Fermenting Feed for Your Chickens

Fermenting chicken is easy to do and your chickens will love it! Fermenting chicken feed will increase nutrients, improve digestion, enhance egg quality, and cut your feed bill costs.

Increases Nutrients and Improves Digestion

First and foremost fermenting chicken feed will make it soft and easier for your chickens to digest. All grains, seeds, nuts, and beans contain phytic acid. Phytic acid can prevent the absorption of nutrients. However, the process of fermenting greatly lessens the amount of phytic acid in your chicken's food, this makes it much easier for your chickens to take advantage of all of the nutrients in their food. Fermenting has also been shown to increase the number of vitamins in foods.

Enhanced Egg Quality

Chickens that eat fermented feed regularly have been shown to have improved egg quality over chickens fed regular dry feed. Fermented feed has been shown to increase, egg weight, eggshell thickness, and eggshell stiffness. This greatly decreases the chance of your chickens laying soft shell eggs or becoming egg-bound. Also, feeding your chickens more nutritious feed will in turn make their eggs more nutritious.

Cutting Feed Bill Costs

When you ferment chicken food it expands as it soaks up the water. The volume of the feed will just about double by the time it finishes fermenting. This will make your chickens fill up faster and give them more nutrients to boot!

Feeding Your Chickens Fermented Feed

When you feed your chickens fermented feed is completely up to you. You can start a fermented feed schedule to have fermented feed for them every day or just every once and a while as a special treat. You should offer the same amount of fermented feed as you would their regular feed. If you are unsure check the serving recommendation on your feed. It is good to feed your chicken's fermented feed when they are stressed or molting because of the added nutrition fermented feed provides your chickens.