Absolutely ALL about Fermented Feed for chickens, plus extra fascinating facts about fermentation
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- When I began to investigate fermented feed with chickens, I found out all kinds of fascinating things about fermentation and poultry nutrition. So, does fermenting chicken feed save money? Is it good for your chickens? What are the benefits, and how to do it?
This long video evaluates many aspects of fermented feed for chickens, including what kind of container to use (glass, stainless steel or food-grade plastic), how to remove chlorine from water, how to keep the good fermentation bacteria (Lactic Acid Bacteria) growing and avoid the spoilage bacteria (keep the feed below the liquid and the top covered loosely and don't stir).
As for benefits and disadvantages - Fermenting feed
- helps maintain a healthy microbiome and therefore the chickens' digestive and immune systems
- increases some water-soluble vitamins including most of the B vitamins
- decreases some essential amino acids including lysine (which is essential for chickens)
- helps hens make stronger egg shells (but probably no more eggs)
- decreases the amount of chicken poop, but makes it runnier
- can be a good way to make use of powder at the bottom of your bag of pellets
- chickens might eat about 10% less feed, so saving you a little money
- is easy to do but not very precise - you might don't know which bugs will colonise your ferment
- is not good for baby chicks (it stunts their growth)
- if fed nothing else but fermented feed, chickens might get more aggressive towards their flock mates and might lose feather condition.
For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
/ chickensinmygarden
Catch up with me on Facebook / chickensinmygarden
Or if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page / myplentifulgarden
We all want to do right by our feathery friends, but a lot of backyard chicken information is anecdotal. It's extremely helpful to have solid evidence-based videos like this to help me make better decisions for my favorite gang of fluff-butts (and to save time doing the research on my own). Even if the length makes some people bounce off of this video, I wanted to let you know that I think it's brilliant and I really appreciate it. Thanks!
Thank you, thank you Vincent Darius. That is exactly why I make videos like this. (Well, that and the fact that I just find stuff so fascinating that I want to share it) 🙂
Best wishes to you and your "fluff-butts" 😀
Fluff-butts, LOL , brilliant 👍
Chickens are domesticated forest birds. Best to follow is how they would do out in nature. Occasional heavy rains
would knock down plants with seeds on them and much of that would soak in the water. Chickens would eat them
and get the benefits that science has been finding out. So, my opinion is that the practice of fermentation is good
once in a while, but not as their sole means of getting nutrition. Balance my friends, balance... moderation in all things.
Excellent presentation, most comprehensive video on fermentation feeding for chickens I've seen yet. (and for other
animals too!)
Absolutely! Balance! I wish I had said that 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you so much.
So informative and interesting, love your calm presentation.. keep on - your channel is a fountain of knowledge for chicken lovers.. thanks again - from israel..
Thank YOU! It was such a long video I wondered whether anyone would actually bother to watch it all.
"how to get chickens drunk" 😂
That is a longer fermentation period. If u look at the amount of alcohol in kombucha you'll see the short fermentation period of feed is not presenting alcoholic food, unless perhaps your reusing a lot of starter and not adjusting your fermentation time. But even then it would more likely be negligible.
Very interesting, I had thought that it should be a treat rather than the norm. Thank you for all the technical stuff as I like to know the ins and outs. LOL
Thank you, I'm glad you found it interesting
A few notes (as a chemist). Chloroamines are formed when the chlorination water reacts with free amino acids and ammonia... Usually not added to water supplies for disinfection, except monochloramine which is an inorganic (no carbon) chloramine... From Wikipedia (easy to check) - "Chloramines are formed by reaction of chlorine used to disinfect swimming pools with ammonia and urea introduced into the pools by human perspiration, saliva, mucus, urine, and other biologic substances, and by insects and other pests.[8] Chloramines, especially trichloramine, are responsible for most of the "chlorine smell" of pools, as well as for skin, eye, and respiratory irritation.[9]"
Using charcoal (even burned wood), or even a finger, but not most plastics) will absorb most chlorination very quickly... into the charcoal or finger... the latter is not advised, but anyone who bathes, drinks or swims in chlorinated water does worse every day.
Thank you 🙂
What is the FINGER? Asking from Poland with a thank you!
@@Spark_Iskra_z_Polski You have 4 fingers and a thumb on each hand... There is an experiment you can do where you get two cups of chlorinated drinking water. Stick you finger in one for 30 seconds to a minute. Then add swimming pool chlorine testing solution to both cups. The one that you did not put your finger in will turn color to indicte the chlorine. The one you did stick your finger in, will not change color or will have a much weaker color change, indiicating that most of the chlorination was removed.
Glad this was asked. I did not know it was actually a real process.
Quality information. No hype. Well researched. Can't believe how thorough this was. Liked and subscribed.
Thank you so much 🙂
I hope you check out some of my other videos
Amazing video! Thank you very much for being the only person on CZcams to provide Science savvy contents about chickens and proper research, studies and facts about them 😊🙏. It's very interesting!
Thank you. I never know whether people might find it too difficult to watch a long science-heavy video, so I appreciate hearing that you liked it 🙂
I alternate dry and the fermented feeds and the significant difference is that there is no wastage when you feed them fermented feeds
Thank you for that
Top notch chicken content! Thank you Chicken Lady!
Thank you Smart Fella!
Thank you for such a detailed explanation of fermenting chicken feed. And for the time it took you to research all of this information. I've been curious as to whether or not it really worked. I loved your experiments, and I've come to the conclusion after watching this video that it's not worth it. I've followed your advice thus far as we are new chicken owners, and it brings me joy to say that our girls are happy, healthy, and are laying beautiful, delicious eggs. So thank you for all your help.
Thank you for that. I did wonder whether this video might be just too long and involved. It's just that I find learning stuff is so fascinating that I want to squeeze everything in!
I'm glad your chickens are doing well. They don't ask for much, do they, and they bring so much joy! (And eggs!!!) 😀
Your conclusion was pretty spot on. I found that I wasn’t willing to give up the high protein content of the layer pellet nor did I want to serve the chickens porridge so I have started fermenting the scratch grain and cracked corn feeds I would add to the pellets to feed them daily. I ferment just what they need daily and at feeding time I mix it loosely with the pellets. They are eating everything now and not rejecting the pellets in favor of the grain as much as before.
Thank you. It's great to hear that. I think that often our chickens know best 🐥
Have a great day!
Another great video. New to chickens but made the journey to raw-feeding dogs and cats 20 years ago. I know you need a deep understanding when you take full responsibility for the nutritional needs of your animals. I listened to the entire video. Thank you for being so thorough. I will be using fermented feed only for a snack. Not for the primary food source.
"You need a deep understanding when you take full responsibility for the nutritional needs of your animals" - You put it so wonderfully! I wish I had said that!
Thanks for watching.
Have a great day 🙂
Thank you for doing all the research for us and putting together this video. This information helps me make a more informative decision.
My hens prefer my fermented feed over their pellet feed. I buy the yummiest pellet feed that I think is best but I also ferment not only grains in the mix but split peas, corn, flax, various other seeds, etc. So both are top notch. When I bring the ferment they go crazy for it. When I bring the pellets, they are so disappointed. I do ferment every other day. I wonder if I should decrease it now though. I’ll have to start looking at their feathers, poo, and behavior.
My goodness, that sounds yummy! No wonder they like it 🙂
Very informative! Thank you.
Thank you. And thanks for watching 🙂
You do excellent research. Totally awesome. Dilligence pays off. Keep up the good work
Thank you. I just have this burning curiosity to know and understand. And then I think it's so interesting I just want to share 🙂
Good research. Thanks for doing the work. 👍
You're welcome! I always want to know details 🙂
Always nice to have your take on these things! I've watched a quite few videoes about fermentation the last few years, and seen all these claims before, but none of the videoes did any fact-checking... Fermented feed as part of the treats seems like a good suggestion, hopefully getting all the benefits without overdoing it and getting the negatives :)
Exactly my conclusion! I enjoy a bit of culture (yoghurt, sauerkraut, etc) occasionally too.
We are learning a lot about the importance of our relationship with the microbiota that live in our bodies.
Thank you so much! Eggcellent video as always🥰
Aww, shucks, thanks 😊
Thank you!
Thanks for watching 🙂
Extremely well done presentation! Thank you.
Thank you. Have a great day 🙂
Great video. Watched the whole thing.
Thank you so much 🙂
Thank you for the information you're just awesome.
Thanks for watching 🙂
This is my new favorite channel to follow ❤
Wow! Thank you so much!
Thank you, there are many short videos that basically give only the same basic information. I appreciate a more in depth highly informative video like yours. Thank you !! 😊
Thank you. I'm glad to hear it 🙂
Excellent video with very useful tips
Thank you. Thanks for watching 🙂
Awesome info 😊👍🏻
Thank you so much 😊
This was very informative video. Thanks for doing the research 🧐
You're welcome. Thanks for watching 🙂
I could listen to her all day. She could talk about anything, it doesn't matter.
Aww, shucks ☺
This is an incredibly well made educational video! I've learned so much. More then any other video I have seen about fermenting chicken feed.
Thank you!
Thank you so much. I do tend to do a "deep dive" into any subject I want to learn about, and of course I then want to share it 🙂
Thank you SO much for this very informative video. It answered most of my questions and apprehensions about fermented feed for my 6 chickens.
That's great to hear. Best wishes to you and your chickens 🙂
Thank you very much for the qualified and scientiffically supported data, a lot is said about this topic but with no bases. Your videos really make a big difference! Greets from Argentina
Greetings to you in Argentina. And thanks for the compliment 🙂
Thank you for this comprehensive video on creating and feeding fermented feed to your chickens.
Due to a mixup with orders, I received and opened an incorrect bag of mealworm feed - too small. Decided to try fermenting this for my hens as an additional treat. Easy to do and they love it.
Excellent!
Actually I didn't even know mealworm feed was a thing! I just use the powdery crumbs at the bottom of the chicken feed bag 😀
Thank you very interesting 👍🐓your chickens are beautiful and healthy 🐔💕
Thank you. And thanks for watching.
Have a great day 🙂
Love your video 🥰, just note that bpa free plastic is only replaced by another chemical that they twitch enough but just as bad. It's not researched yet for side effects
Yes indeed - BPS and BPF are molecularly similar to BPA and likely to have similar actions in the body.
Wowoo!! I have been fermenting my chicken and pig feed from the time I keeped pecking duck, who gave me abonal egg sized and toò many eggs/ week through out the year.
Absolutely love your research, evidence and science here. I've watched so many of those 'fermented feed will change your life' videos and really wanted to know some truths based on evidence. This is such a well balanced lot of info with pro's and cons. Thank you from the U.K.
Thank you 🙂 And greetings to you in the UK. I hope the weather is not being too unkind to you and your chickens
Chickens are tip-top with your ventilation video. We are wearing plastic trousers to walk a dog, chickens are fine. Thank you for all your gentle wisdom based on evidence. :)
Thanks for the information, I enjoyed the detail. I casually 36:45 heard about feeding soaked grains but I thought you were supposed to grow the seeds (like a chia pet) first. I do this in the winter and they like like the seeds at various stages of sprouting and even growing into a chunk of sod. I rinse and drain the seeds every day or they get kinda spoiled looking which I suppose is the fermentation happening. I use water right out of the tap, it probably has some chlorine in it. My chickens love their breakfast serving of homemade plain yogurt and kefir and always eat it all up. I think it is cute to see them wipe their beaks after yogurt.
That sounds great. I'm sure your chickens enjoy the lavish catering you serve them 🙂
Awesome vid. I don't bother with fermenting seed..., I do germinate whole wheat and after 4 to 5 days it has more than doubled (nearly tripled in size. I use a paint spray can lid as my measure, 1 scoop per container.). I use 2 x 500mm yogurt containers, (1 inside the other) holes in the bottom of the inside one. After soaking overnight I remove the internal container to drain, fill it with clean water and allow to drain again..., repeating everyday till I feed it to the chickens. (It doesn't go back into the soaking container after the overnight soak). My chickens go crazy for it, I have been doing this for nearly 2 years and have never found any problems. They get this "nearly" everyday as a treat in the evening. I definately can see the difference between the eggs that have been fed the grain to those that haven't. I don't feed this to anything that is not of laying age.
Thank you. That sounds like a great system. 🙂
I loved your video. Subscribed. Appreciate how much work you put in it. I’m sure the others are the same
Thank you so much! And welcome 🙂🐥🐥🐥
You are AWESOME ❤
Oh, thank you so much!
@@chickensinmygarden Greetings from Egypt 🌹 I'm Ahmed .. I am a Gynecologist and I love 🐔
Greetings from New Zealand 🙂
Great video, thanks 😊 I mixed live yogurt with my feed a few times a week to improve gut health. I also feed sprouted seeds beans and peas as treats
I bet they love those! 🙂
I've recently started fermenting chicken feed. The chickens love it and there is much less waste. I just started adding sprouted lentils. The chickens are happy so far as am I. The experiment will continue. I suspect that a lot of the variation in results that is seen is due to factors such as the feed mix.
Thanks for that, it's great to hear 🙂
In Japan some create extremly cheap but quiet good fermented chicken feed with rice bran, soil (good compost soil or forest soil), kitchen garbage ( vegetable and fruits) and a little of charcoal.
Great video!!!! I tried fermentation one week...with a 24 hr batch and a 3 day long batch. Lije the kady who observed cannabalism in her hens, I found that the roosters in my rooster-rescue yard which are normally very amenable, amicable, and kind to one another, turned into aggressive, nasty flocking roosters! So I would conclude there is a bacterial or yeast fermentation "product" that induces anger or at least irritability! It needs researching because this finding may apply to human behavior as well! Nasty spouse or boss? "What's in YOUR gut?"
Thanks for that. I'm not aware of any specific research into fermented food and irritability but there have certainly been many studies lately linking our (human) gut microbiota with moods and mental health, like this one
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665945X22000171
I tried it and found after just a few weeks that their egg shells had become quite thin. So am thinking that you are correct in that fermented grains should be a treat and not the main part of their diet.
I make my own chicken feed from organic grains and seeds... No access to organic pellets where I live. I mix ingredients according to chicken age group (for protein or omegas) and grain availability. I also create a special mix for fermenting and the chickens love it. Use 2 or 3 times a week in addition to their daily salads, food scraps, foraging and regular feed.
I'd love to hear more about mixing your own feed. I've been looking into it lately and it seems to be very complicated to take account of the huge number of different nutrients that we know chickens need. Do you think it's that wide variety of grains, seeds, salads, scraps and foraging etc that helps balance their diet?
@@chickensinmygarden I started because I wanted my hens to have the best health possible which translates into great eggs. On their first year, 4 creole hens laid 1015 eggs... Yes, my daughtet and I keep track of every hen each year in an excel file. We now have 14 hens and 3 roosters in 3 coops.
Since I can get oat groats, peas, barley, wheat, corn, quinoa, lentils, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flax, sesame, etc., I made an excel for ingredients and play around the crude protein content according to age or time of year. I also found an old pdf book about chicken feed and nutritiinal content. They get salads every morning, forage in the afternoons and get treats available, whether its dried fish, fruits from the garden, worms, etc.
Ah, another chicken Excel fanatic like me 🙂
Do you try to keep track of the various amino acids, or just a couple of critical ones (like lysine and methionine) or just the crude protein?
And do you control the calcium and phosphorus balance, or just keep the phosphorus levels up and offer free serve calcium?
And when you say "according to the time of year" is that about what the chickens need or varying availability of ingredients?
And what breeds are your chickens now? All still Creole? (Or is that Crele? I don't think I know Creole chickens)
And do your roosters eat the same as the hens?
Oh I have so many questions!
I just know it's complicated and about the only way to do it is how you do - with great records and careful observation of your flock over many years.
@@chickensinmygarden We are located in the Peruvian Andes at 3000masl. We only have 2 main seasons: dry and wet. Dry season goes from May to November with temperatures ranging from -3°C to 22°C. The frost months during this time go from May to August and temperatures go lower. Sun comes up behind our mountains at about 9am and goes down at 3pm. During the rainy season sun rises at 5am and sets after 6pm and tempos go from 5°C to over 25°C with very hot sensation. The awesome thing about the Andes is that if it is horrible hot out in the sun you sit in the shade and magically get cool. The wonder of the mountains!
So yes, according to the time of year I play with their meals, adding extra fat or carbohydrates as well as protein. Also, if I can get organic soy from the Amazon Rainforest or dried fish from the lagoons, I will add that too. Seaweed from the highland lagoons are also a treat full of nutrients.
I guess, if we need a colorful and varied diet, so do them. So if it is hot and I can get watermelon, that's it. And if it is cold, I will make boiled oat groats and add slices of bananas, cayenne pepper and Brazil nuts.
I do keep more track of the protein content as well as fiber, fat (raw peanuts or sesame seeds) and basic vitamins for a healthy immune system. Phosphorus they get in meat, fish and soy. Lysine and Methionine I consider in their "grain feed" with pumpkin seeds, quinoa or amaranth, meat or lentils as well as eggs. The fermented feed comes to my aid there... Also, I give the homeopathic Schuessler cell sats. I know, I know. They love them.
Herbs and vegetables are a must. Things like lovage, oregano, parsley, lavender, chamomile, echinacea and fennel or dill. They eat tagetes, oses, chysanthemums and sweet alyssum or mints when foraging. Whatever we can give them from the garden goes, such as berries, swiss chard, sunflowers, carrots, beets, etc.
I give them calcium in the form of egg shells and oyster shell free of choice. Also add a vitamin cocktail now and then, specially of the B vitamins and D3/K2 and C if we have too many wet and dark days in a row.
We call our "criollas" Creole. Mixed breeds basically to the point you can see traits of different breeds. We also have Araucanas, Ameraucanas, Silkies, Paduanas, Sebright, Bantam Cochin and some new F1 mix of Ameraucana and Bantam Cochins (gorgeous).
The roosters eat the same thing as the hens, but if you keep an eye on them, they prefer seeds and greens and love foraging for their ladies. They do eat less.
I studied for over a year before we had enough to build a coop and run and started in 2020. I use homeopathy and aromatherapy with them if something arises with their health. I also use non-traditional methods to care for them such as oregano oil, cupric sulfate, etc.
I figured out by studying that if I wanted healthy hens and delicious eggs for my family, I needed to cook for them as well as I cook for everybody else and I think it works.
I really enjoyed all the information you provided, thanks for devoting the time to produce the video full of information.
However I do think you should take a second look at the last study done on broiler chicks. Unless I'm reading it wrong, two seperate statements in the paper show the final stage of development is where overall health and size increased and seems to surpass the norm.
If overall development exceeds the usual average in the end, I wouldn't consider that stunted growth but delayed with a resulted much healthier gut biome.
I have to say, after my 14 chicks suffered a bout of pastybutt @ 4days old ,they were started on a supplement of fermented chick starter alongside the dry starter. Both feeds were given daily for the first 10 weeks of life. Now at 18 weeks old my dual purpose birds are definitely larger and just as healthy looking than my neighbors flock.
IMHO I believe the health benefits of periodically feeding fermented or raw organic/non GM food is as helpful to our livestock and pets as it is for us . But of course thats only my "old-timers" opinion , passed down to me from family oldtimers 😊
*thx again for the in depth look at fermented chicken feed and recent studies*
I think you're right - delayed rather than stunted.
And I do think that using fermented feed to introduce some healthy microbiota to the gut especially of young chicks reared in a "clean" environment is likely to be beneficial to their overall health.
My overall concern is with the hype that encourages people to feed a diet entirely of fermented but possibly low quality feed (just feed anything as long as it's fermented) in the expectation that the feed quantity and cost will be much lower.
I've never had chicks with pasty butt (possibly because I've never received shipped chicks) but I am beginning to understand how important it is to get a healthy microbiome established.
Thank you, and have a great day 🙂
I second that. I give some adult quail mix that I make (soaked grains for pigeons, ab 12 or more grain types), fermented/sour preserved vegetables and fruit, etc. And I can see that my quail chick and Runner Ducks are way bigger than their parents.
Sprouted grains are good. Sprouted wheat, brocolli, arugula, sunflower. My hens love them ontop of fresh chickory, dandelions and kale.
That sounds delicious! I wouldn't mind some myself 😀
It seems like anytime chickens are "eating less" their behavior gets bad. I am not very kind sometimes when I am extremely hangry. I can imagine it is the same for chickens. Wonderful video! I have heard alot of hubub about fermented feed. I just decided no, otherwise God would drop fermented feed down to the chickens naturally. :)
Good thought 🙂 I'm sure you never let your chickens get hangry!
@@chickensinmygarden True! haha. I bet you don't either. In fact I have had to put myself in time out a couple of times for feeding too many treats. :)
Great video, thank you,🐔
Thank you for watching and commenting. Have a great day 🙂
Great research. I was wondering what the pros and cons are as I was doing it last year. But doesn't seem like the results aren't worth the effort on a daily basis. Thanks!
Thank you. Good to hear from you
Thks you for this video,I didn't know they also provide antibiotics
It's probiotics rather than antibiotics, but anyway it does help fight the bad bugs and encourage the good bugs 🙂
Thanks for watching 🙂
@@chickensinmygarden ahhh yes thks for the correction 🤭🤭🤭
I have them on layers pellets and every now and then they get a bowl of fermented wheat and corn, they seem to like it, I havent noticed any negative effects. It may be because the layers pellets give them a balanced diet, they also free range on a large area and some fermented wheat and corn here and there are not enough to throw the balance off. I have also given it to baby chicks, I didn't know you can't, they seemed to like it too though they were also mostly on their chick starter, the fermented wheat and corn were just the snack. But after this video I guess I won't give it to the babies anymore, just to be on the safe side, you always learn something. :-/
I think you're right - it's fine as a treat and possibly beneficial for them.
Great informative well researched video! Thank you for your hard work and experienced take on fermented feed. A lot of other comments to this video are talking about sprouting grains or "Fodder". Maybe a good topic for another research video?
Thank you. Sprouting is another topic that I have yet to learn about. Good idea, thanks, I'll add it to my list. There are so many fascinating things about chickens that I will never run out of learning 🙂
Have a great day
@@chickensinmygarden I am wondering if you could address the topic of stress on chickens. I also heard that chickens have weak hearts. I had a hen live through a raccoon scare. She lost a handful of tail feathers but the skin was not broken. I postulate that this gave her a heart attack or somehow a weak heart. She died three months later, otherwise inexplicably. The last month she had fast respiration at times and her comb became very pale and gray. Otherwise her eating and behavior was normal. She was only 15 months old. How can chickens be as old as dinosaurs and fragile at the same time? ITS REALLY A TREAT ON THE DAYS YOU POST A NEW VIDEO.
Well if that hen was a human, we would certainly have been thinking she was having heart problems and then a heart attack. And sudden death from heart attack is well known in chickens. And a lot of chicken keepers have come across it, including myself. I should do a video about it.
But I don't know whether that would have any relationship to a fright weeks earlier.
Stress certainly has an effect on chickens (and humans) but most research is about long-term stress not a single incident.
Thank you for the reply, I guess it’s obvious I haven’t gotten over losing her. You are a real sweetheart 🎉
It feels so wrong when someone dies unexpectedly, not only sad but also unfair.
I made some but I was not successful, I think it was because I didn't understand the process well enough I was getting a lot of white stuff on top and it worried me and I gave it up ,I am going to try again thanks for the info
I'm glad you found it helpful 🙂
That white stuff is merely yeast. Just stir it in and feed it out.
I tried to give commercial fermented feed ( pellets) to ducks , but they did not like it. But did work OK for chicken
I know very well that it proves the protein leval
love your hens 😀 I want to know how old the hens will stop lay eggs and how do you deal with the hens that stop lay eggs thank you
Usually hens don't just stop, as long as they are healthy they will lay some eggs each year but fewer and fewer each year with more months of not laying each year.
For example a young heritage breed hen might lay most days for 10 months and then take a winter break for a few weeks. Then next year she might lay 4 or 5 eggs a week for 9 months then take a break for 2 months. Then aged three she might lay 3 or 4 eggs a week for 9 months then take a 3 months break. In her fourth year she might lay 3 eggs a week. And so on.
You might find this video helpful
czcams.com/video/pPUvDRfT71M/video.html
The hen in this video laid 20 eggs in her whole last year, but then never started laying again in the spring and she died of old age in the summer.
As to how I deal with them - I just appreciate them for their other talents - making chicken poop fertiliser for my garden, maybe as a broody hen, etc.
@@chickensinmygarden thank you very much for answer me it help a lot . So when breed how do you deal with the male chickens
Because I breed rare heritage breeds there is a demand for the males, so I can usually sell them or give them away. Otherwise I cull them. Some people will raise them to a good size and eat them but I don't eat chicken.
But a 8-month-old cockerel will be good eating, however an old hen will not be good eating unless stewed for a long time.
Good research thanks but what if I add molasses to the water?
I was wondering why you would want to, but I see by your second comment that it's about speed.
The speed of the reaction is mostly controlled by temperature and pH. The molasses can help keep the pH from getting super acid, so that might help.
Which seeds/grains would you recommend we ferment?
Pumpkin seeds are very good for chickens.
I need a large container for many chickens, what material should I use? . I have simple plastic and hard. If I put them in a shady place will there still be a problem?
I can't buy such a big glassware, what can I do?
You could try several small containers instead of one big one.
But why not just make a small batch? It's only for a treat, not a large part of their diet.
I make LAB for my garden. I’ve started using it on my skin. I make it with rice water & milk. Can I use my LAB in my chicken feed?
I'm not sure. Apart from anything else, chickens can't digest milk, although a little bit of milk doesn't hurt them.
- How many days before the fermented feed will be ready for use?
- can I can feed my day old with fermented feed?
- Can start using fermented feed from 2weeks?
Definitely do not feed fermented feed to day old chicks.
Even at 2 weeks I think they are too young. For best health and eventual best laying of eggs when they grow up I think they should eat specific chick crumble and pullet-grower pellets until point of lay.
I have a water filter
can u add molasses to the ferment? i think itd help w the process but i wanna know if its possible if someone tried it :)
while i am no expert i know LAB consumes sugar so that would feed the LAB some fermenting people add sugar or molasses
i do a fermentation of garlic in honey
You are supposed to stir the batch 1-2 times per day.
I mentioned that in the video - some people say to stir and others say not to stir. So I investigated what stirring might achieve.
Stirring would mix more air into the liquid. And since fermentation bacteria are anaerobic, they don't like oxygen, so stirring would be bad for them.
But I couldn't find anyone who explained why they thought stirring would be a good idea. You say to stir, so please tell me why stirring would be good, please? 🙂
After about 24 hours the feed started growing blueish green fuzz. Is this normal, is it ok to feed, is it mold. (It looks like mold).
Yes that certainly sounds like mould, and no it shouldn't happen because the lactic acid should make the mix too acid for fungi. Certainly don't feed the fungus to your chickens - not all fungi are toxic but some are. I suggest throwing it all in the compost and starting again, making sure all your equipment is clean and you keep it covered.
Ok, thank you. I don't know what went wrong. I have been doing this since March of 2024, I have gone through 2 bags of chicken scratch and this is the 3rd one. Also it is the first use from this bag of food. Used same brand of scratch and always used filtered water. It may be I may not have cleaned the jar good enough... Anyway thanks again for your help.
I do ferment feeds for my chicken but I add molasses to the water thinking sugar quickens the fermentation process
I'm not sure that molasses would make the fermentation quicker. It might start a little earlier because the sugars are already dissolved rather than being large starch molecules within the grains. But if you have added molasses to fermentation you probably know more about it than I do. Does it make it quicker?
When making beer or wine, the rate of fermentation would be governed by the numbers of yeast organisms and the temperature, not the sugar concentration, until the sugar is all used up and fermentation stops. But this is not yeast fermentation, which produces alcohol, this is fermentation by lactic acid bacteria, which produce acids.
There is quite a lot of literature about lactic acid fermentation using molasses but it all seems to be about making lactic acid or making feed for ruminants with a nutrient profile that minimises intestinal gases.
I use rain water 💧
That's the best 🙂
Imagine what it does for humans. ...🙂
such as... 🤔
balanced digestion, more bioavailability of minerals and vitamins...etc@@libertyisparamount1443
Can you feed to 3 week old chickens
I wouldn't. As I mentioned, some studies have indicated that it stunts their growth.
@@chickensinmygarden Ok Thank You
You can feed it to day old chicks. Been doing it since 2012 and absolutely NO issues, no stunted growth, nothing. My "study" has been longer running and more tested than any other as I've been using it on all ages, on dual purpose and meat bird chicks and all lived, thrived, grew to their normal size just like any on any other feed.
@prayerangel1 That's really helpful. Thank you 👍
Do chickens, in nature (if any) or naturally, ferment their food? No. I have never seen a chicken wet their grains and wait a few days to eat it. That's my simple conclusion. What I do is getting their grains wet the night before. Less waiste and they adore it!
😀 I don't think that "wait" is a concept that chickens associate with food!
But I can tell you from my ladies, they love to drag any grain that ever fell into a dirty puddle of water or go on a hunt for old grain that is rotting on the neighbor‘s fields after harvest (they are not allowed from my side but they think otherwise 🥴, the neighbor doesn’t care though😅). Is that nutritious? I don’t know but it seems to be very delicious to them 😂
@@chickensinmygardenI, in Poland, let the grains soak in water overnight, then I add vitamins, blackseed (czarnuszka) pellets, fermented liquud (beetroot, imbir, honey, pigva, apple, sometimes pellets from grains etc. But it is made like preserved cucumbers, ie covered in salty water and kept so for weeks). Sometimes I add carrots, chopped greens, fruit, oregano oil drops, garlic, onion, etc.
Mixed is served 2x daily to my quail and Indian Runners. Theh also get so called pigeons teet a mix of grit, shells and whatnot. No diseases.
Thank you for the video!
That sounds delicious enough for me to eat 🙂
Meats will give your chickens bigger eggs 🥚
Maybe they were more aggressive because they were drunk 😂
I think it was mentioned it wont make them drunk. It is a different kind if fermentation.
🤪 alcoholic
Just give them the hops from beer making or pop a draft. Way easier, how about give them some saur kraut? Brats to go with the beer. Pretzels for dessert and don't forget the yogurt kurd cheesecake.
To complicated. Just use top quality feed
You can hardly go go wrong with top quality feed 🙂
Omg...you didn't even know the BPA plastics? And you're teaching Nutrition and Chemistry. I studied both. Chickens lifespan is very short, but good idea to use farm BPA grade containers and not let them sit in the sun or weather.
@Michelle Pemula....She's NOT trying to be a teacher. She's merely trying to educate others on what SHE'S read. YOU are not an expert in all subjects no matter what you've studied and YOU don't know everything. No, everyone doesn't know what BPA is, just like you don't know everything about nutrition, chemistry, biology, science, chickens or life in general.
Thank you Uplift 🙂