Fermenting for the Flock: The Advantages and How-Tos of Fermented Chicken Feed

What is Fermented Chicken Feed?

Chicken feed is combined with cool water to form a wet mash where naturally occurring lactobacillus and healthy yeasts can thrive!

Over the course of fermentation, lactobacillus converts starch and sugar into lactic acid bacteria which encourages probiotic growth, prevents harmful bacteria from growing and lowers the pH.

You can ferment whole grain feed, pellets, or crumbles. The only adjustment you will have to make is how much water your feed takes to keep covered by 1/2″.

Benefits of Fermented Chicken Feed

If your number one reason for raising egg layers is to provide as high of quality complete protein as you can, you should try fermenting your feed. By soaking and fermenting the feed, the phytic acid that naturally occurs in grains and legumes (and reduces the absorption of nutrients) dissipates and allows more nutrients to be absorbed by the hen. This means that your hens can absorb more nutrients from the feed, requiring less feed over all and a more nutritious egg for you.

Not to mention that soaked feed increases in volume keeping our hens fuller longer and decreasing their overall intake.

Here in the high desert we can see snow, thunderstorms, and 100 degree weather all in one day! Every night as the sun goes down the temperature drops 30-40 degrees! That takes its toll on the body! Daily probiotics from the fermented feed increases their gut health giving them the building blocks for a robust immune system.

Increased nutrient absorption and better gut health means a higher quality eggs with thick, sturdy shells. Soft shelled eggs can lead to life threatening issues and infections, bad for the bird, and don’t store as well, bad for you.