Questions about fermented feed

[peepers93]

Hey there! So, I’m a long time chicken owner/breeder. I’m interested in learning ways to keep my chickens healthier, and ultimately try to cut down on feed costs. I have read that fermented feed is better for your chickens and can help reduce your feed costs. So, that being said, I have a few questions and would appreciate any and all feedback!

1. What feed is best to ferment? Right now my hens are eating a typical layer pellet free choice. I’m open to mixing my own feed if it’s a cost effective/healthier method.

2. Do you feed fermented free choice, or give them a measured amount each day? I would assume if I started my chicks on fermented they would need free choice access until grown..but what about the adults?

3. Can waterfowl eat fermented feed? I also raise geese and will be adding call ducks this spring.

 

[FrostRanger]

1. Homemade feed is almost never cheaper and it can be tough to get right. Making homemade feed is not recommend in most situations because of that and how expensive it is. You can ferment pretty much any feed though

2. Most people offer a certain amount of fermented feed once or twice a day and have dry feed available free choice. A few do feed entirely fermented in which case you would experiment and see what amount leaves you with almost no leftovers. I do reccomend having dry food available though as chickens naturally eat a little bit throughout the day

3. Yes

 

[nuthatched]

Side bar, it 'saves on feed costs' because it swells the feed so they eat less. They're getting less nutrients though, since they're eating less. Like soaking a loaf of bread in water, it's bigger, but there's not more bread
The health benefits are usually marginal.

 

[Perris]

1. Wholegrain, pseudo-cereals, legumes, seeds.

2. I adjust the quantity given to the amount they want on any given day. If there are leftovers from breakfast, less for tea. If the breakfast bowls are spotless and there is one or more at the backdoor, I offer more. Their needs fluctuate, so I supply to suit.

3. I don't know, I don't do waterfowl.

I think the previous posters are just guessing about costs. I keep records. Last year I earned £164 from the sale of surplus eggs more than the amount I spent on feed for the whole flock, which includes a lot of males, broodies, and chicks. In 2024 it was £83. In 2023 it was £171. I don't do it to save money, I do it to know what my flock are eating and to ensure they are eating real food and not by-products and waste products and mystery feedstuffs.

 

[saysfaa]

1. ...Right now my hens are eating a typical layer pellet free choice. I’m open to mixing my own feed if it’s a cost effective/healthier method

Trying to mixing our own complete feed is not cost effective or healthier for the vast majority of us.

If "mixing our own" also includes appropriate foraging then it very likely is healthier. So, enough time in enough space with enough biome diversity on fertile enough soil, and so on. It might even be cost effective too, if one doesn't count all the costs of that much land.

It might be fair to not count all the costs of the land; some of it fills other purposes in our lives as well as feeding our chickens. On the other hand, it is pretty easy to see how significant is if one doesn't happen to already have it for those other purposes or the other purposes aren't compatible with feeding chickens.

2. Do you feed fermented free choice, or give them a measured amount each day?

When I did it, it was free choice.

I would assume if I started my chicks on fermented they would need free choice access until grown..but what about the adults?

I switched to and from dry, fermented, and soaked in various orders and with various timing for the chicks and the adults. No issues doing so.

I soaked more often than fermented because my main goal was to get the fines of their ground feed into a form they could eat more easily. Soaking did that and was more enjoyable for me than fermenting.

Edit to fix grammar

 

[FrostRanger]

I think the previous posters are just guessing about costs

Nope, looked into how much it would theoretically cost for me and it would be far more expensive, even more so because there are no grain mills nearby. Based on the prices of some wholesalers I found online (and what I can get locally if I can get it cheaper)

Corn: 26¢ per pound
Hard red winter wheat: 92¢ per pound
Oats: 82¢ per pound
Lentils: $1.62 per pound
Split peas: $1.25 per pound
Mealworms: $8 per pound

Using recipe #1 in this post https://theultimatehomestead.com/homemade-chicken-feed-diy-recipes/ (didn't look at the quality of the recipe, simply looked for one that at a glance looks half decent) the recipe works out $27.03 or $1.17 per pound (the recipe only makes 23lbs) which for 50lbs is $58.76. My current feed is about 23 bucks for 50lbs. The cost of course don't include shipping (again, most of this stuff is NOT sold locally here as we don't have any grain mills nearby), storage and quite frankly the cost of my time. Not to mention much of the ingredients are being sold in quantities of 50lbs which means those ingredients will make a lot of food. Given I only have 7 hens and they go through 50lbs in a bit under a month and half, much of the ingredients will go bad before I use them up, therefore in my case it makes no economic sense to make my own feed. That is often the case even with people who do have local mills. Sure, their costs are lower than what mine would be but it's still more expensive than buying commercial feed. Commercial feed companies can buy huge quantities of ingredients in bulk which means lower cost per pound, whereas for the typical backyard keeper that's not practical