A Change In Diet from dry to fermented, facts, myths and experience.

An excellent, realistic look at the practice.

Thank you. I feed a big plate of mash (not fermented) in the morning, and have dry crumble available with a plastic tray under it. A LOT ends up on the tray, so I dump the waste into the plate and add more water. Am now thinking of just wetting the dry crumble a bit to reduce waste. Those feeding pellets probably don’t have as much of a mess, but my local feed mill doesn’t have a pellet machine and I love the super fresh food I buy.

Your article was informative, very glad I am using wet mash and not going through the extra time to ferment.

Thoughtful read and interesting opinions. Never tried a fermented feed but you make me consider it.

Well thought out, excellent reasoning/critical thinking. How chicken digestive system works vs what happens with fermentation. No "You have to do it this way", but rather "I tried this this and this and this is why I'm doing this." "You decide for yourself". Thank You for taking the time to write it all out!

This is a great, down-to-earth article with intelligent thought about what it really does to feed the chickens fermented feed. I agree with you completely. They are made to eat rough food and don't need us to process it for them. Thank you for using your brain and saving me from going through all of that! haha I have had an issue with my hens not eating enough of the commercial feed which seems to have effected their egg production. Some eggs have been soft shelled or not made at all. They do love to 'eat out' and free range so much that they fill up on some less nutritious stuff in the field. I have settled on making a mash about 4 times a week so they will eat more of it at least once a day. Also, I made sure to keep a large pan of crushed oyster shells out for them to eat when they feel they need it. I hope it solves the issues. Time will tell.

As usual, @Shadrach entertains us with a wonderful balance of science, common sense, observation and humor. In my quest for overall flock health, I’ve been fermenting feed for a couple months, as well as offering dry. I recently discovered they are still fat, and my pullet recently ran so low on calcium, she started laying soft eggs, despite free choice oyster shell always being available. (Most of) my flock does eat fermented feed like an addict takes their substance of choice, BUT... with all the unanswered questions of the nutrition in my flock, I think I will eliminate this variable for now, or just offer it as an occasional treat. Thanks for helping me feel good about thst choice.

I enjoyed this article mostly because I enjoy it when people put their thinking caps on and use them. I do believe that fermentation helps to make nutrients more bioavailable, but only can say that with any confidence in fermented foods for people. I appreciate that you've undertaken some critical thought about this process for chickens.

I will likely give fermenting a try at some point but perhaps will consider it as an occasional thing rather than full time. Balance is usually the key to most things.

Enjoyed your writing style and sense of humor