Homesteading Hack: Ferment Your Chicken Feed

Chicken feed can get expensive. Especially the organic stuff.

Luckily, there is a way to make your feed go further, and that is by fermenting it before giving it before giving it to your chickens.

You don't need any special enzymes or additives to make it work? Just add water.

How to Chicken Feed?

(more on the "why" a bit further down)

1. Fill a container with dry feed, about one third full. I prefer 5 gallon buckets for their strong handles. I also prefer whole grain feed, or scratch that has all the same nutrients that the pellet feed would.

2. Cover the feed with water so that the bucket is 1/2 to 2/3 full. The feed will expand. The goal here is to keep it covered with a thin layer of water so that it stays moist and keeps the fermenting bacteria alive. My feed tends to expand from 1/3 to over 2/3 of a bucket full. That's where the cost savings come in.

3. Let the feed ferment for 3-ish days. The warmer the environment, the faster it will ferment. So if you keep it in a shed (as I do) and it's cold outside, you'll have a lead time of 5-6 days.

4. Feed it to your chickens in place of your usual dry feed. I put mine out in a shallow feed dish so it is guaranteed to stay moist, and so it doesn't go to waste getting mixed in with the soil. The goal, after all, is to be more efficient.

Bonus tip: To jumpstart the fermentation process for each new bucket you start, add a dollop of pre-fermented feed from another, older bucket.

Why Ferment Chicken Feed?

1. Use less feed, save money. Fermenting increases bioavailability, so feed goes further.

2. It improves chicken gut health. Same principle as for humans, or any other animal: better gut health makes for a holistically healthy body overall. Chickens will be less prone to disease, more energetic and will lay similarly life-giving eggs. This is the result of beneficial bacteria, which is able to live and thrive thanks to the fermentation process.

3. Harder egg shells. The natural result of improved calcium absorption.

4. More nutrient dense eggs. Again, the natural result of nutrient absorption.

Did I miss anything? Let me know!

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