Want to save money on your chicken feed? Want to use less feed and lower your feed costs? I have found that fermenting the chicken feed prior to feeding them their chicken food not only helps with the feed bill, but also helps with egg production, shell thickness and shell weight, less waste, gut health, immune system & digestive balance.
How to Start
The fermenting process is simple. With just a few easy steps you will have fermented grains. You start with your commercial feed, homemade chicken feed or scratch grains. I prefer to give my chickens an organic feed, but any feed will work.
What you will Need
Next depending on the size of your flock you will need a container for the fermentation process. I currently am using a gallon mason jar but depending on your flock size you can use a 5-gallon bucket or a plastic container with a lid. Whatever you choose I would recommend, if possible, to have it be BPA-free. As you do not want over time for the BPA to leach into your fermented feed
How to Start
You will fill your fermenting vessel with the chicken feed whole grains or your typical chicken pellets. Only fill about ½ full on the first go around until you figure out how much your feed expands. The first time I tried doing this I did not realize how much it would expand and I woke up the next morning with sour smelling feed all over my countertop. I would recommend filling your vessel with one third to one half full of the feed grains.
Now fill the vessel with fresh water. Depending on if you are using tap water or not your water might have added chlorine. If that is the case, you will need to let the water sit out for 24 hours and let the chlorine evaporate. You want to use dechlorinated water as we want the beneficial bacteria to grown and the idea behind adding chlorine to water is to prevent growth in the water.
Fill your vessel with enough water to cover the feed by a few inches of water. The feed will expand as it sits in the water so make sure your feed remains under the water. Leave at room temperature for 2-3 days and avoid direct sunlight. During this time as the feed expands check the water level to make sure the feed remains under the water line, if necessary, add additional water. The process of fermentation will start to take place.
Day Two of the Ferment
On the second or third day the surface of your liquid should start getting layer of bubbles along with inside the feed. This is a sign that the lactic acid bacteria are property working and good bacteria is developing.
Day Three of the Ferment
On the third day I typically drain off the water that has not been used. You can just dump it out or you can use it for your next batch. I typically use metal pie pans and poor it out in and feed it to my chickens. They absolutely love it!! I also love it because I know that their bodies are more able to aid in the absorption of nutrients along with, they will have better eggs with an increase egg weight.
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