Scratch and Peck Feed

[Bridebeliever]

I've been feeding my flock Scratch & Peck for months now and love it! They all look so healthy. I'm a newbie so I have never heard of fermenting. I'm very excited to try it! If it's healthier and also stretches the feed it sounds like a win win! Thanks everyone!

Your chickens are going to love it even more wet! Plus, you won't have any powdery waste! (And that powder has a lot of nutrients in it.)

 

[kdznurs]

How long does the fermented feed in the jar last? I just read up on the S&P website about it, but did not say how long it is good before having to change the whole mixture. Looks like you replace what you take and top the water off as well. When I give the mixture to my girls, can it stay in the pan all day and be okay? It does sound like they gobble it up though....

 

[paneubert]

How long does the fermented feed in the jar last? I just read up on the S&P website about it, but did not say how long it is good before having to change the whole mixture. Looks like you replace what you take and top the water off as well. When I give the mixture to my girls, can it stay in the pan all day and be okay? It does sound like they gobble it up though....

You do not need to ever totally refresh fermented feed. In fact, always having some old feed is a good thing since it vastly speeds up the fermenting of the new feed. Think of it like a sourdough starter/friendship bread. Those "starters" can be years and years old, with new material simply being added to replace what is removed. Now if you are unlucky and end up with a batch that goes bad.....like really bad....then yeah, you wash it all out and restart. But there are many folks who maintain large garbage cans all Spring-Autumn. They just occasionally replace what they take out. I personally use a 3 gallon bucket, and replace when I see there is about one or two days left in the bucket. I get it up to about 4 or 5 days of feed. So I am topping off every few days. But never washing out or starting over.

 

[Bridebeliever]

You do not need to ever totally refresh fermented feed. In fact, always having some old feed is a good thing since it vastly speeds up the fermenting of the new feed. Think of it like a sourdough starter/friendship bread. Those "starters" can be years and years old, with new material simply being added to replace what is removed. Now if you are unlucky and end up with a batch that goes bad.....like really bad....then yeah, you wash it all out and restart. But there are many folks who maintain large garbage cans all Spring-Autumn. They just occasionally replace what they take out. I personally use a 3 gallon bucket, and replace when I see there is about one or two days left in the bucket. I get it up to about 4 or 5 days of feed. So I am topping off every few days. But never washing out or starting over.

Ditto for me, that's exactly what I do. I've been doing it for nearly a year and have never had it go bad.

 

[Leigti]

I have been feeding this grant to my chickens for over a year and I really like it. I feed it fermented or wet, never dry. I like the fact that it is less processed and contains animal protein.

 

[nharbison0722]

At what age can I start giving this to my girls? They are about 6 weeks old now.
Thanks!

 

[Leigti]

At what age can I start giving this to my girls? They are about 6 weeks old now.
Thanks!

they have a grower feed that they say to start at eight weeks.

 

[AmandaMBG]

I don't know what went wrong but the first week I had scratch and peck I tried fermenting it. Omg did it turn into the most disgusting horrid vomit worthy soup of awful. I threw out the spoon I was using to stir it with it was so bad. It went bad in only 4 days and it was pretty much overnight. Maybe I will try it again this winter with glass jars if I can find them but the feed is so expensive I am paranoid to rush ruining more of it. I've just been feeding it dry then adding some water to the small amount of fines left over to get them to eat that.

You do not need to ever totally refresh fermented feed.  In fact, always having some old feed is a good thing since it vastly speeds up the fermenting of the new feed.  Think of it like a sourdough starter/friendship bread.  Those "starters" can be years and years old, with new material simply being added to replace what is removed.  Now if you are unlucky and end up with a batch that goes bad.....like really bad....then yeah, you wash it all out and restart.  But there are many folks who maintain large garbage cans all Spring-Autumn.  They just occasionally replace what they take out.  I personally use a 3 gallon bucket, and replace when I see there is about one or two days left in the bucket.  I get it up to about 4 or 5 days of feed.  So I am topping off every few days.  But never washing out or starting over. 

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've recently started fermenting my S&P feed (on grower formula right now) and it does get pretty tangy by day 3, so I don't let it go for too long. I'm sure it's fine past that point that but my nose is on the sensitive side and it does get pretty sludgy looking - no mold or anything though. I plan on doing batches of 3 days worth of feed at a time, though I do reuse most of the existing water with more filtered water as needed, as a good layer of water seems to keep the funk down.

Given their choice between fermented and dry, 3 of my 4 chickens seem to prefer fermented, 1 prefers dry but will still eat the fermented feed. Definitely notice less waste and much higher consumption of the fines/powder with the fermented.

 

[Lomasi]

So I have 10 in my flock. I used a 1 pound Folgers coffee can as their feed scoop. Right now they free range and get food scraps at night. I keep a hopper with about 4 pounds of feed in it in case they need extra. It lasts days so i know they are getting fed elsewhere. Question is, this winter. In NW Arkansas winters can be mild off and on. And I plan to let them roam at their leisure. But I know they won't get as much food free ranging. I'm not sure how much food to give them when they run out of free range. I plan to ferment for them. I read corn is good winter food to ferment bc they need the carbs. I want them to have enough but also don't want to spend too much or waste anything. I want them to be fat for winter but not unhealthy fat. If I was going to use a 1 pound coffee can to dip out their fermented food, how much should I give them per day?