How and why you should make fermented feed for your wallet and your hens.

First, you’ll want to know what the heck fermented feed is. According to Linda of Garden Betty,

“In a nutshell, fermented chicken feed is probiotics for your chicken. It’s a wet mash (the chicken keeper’s term for moistened food) created by lactic acid fermentation (the same type of fermentation that occurs naturally in sauerkraut). Just like kraut, it contains all the bacteria that’s good for your gut: Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, and other beneficial bacteria and yeasts.”.

Linda provides a plethora of wonderful information in her post on fermented feed. She has a smaller set-up (3 chickens) and I’ve found that all methods slightly vary, but the end game is the same. Yummy, nutritional feed for your happy hens and roos.

In this guide:

• Why should you choose fermented feed?
• Detailed step-to-step list of descriptions for achieving fermented food
• The result of feeding my chickens fermented feed

Why Should You Choose Fermented Feed?

An average sized chicken is supposed to receive roughly 1/4lb of feed per day (or about 3/4 cup). A larger sized chicken is supposed to receive around 1/3 lbs or 1 cup of feed. If you buy a 50 lb bag of feed that means your feed bag has around 150-200 servings of feed going by the measurements above.

What if I told you that you could almost double those digits?

I have around 25 chooks who eat a cup of feed per chicken per day. That means, at 25 cups of feed per day, I was buying chicken feed every 6-8 days. I wanted to buy nicer feed but just could not afford to. “Generic” feed where I am is $12.99/50 lb bag and Organic, Non-GMO feed is $25.99 for a 40lb bag. It just wasn’t in my budget. Even though my flock roams all day with easy access to a field to forage and, in the summer, steal my muscadines before I even know they’re there, I still wanted to buy nicer feed.

Then I found The 104 Homestead‘s post on “Fermenting Chicken Feed: Less Money, More Nutrition“. I’m familiar with the fermenting process because I brew my own kombucha and I know the health benefits it can provide. The math seemed great and I loved that my chickens would get more nutrients from the generic feed I could afford to give them. Also, if it really did double the quantity of the feed, I could afford to start buying organic, Non-GMO feed! My last bag of generic feed (50 lbs) lasted me 20 days when I fermented the batches. That is over DOUBLE the lifespan of when I’m feeding dry pellets to the flock. My $12.99 bag turned into what felt like a “Buy One, Get One” offer. SCORE!

Here’s my process:

What You’ll Need:

1. Four 5 Gallon Buckets
2. 4 lids (Or you can use cheesecloth and a rubber band)
3. Hose or another clean water source
4. Bag of Feed
5. 3 Quart Feed Scoop (This equals 12 Cups)
6. Optional: Additives such as scratch grain, BOSS, etc.

***Note: These measurements are for 25 adult chickens. Adjust accordingly, of course, for your own numbers.***

• Day 1:
  1. Add your feed! I add one full scoop of feed to the bucket (3 Quarts/12 Cups). As seen below, my Day 1 bucket is labeled with the black lid. I don’t close the lid completely because you need air to achieve lacto-fermentation, which is what we’ll be achieving in this process.
  2. Add water. Your feed will almost immediately inflate, it’s pretty cool to watch. Make sure your water level is ABOVE the feed level. That means you should watch the feed the first few times around because you might need to add more water.
  3. Stir your bucket, put the lid on it, and come back at least once more that day to give it another quick stir and add water accordingly.
     • I add one scoop of 5 Grain Scratch on Day 1 in addition to the layer feed. My flock loves this!

• Day 2
  1. Stir Day 1 feed and add water if you need to. You should see little bubbles in your Day 1 bucket (which is on its second day of fermenting). This is a great sign that the Lacto-fermentation party has commenced!
  2. Grab your second bucket and repeat the three steps from Day 1. Add one full scoop of feed, cover with water, stir, and put a lid on it.
     • The original Day 1 bucket with the black lid is now a “Day 2” bucket so it scoots down to the right and gives its spot to the new Day 1 bucket.
     • Make sure you come back that day to stir your two buckets and add water accordingly.
• Day 3
  1. Repeat the steps from Day 1, but with a third bucket.
     • Your black lid bucket is now scooting down to the 3rd spot on the table.
  2. Stir all your buckets well. You might see foam or a film on top that might look like mold, but more than likely is not mold. If your feed smells sweet like yeasty dough, has been covered with water, and is bubbling when stirred, you shouldn’t have mold.
  3. Optional: On Day 3 I add 1 cup of BOSS to my original Day 1 bucket. For me, this is the bucket that has had a black lid. Stir it in!
• Day 4
  1. Grab your fourth bucket and repeat the steps from Day 1.
  2. Stir all of your buckets and add water accordingly.
  3. Your original Day 1 bucket with the black lid is finally ready to go out to the chickens! It should be at the end of the row with three “red lid” buckets to its left. Stir it up well and serve.
  4. Once your black lid bucket is empty from serving it to the flock, star the process over.

What happened when I started serving fermented feed?

Well, besides saving a fair amount of money…

• My chickens’ poo smelled less wrank.
• Egg production became a bit more steady.
• There was a significant drop in wasted food. This also contributes to saving the moolah.
• Important Notes
  • When starting your very first batch of fermented feed, you won’t have a bucket ready for the first 3 days. On the fourth day, you will have your first ever ready bucket and every day after that you’ll have a ready bucket. (As long as you continue this cycle, of course).
  • On Day 5 you’ll be feeding your chickens your original “Day 2” bucket.
  • Day 6 you’ll feed the original “Day 3” bucket.
  • Then Day 7 you’ll feed your original “Day 4” bucket.
  • Finally, Day 8 you’ve successfully made it through your first original buckets.
  • With the four bucket method, you should have a perfectly fermented bucket of feed every four days.
  • Lacto-fermentation takes around 3-5 days. I’ve read you can serve the feed on the third day. For me, it works best serving it on the fourth day so my bucket gets a solid 3 days of fermentation.
  • You can add various additives to your feed. Beans, peas, seasonal grains, etc. I’ll experiment with this once winter rolls around and the Florida vegetation/jungle dies down a bit.
  • By my fourth day of fermenting, the 12 Cups of feed I added to the bucket has turned into 24 cups of fermented feed. Some days my chickens eat every bit of the feed, other days they decide to forage more. Adjust accordingly.
  • I can’t stress how important water levels and stirring/aerating your batches are.

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