Spent brewing grains for chickens

[Melky]

Will the hens get drunk?.

It’s essentially grains soaked in water. No alcohol and part of the brewery process but essentially barley soaked in water. See below.
https://www.hobbyfarms.com/how-to-use-brewers-waste-as-animal-feed-2/

 

[mayda@woodlandurbanfarm]

Will the hens get drunk?.

Nope. Spent grain is discarded before the yeast is added to the wort (liquid) to make beer. Spent grain is basically boiled grains. Low carb, high fiber, high protien.

 

[mayda@woodlandurbanfarm]

We have been feeding spent grain to our flocks for about 2 years and they go well on it. They pick out the bits they like and leave the rest of the fiber on the ground. (By the way, it makes a good mulch if spread out about 2 inches thick or less.) Nutritionally, brewer's spent grain have been boiled and drained to remove the sugars (carbs) and some nutrients go with it. What is left is high protein and fiber. We give our chickens free access to the spent grains, but make sure you also have some corn, fruit or commercial feed available to give them carbs. Also feeding greens, weeds, or vegetable and kitchen scraps helps diversify the ration. If your birds free or day range feeding spent grains will help you save on feed costs. We also feed it to laying hens and get good egg production but not optimal. It is best to give them access to a balanced layer feed and have oyster shell available as well, but feeding spent grain will help save you on feed costs. We have raised roosters (RIR, barred rocks, buff orpingtons) for meat after the 5th week solely on spent grain, corn, apples, organic veggies and greens. It can be done, the key is to diversify the diet. Feeding outdoors is most manageable because wet feeds are messy. Traditional dual-purpose breeds grow slowly, so be prepared to wait around 20 weeks for a 3.25 lb bird.

 

[ejtrout31]

A friend of mine uses brewers grain for her cows from the local brewery. She gets 2 tubs a week she said her cows love it I never thought about using it for chickens

 

[Timothy Menezes]

My chickens love it too. It's also a major ingredient in commercial chicken feed as well as many other animal feeds. I don't brew regularly enough for it to have any significant impact on our feed bill. Don't think the wife would buy off on frequent beer making sessions "for the sake of the chickens" lol

 

[Vata Raven]

For anyone interested in spent grains, here are a couple data chart about it.

fresh
https://www.feedtables.com/content/barley-distillers-grains-whisky-production-fresh

and dried
https://www.feedtables.com/content/barley-distillers-grains-dried

Dry them outside for a day or two to reduce the moisture, and then dry them in the oven at 250 to 275 to dry them out completely.

Drying them outside reduces the oven time by a lot. I think I cut the oven drying from 4 hours to an hour.

I am drying them out so I can load them into a PVC-type feeder. I plan to offer it alongside regular chicken feed, corn, whatever they eat while roaming in the yard, and treats like potatoes and bananas.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

For anyone interested in spent grains, here are a couple data chart about it.

fresh
https://www.feedtables.com/content/barley-distillers-grains-whisky-production-fresh

and dried
https://www.feedtables.com/content/barley-distillers-grains-dried

Dry them outside for a day or two to reduce the moisture, and then dry them in the oven at 250 to 275 to dry them out completely.

Drying them outside reduces the oven time by a lot. I think I cut the oven drying from 4 hours to an hour.

I am drying them out so I can load them into a PVC-type feeder. I plan to offer it alongside regular chicken feed, corn, whatever they eat while roaming in the yard, and treats like potatoes and bananas.

I usually take the damp grains from the bin and just put them in a freezer bag, and then break off a chunk to give the to girls. They love their spent grain. Our pigs love it too.

 

[Vata Raven]

I usually take the damp grains from the bin and just put them in a freezer bag, and then break off a chunk to give the to girls. They love their spent grain. Our pigs love it too.

I get them by the 5 gallon bucket, so freezing them isn't the best use of freezer space.

Heck, last week, I got... somewhere between 50 to 70 pounds of the stuff. The brewer left a 1/4 filled 50 gallon trash can, and I could barely lift it and get it into my compact hatchback.

They do like it fresh, too, and even a little ripe, but drying it is better for long-term storage for me.

I might try soaking it like oatmeal and see how they like it.