To soak or to ferment

[Chicks in VA]

For health reasons which is better?

 

[Cold-Blood]

For health reasons which is better?

Depends on if you want tipsy chickens, unless it is feed?

 

[Chicks in VA]

Depends on if you want tipsy chickens, unless it is feed?

What's a tipsy chicken Noah?

 

[Cold-Blood]

What's a tipsy chicken Noah?

Looney, drunk. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Chicks in VA]

Looney, drunk. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

do you have a real answer?

 

[Cold-Blood]

do you have a real answer?

Unfortunately not, but..
@Shadrach @Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There's probably benefits to either, you may want to research.

I can't say what they are, I'm not a feed guru and just usually stick to what works for me.
I don't ferment, but I have on occasion, soaked feed. As for any difference in feeding soaked vs. dry, I did not see much difference in health. A little less waste/spillage with soaked but moving around and/or changing up feed set-ups can remedy some spillage.

Someone like @NatJ may be able to offer some insight.

I don't see any problems with fermenting feed as long as you don't let it go rancid. I just haven't taken the time to mess around with it.

 

[Chicks in VA]

There's probably benefits to either, you may want to research.

I can't say what they are, I'm not a feed guru and just usually stick to what works for me.
I don't ferment, but I have on occasion, soaked feed. As for any difference in feeding soaked vs. dry, I did not see much difference in health. A little less waste/spillage with soaked but moving around and/or changing up feed set-ups can remedy some spillage.

Someone like @NatJ may be able to offer some insight.

I don't see any problems with fermenting feed as long as you don't let it go rancid. I just haven't taken the time to mess around with it.

Thanks for the in-put

 

[Perris]

you may find this useful
https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/science-of-fermented-feed/

 

[NatJ]

I don't ferment, but I have on occasion, soaked feed. As for any difference in feeding soaked vs. dry, I did not see much difference in health. A little less waste/spillage with soaked but moving around and/or changing up feed set-ups can remedy some spillage.

Someone like @NatJ may be able to offer some insight.

I don't see any problems with fermenting feed as long as you don't let it go rancid. I just haven't taken the time to mess around with it.

That is almost exactly the same as my experience: I haven't tried fermenting feed, but I have given wet/soaked feed to chickens many times. I see reduced spilling and excited chickens with the wet feed, but I have not noticed any other benefits.

From what I have read about fermented feed, it makes some nutrients more available to the chickens (a small difference), and it may improve the gut health of the chickens (another small difference, which would not matter if they were fine, but might be useful if they were on the edge of having problems.) It also reduces spillage, and many people say their chickens like it, but that applies to any wet feed even if you don't ferment it.

For people feeding a whole-grain food, where the chickens tend to pick through and eat their favorite bits, making the food wet or fermented can help them eat it all, and is especially useful for keeping the powdered supplements with the grains instead of letting them fall to the bottom and get wasted. But if you use a pelleted or crumbled feed, that is not a concern anyway.

Like @Wyorp Rock I see no problems with giving some fermented feed, but I haven't personally taken the time to mess around with it.