Fermented feed - Getting started

This quick guide will get you started.

Benefits

⁃ Egg production increases

⁃ Chickens stay healthier

⁃ Feed costs go down

1. Dechlorinate some water - Put some water in a bucket, and place it somewhere with a loose fitting cover so that the chlorine can evaporate. It should be safe in 24 hours, but I let mine sit longer than that to make sure. If you have a non chlorinated water source (i.e. a well), you can skip this step.

2. Add the feed - Put an entire day’s worth of feed in another container that has an airtight-ish lid. Make sure you have plenty of space leftover for the water you will add!

3. Add water - Pour dechlorinated over the feed until it is completely covered and put on the lid. It is normal for some bits to float to the top. Save the rest of the water to use later.

4. Wait three days - Place the feed bucket in a room temperature location for three days. Stir your feed at least once a day. When necessary, use the leftover water to keep the feed submerged.

5. Serve! - Strain off excess liquid and feed.

Things to know

1. Smell - Get into the habit of smelling your feed each time you open the lid. That will get you used to bad versus good smells. Smell the feed before serving, too. It should have a sickly sweet smell. Rotten or alcoholic smells means things have gone bad. If it’s questionable, get a second opinion or throw it out!

2. Observe - Watch your chickens closely for a few days to make sure all is well. To get them to switchto fermented, you may have to completely stop giving them dry food for a few days.

3. Determine impact - Make sure you’re not just simply wasting time and making your life harder for nothing. Are your chickens eating and healthy? Have your feed costs really gone down? Are you producing more eggs? Try to figure out how much your chickens really eat per day and compare that to your egg yield.

4. You can use the strained liquid to “start” a new batch. It saves on fermentation time by a day or more. This increases your risk of taint, so be super careful that it smells right!

5. Come up with a system. I keep three water buckets and three feed buckets in rotation to always have feed somewhere in the fermentation process.

If you have had fermented feed successes or failures please share with everyone in the comments.

Good luck and happy farming!

NRR