Fermented feed vs crumbles/pellets

[ChaosMom]

I'm about ready to start calling it "yard-ranging."

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So my fiance and I bit the bullet and ordered 10 chicks from Mt Healthy Hatchery. (The hatch date and ship date is supposed to be May 28th, so we should get them around May 29th or 30th)
We want to feed a non-gmo and organic feed that wont break the budget. We looked into non-gmo, soy-free, organic but can't seem to find any that don't cost an arm and a leg. We figure with 10 chickens, we will go through approx 40# every 2 weeks.
Right now we're looking at the Nature's Best organic, non gmo feed (chick starter/grower crumbles and then the layer pellets) A 40# bag of chick feed is $32.99, 40# layer is $28.99 at our local Tractor Supply Co. That's about as expensive as we want/can go if we're going to have to get food approx every 2 weeks. My first question is, what seems to be everyone's go-to for organic non gmo food? And do your chickens prefer pellets or crumbles? I know chick food only comes in crumbles.
I've read many mixed reviews on fermented feed. I like the health benefits it seems to give, but does it really make chickens eat less/make the bag of food last longer? And does fermenting food have to be done with whole grains or can it be done with pellets and/or crumbles?
As far as whole grain goes, we can't afford to make our own mix right now. We've looked into pricing out all the grains we would need, and the up front cost just isn't feasible. (we are also currently in the process of buying a house and having to do a bunch of renovations on it, plus we are buying a shed to convert into a coop and a run for when the chickens are big enough to be outside. The hens wont be able to free range, but we're getting a 10 ft x 20 ft run for them, which will be in our fenced in yard, which they'll have access to whenever we are able to be outside to watch them.) Sorry kinda went off track there...
Anyway. We eventually want to mix our own feed, but that probably wont be able to happen until fall or next spring.

For now, I guess to sum it up, my questions are:
1) What commercially made non-gmo organic pellets/crumbles are your go-to's? Or does anyone know of any non-gmo organic whole grain mix that's available that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?
2) Is fermenting feed worth it, and can it be done with pellets/crumbles?
3) If we do ferment food, can/should it also be fed to chicks?
4) Is google accurate when it says 40# of feed will last 10 hens approximately 2 weeks?

I will add, as I said above, even though our girls wont technically be free range, they will still have a large run and they'll be allowed out in our fenced yard when we can be out there with them (it's a little over a third of an acre, with about 3/4 of that fenced in). We also plan on giving them fruits/veggies/scraps of whatever they can/will eat, as well as scratch and treats.
I know we still have time to get everything together/planned out, I just like to make sure I'm prepared well in advance and want to make sure I know what I'm doing before the girls come.
(I did have 3 hens years ago when I still lived with my parents, but at that time, I was under the impression that all they needed was a cheap layer pellet feed and oyster shell plus scratch. The girls always did amazing and were super healthy and I would get an average of 18 eggs per week from them, so I must've been doing something right. They did end up going to live on my brother's in-law's farm after about 8 months of having them, but only because I was moving out and my mom did not want them (she's scared of chickens) and I couldn't take them with me)

Sorry if this is kind of all thrown together and I'm hoping it makes sense (my brain tends to go a thousand different directions and I get off track. Like my grandpa would say, its like trying to herd squirrels)
Thanks in advance for any/all advice given!

First, you should ignore me. I'm just a voice on the internet.
Strongly encourage you to do your own research. When you do that research, you will almost certainly find the 2 best sources of methionine in the plant world. Come from soy meal and corn gluten meal. Both of those are relatively cheap. If you exclude those from your feed, you can still make a perfectly good organic feed. For your chickens, it will just be much more expensive. Unfortunately, organic soy and organic corn aren't produced in huge quantity. So even using those products, you will still find that organic thing feed is uniformly more expensive, then non-organic.

unfortunately, there are a number of organic feeds out there. Who's advertising is aimed at those who may not have much knowledge of how best to feed chickens or what their needs nutritionally might be? Those feeds tend to have been. Buzzwords like no corn, no soy. And as result, tend to be nutritionally inferior to similar products at similar price point

fermenting feed makes some things more bioavailable. Other things less bio available. How much it helps control feed cost? S depends entirely on whether the things being made more bio. Available, are things your birds actually need or not period my own experience is that fermenting. Resulted in cost savings very close to what I got from simply feeding wet mesh, about 10%, which is roughly the same as you get when you switch from crumble to pellet period entirely because the feed tends to clump into a mechanically, larger which the birds are more likely to pick up when they spill it. Period others have had better results period again. Depends upon what you're fermenting how you're fermenting and whether or not the things made more bio available are, in fact, the things your birds need

These are all really common questions here on b y c.Welcome to the forums