Spent grain

[tomofhb]

I just went to my local brewery and got a 5 gallon bucket of spent grain that they were going to throw away. My hens loved it! I'm going to keep doing this to lower my feed costs.

 

[Chicnextdoor84]

That's awesome!! I wish we had a local brewery!!

 

[iwiw60]

Holy cow!! I live just south of Central Oregon's huge micro-breweries...there's got to be 12-14 of them!! Is is safe to feed this to our hens?

 

[Nuggetirl]

I also live close to a bewery, I would be worried about the nutritional content as "spent grain" i'll be doing some research.

 

[iwiw60]

I also live close to a bewery, I would be worried about the nutritional content as "spent grain" i'll be doing some research.

Let me know what you find out. As for me, I wouldn't think of feeding it to them in "quantities" ... just as a treat supplement maybe.

 

[Nuggetirl]

"Brewing removes most of the carbohydrates, but leaves the protein behind. Good for chickens, even better for animals that can digest cellulose."

Make sure they don't have hops. (although apparently there's an OSU study about hops for antibiotics in chickens. Not dealing with that right now)

One guy gives his chicken all his spent grain, right after making it and they GORGE themselves and lay eggs like crazy.

If you don't plan on doing that, you'll need to dry it or it will go bad. Can also freeze instead of drying out.

I think it's totally fine, however it's not a complete food. Great for protein, not for anything else.

 

[Nuggetirl]

oh, and here's the place I found talking about it.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/does-spent-grain-make-good-chicken-feed-115219/index4.html

 

[Nuggetirl]

aha, also here.
"Brewers grains can be fed to poultry but the high fibre content and reduced protein digestibility tend to decrease their nutritional value and metabolizable energy compared to the original grain (Onifade et al., 1998). As a result, brewers grains are not well suited to the feeding of poultry with high energy requirements such as young broilers. They are better tolerated by older broilers and laying hens. Brewers grains are usually fed to poultry in dried form, as it is easier to store and more stable than the wet form (Onifade et al., 1998)."

from something specifically about feeding brewers grains to all types of animals. Great for cattle, but less digestible by chickens, but to decrease costs for fully grown chickens it should be fine.
http://www.feedipedia.org/node/74

 

[candy cable]

I use spent grain for all my animals and they love it! It's mostly barley and some wheat. I feed it wet and store it wet to stop the chemical reaction from causing mold. Sometimes the process of molding has started on top, but I scrap that off and give to the pigs. In my research, I have found that the grain is severely depleted of carbohydrates and sugars that is boiled and released to be used for beer. Hops and yeast are added to the water that is drained from the grain, not to the grain itself. The remaining grain has been broken down enough for easy absorbtion. It's high in fiber and protein. I feed it to horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and dogs (dog biscuits)! I have seen no ill effects. My piglets are huge this go round with the grain verses no grain from previous litters!

 

[kconley]

I use this as a treat for my hens! They love it! The only thing I suggest watching out for is mold. It's best to ditch it if spent grain starts smelly moldy.