HOW & WHY We Ferment Our Chicken Feed

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] some of you have asked like to share about how I do Parmenter dude and why and so first I'll show you we have our dry feet out here so that the pigs can't get into it but this is just dry chicken food it's in pellet form so we feed the pellets because it makes less mess and also if it gets spilled out they still can see it we did start ours at about three months old I think I started fermenting their chick feed I found that it was easier to ease into it by starting with one day of ferment and he's into having more so now we go anywhere from one to two and a half days of Furman is what my chickens seem to prefer but fermenting is just really soaking the feed for anywhere from 24 hours to four days this has just been soaked for a little over 24 hours you can see my pigs are actually getting into it but it's for my chickens it's not for my pigs you may have noticed when I was getting the eggs they are clean eggs a big part of the reason for that is because we use fermented feeds so first thing I'm going to do is just pour out today's fermented feed my feeding Bowl has holes and that helps it to drain I wait until they be used up before I give them more getting it here's what it looks like it just looks like I kind of fill me yes and right below the surface let's see right there is all this feed that has soaked overnight so I'm just going to pour that under their budget all right girls here my little the liquid drain and then I pour the rest [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay then what I'm left with is a bucket residue I did bang it out but what I'm gonna do is take roughly one day's worth of dry feed and put it into the red bucket that's step one when you permit the grains expand and they also become more nutritious and so right now I just have my dry peas here but what I'm gonna do is take my water and I'm just going to make sure I try to get down into every corner because I don't want me dry seed getting in there but we just but we just get wetness all the way down in there I wash down the sides just to get all the previous permit into there if you do anything like sourdough or comes in chest it's actually a similar process you're just soaking it to make it more nutritious and the longer you go the more that it permits which can be good for them but can also cause them to turn their nose up at the flavor so I tend to stay between one maybe two roughly one and a half to two times the amount of water into the bucket certainly by tomorrow midday the feed will have expanded and be either right below the surface or even it'll all be soaked in this is fermented feed that has risen all the way to the top and that's okay I'm just getting it straight out but I wouldn't leave it for another day you actually always want to keep it covered with water so if you notice that it's done that you need to add a little bit of water if it's risen up out of the water but that's it and then I just take my bucket I set it out it doesn't have to be in any special place or do anything special I keep out both at the same time so we do have dry feed out if they want it but we also keep out the fermented feed it's like free choice you know they can eat some of the fermented and some of the dry so the reason we do fermented feed I think I hinted at it for sure in my first video and I don't know if I've mentioned it since then but there's a few reasons one is that it's just good for the chickens it's a little bit healthier it's like sprouting wheat or fermenting kimchi or something it's like the first step of that but what's happening is it helps sprout the grains and they enjoy it it helps their digestive system but then the other thing that I really like about it is it keeps their digestive system moving really well so they don't have poop building up that's what makes the eggs clean is it just basically they have one oviduct and that one oviduct is where their eggs starts out and comes through their body they're solid and liquid all come out of that same hole and so if that hole gets poop buildup on it or slowly moving through then as the egg comes through it can gather on there but if they have a nice working digestive system that's just moving nothing's sticking to the insides nothing's getting clogged up then you end up with really nice clean eggs and I like that effect I like the health benefits and it's just really easy it's just adding the water and then I let it sit for one to four days my chickens seem to prefer one to two or two-and-a-half days I think one time I did let it get to like three three and a half days and it took them longer to eat it because it makes the flavor stronger but they they like that sweet spot of anywhere from 24 hours to two and a half days and so I just I don't have to mess with it I just do that process and then I wait until their feed runs out there they're fermented feed and at the next feeding time then I just give them the fermented feed so it's in that there's no rocket science to it it's it's adjustable to how they're doing and what they're eating but it's one little thing that I can do that makes things work better so that is how and why we do fermented feed I find that it's a very easy process I'm already getting feed and I'm already getting water it adds one tiny step but for us the benefits are so big that it's worth it if so leave your experiences in the comments let me know if you're gonna try it and let me know what you think of this video and do like and subscribe and share this with friends who have chickens I'd love any feedback you have for me and I'd love your help to spread this content to as many people as possible so that more people can benefit and where chickens can benefit have a good day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Jess Connell

Views: 16,672

Rating: 4.9402986 out of 5

Keywords: fermented chicken feed, why ferment chicken feed, fermentation, chicken feed fermentation, healthy chickens, how to ferment chicken feed, benefits of chicken feed fermentation, make chicken feed healthier

Id: MEQmK0mYfro

Length: 8min 17sec (497 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 01 2020