Soaked feed, and fermented feed - the switch!

[sarahsunshine]

Amazing!

So I realized that I hadn’t been feeding our chickens a full balanced diet, and found a whole bunch of information on soaked and fermented feed. So I immediately switched them over to a grower feed, with calcium available.

Yesterday morning I got a bucket and soaked some feed. Last night I fed it to them (only soaked), and they were ecstatic! The broilers emptied both their food bowls very quickly (15 minutes), so I gave them a refill, and the layers emptied their trough even faster for a refill as well. All this with a very contented clucking throughout! Music to my ears!

This morning, there were many HUGE, solid, and less stinky poops everywhere! I’m feeling bad that my chickens were all so constipated! Poor ladies and gents.

After just a 12 hour soak, there is a marked improvement in their digestive tract. Now, we will see in a couple days’ time how they will enjoy the fermented feed. I’m looking forward to it!

It also makes me really want to start fermenting and soaking the dog’s food, and my own, if it shows such an immediate and drastic improvement on their health!

 

[peckygirl]

So you put feed in water and soak it? My chicks have stinky runny poops. Maybe this will help!

 

[sarahsunshine]

I am new to chickens, but not to research! My minimal experience and much research says that soaking your feed helps digestion – even if it’s for as little as 8-12 hours. Even that minimal soaking helped with runny stinky poops.

However, fermenting the feed is a slightly longer (but not harder) process. Simply put, Put your feed in the water and soak it. At feeding time, strain out your feed to give your chickens, and top up your bucket with more dry feed and fresh non-chlorinated water (rain/well/filtered water). Keep a lid on it. By the time 3-5 days comes around, you will find that there is a sweet/sour fermenty smell to your bucket. This is GOOD. Keep it up. That’s all there is to it.

I can attest to the fact that we went away for the weekend and I was worried that the chickens would be very stinky when we got back because they hadn’t been moved in 3 days, and there wasn’t any smell (but lots of poop)! The poops were firm too – not hard. Just healthy!

Others use apple sider vinegar and a sugar (molasses, white sugar, apple juice) to get their fermentation going, but it isn’t necessary. Your grains should have enough carbohydrate in them anyway.

Here is a whole thread about it if you want more info: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/645057/fermented-feeds-anyone-using-them/80#post_11647038

 

[peckygirl]

Thanks so much! I'll be starting this tonight

 

[sarahsunshine]

I should have added, stir it whenever you get a chance - at least whenever you feed them and add new feed to the bucket to get the bacteria throughout the mixture. Try to add water about 2" above the feed (it will expand). You will get a foamy layer on top. This is good and should just be mixed in.

Also, if it smells moldy, DO NOT USE IT! Wash your bucket really well and start over.

Beekissed uses a two 5 gallon bucket in a bucket system. He has a bunch of small holes (3/32 or 7/64") in the inside bucket so he can pull up the 'seive' bucket and let it drain the good fermented seed out of the liquid and feed the mush to the chickens without the soup.

Others simply use seive. It depends how many chickens you are feeding at once.