it. I will soak 3 horse cubes of alfalfa and mix the feed into it to make a mash. They will eat it, but not as voraciously. If I put dry next to the skillet of wet mash, they will mob the dry feed. I'm confused. 3 weeks later and they still prefer the dry. They will distend their crops with the dry. Not that much with mush. I'm not with holding feed. If I leave dry in the tractor, they will eat it all. I will have wet left over. Trying to feed the same, but it isn't the same.

I'm using the nipple water and they will drain that in a week (3 gallons) with 6 - 5.5 week old chicks.

Do yours prefer the wet or dry if given a choice?

I'll be trying the fermented stuff by adding apple cider vinegar with mother to the soak.

Mine prefer wet over dry every time I try to test them but they are used to the wet (FF) and not used to the dry.

So maybe yours just prefer the dry.
I know zero about meat birds though...they might be a tad dumb.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you feed a mash a big advantage is that the different ingredients do not settle out if it is wet, maybe like a paste. Crumbles and pellets are not going to separate so no advantage from this with those.

I'd be careful about over-feeding. If they don't clean it up wet feed can mold, which is not good. But your management techniques can handle that as long as yo are aware of it.

 

[BillW77]

This is very interesting to me. I've added water to my pig's feed but never ti the chicken feed. A farmer told me that it helps the pigs digest more from it when it is wet, I wonder if it works the same with chickens.