I know that fermenting feed for my chickens is good for them. It is a great way to get more out of the feed. When I searched “how to ferment chicken feed”, all the instructions I saw online made it seem like it was too complicated. As a mom of four, four and under currently I have very little time. Last year I figured out how to ferment chicken feed easily so I am able to keep doing it even when my life is crazy.
Why Ferment Chicken Feed?
Fermented feed is like sourdough bread. It makes the nutrients more available to the chickens. Is saves money on feed.
Does it save money?
I have found that I go through a lot less feed when I ferment it, so yes. Not only do they eat less feed ( I think because they eat the finer ground part of the feed as well) but they seem to lay more eggs and in the warmer months this allows me to farm magots which is a great protein source for the chickens.
How to Ferment Chicken Feed
I used an old school hand crank cement mixer for ours, but this can be done in five gallon buckets. In our area the hand crank cement mixers sell at auction for around $50 but we had one already so ours was essentially free.
The nice thing about the cement mixer is that you can fit a whole 50 lbs. bag of feed in it at once. Fill your bucket or cement mixer with feed up to 2/3 of the way full. Next add water. Over time you will be able to eyeball it, but for 50 lbs. we find we need about 5 gallons of water.
It is best to let the water sit for a bit to soak into the feed before you mix it up. We mixed it up until all of the feed is wet but not sitting in standing water.
Let it sit for a few days either outside or inside if it is freezing out. Simply feed it to your chickens and watch them go crazy over it.
Usually we leave a little from the last batch in the mixer. So when we start the next one kind of like a sourdough starter. I will feed out of the mixer the same day I mix it up if I need the feed. I am not going for the perfect fermented feed, (I don’t have the time or energy for that) but I do what I can without going crazy at the same time.
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