Trying to increase food benefit and keep cost low

[LexsPeeps]

Thank you, that was very beneficial knowledge. Are oats and wheat good for fermenting? Is wheat bran a good alternative to wheat?

 

[LexsPeeps]

What would you consider the optimum?

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you, that was very beneficial knowledge. Are oats and wheat good for fermenting? Is wheat bran a good alternative to wheat?

wheat bran does have a fair amount of protein, and fat, as well as being a good source of iron. To my knowledge chickens don't need iron. However, the cost is prohibitive if using it as a chicken feed, IMO.

What would you consider the optimum?

Plain old layer feed, starter feed, or multi flock. You might be able to find either of these formulations as a mash, which will save a few pennies, and work well in fermenting.

You could also check around and see if there are any small breweries near you. You could get spent grains to ADD to your feed. Might be a good idea to look at nutritional info re: spent grains if you go that route. You'd be ok with adding 10%, IMO. Down side of spent grains is that they spoil quickly, so would need to be dried (risky if you don't get them dry enough), used immediately, or frozen. I got a couple of buckets of spent grains one winter, and the flock loved them.

 

[LexsPeeps]

Thank you so much, I can't tell you how much this has helped, I think it would be better to stop trying to add things and just ferment what already complete in itself. I called a local mill and they carry a 16% mash that is so much less expensive than what we had been buying at TSC.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good for you. No mills any where near me, maybe not even a single mill in my state. Mash is cheaper, and if that's available, that's what I'd do.

 

[LexsPeeps]

Wow, thats crazy. Luckily I live smack dab in the middle of distillery heaven, I will have to do some calling round and see what they charge on their spent mash.

 

[lazy gardener]

Don't pay for it. It's a by product, and they need to find ways to get rid of it. You should be able to get it free from small operations.

 

[LexsPeeps]

Hmmm I'm not sure how to go about doing that