My point is that the arithmetic on diluting food with water is unlikely to be straightforward because the water will not fill the crop to quite the same degree or for the same amount of time.
This is a good point, it would be interesting to have more understanding of water absorption, into the cellular tissue, through the digestion process.
Does the chicken drink the same amount whether the feed is hydrated before ingestion or not?
In the hottest part of summer they drink almost 5 gallons of water with the FF. They did not drink after eating.
no, my birds don't drink anything like the sort of figures I read for birds on dry feed. Molpet apparently finds likewise.
With the lightly fermented method, I serve the grain still quite "dry", draining excess liquid before feeding, and like Molpet, the remaining liquid in the bottom, goes to kick-start the next batch.
I have noticed that the chickens tend to drink more in the morning, before eating, then eat their breakfast and they definitely drink more in the hot summer months. During the really rainy spell from a couple of weeks ago, they drank even less as their foraging resources were drenched, but the air, while cool, is now quite dry and they have increased their water intake a little. (Still less than summer.)
I would imagine that the foraging birds also get a lot of water through vegetation and berries, even bugs, allowing them to regulate their digestion through genetic instinct. Where extremely confined birds rely solely on the care and knowledge (or assumptions) of their care takers and those with limited ranging, like mine have a mix of the two.
I have put a lot of faith in the Chickens ability to eat what they need, when they need it, which is why I am planting forage beds with grasses and chicken friendly herbs, that will also attract insects for them to hunt as well, so that when natural foraging is not as rich due to winter, they will still have fresh options. We are going to use poly tunnels like little greenhouses, to help keep vegetation growing year round, and they will be able to walk through and get what they want/need.
