How to Ferment Chicken Feed For Healthier Hens and Eggs
Come learn how to ferment chicken feed, plus with why fermented feed is so great for your chickens’ health! It’s quick and easy to make, and can actually help save money. Then, you’ll reap the rewards with more nutritious eggs too!
We’ve been making fermented feed for our chickens for years, and I have yet to meet a bird that doesn’t prefer fermented grains to plain old dry food. Your flock will love it!
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RELATED: If you’re new to raising backyard chickens, come learn what can chickens eat (and can’t eat) – including healthy treat ideas, boredom busters, our DIY flock block recipe, and toxic foods or plants to avoid.
What is fermented chicken feed?
Fermented chicken feed is simply regular chicken feed that has been allowed to ferment by soaking in water for a few days under the right conditions. During that time, beneficial lactobacillus bacteria naturally found in the environment (including on chicken feed) converts starch and sugar into lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This encourages the formation of gut-healthy probiotics while also lowering the pH to prevent growth of harmful bacteria – much like making homemade sauerkraut.
Fermented can be offered as a primary food source or as an occasional treat. When our chickens are molting or otherwise under the weather, we keep the fermented feed in ample supply! They need all the extra nutritional support they can get during those times.
4 Benefits of Fermenting Chicken Feed
1) Improved Digestion and Nutrient Absorption
Fermented chicken feed is easier to digest and increases nutrient absorption. In addition to being soft and gentle on their digestive system, soaking grains reduces phytic acid, an “anti-nutrient” naturally present that can interfere with the absorption of nutrients and minerals. Fermentation has also been shown to enhance the content of certain vitamins in foods, such as Vitamin B.
2) Added Probiotics and Immune Health
The ample probiotics found in fermented chicken feed are stellar for digestion, immunity, and improved gut health – which is directly tied to total body health. Research show that animals who receive a steady intake of probiotics through fermented feed have a more robust immune system than those on a standard dry feed diet.
For instance, this study found that the lactic acid bacteria in fermented chicken feeds lowers the pH of chickens intestines enough to ward off acid-sensitive bacteria like E.Coli and Salmonella. Meaning, chickens consuming fermented feed are less likely to develop infections and other diseases, and live longer, less complicated lives. For you, that means less stress and vet bills, and healthier eggs!
3) Better Quality Eggs
You know the saying “you are what you eat“? When your chickens receive superior nourishment, the eggs they lay for you are supremely nutrient-dense in return.
According to a study published in the Journal of British Poultry science, chickens that were fed fermented chicken feed showed increased egg weight, shell thickness, and shell stiffness over chickens on dry food. When chickens have nice firm eggshells, they’re far less likely to have issues with laying soft-shell eggs or becoming egg-bound; both of which can be life-threatening.
4) Save Feed and Money
Last but not least, making fermented chicken feed makes their food (and your dollar) stretch further! As the feed soaks, it expands in volume so your birds get full faster. At the same time, they digest more nutrients than ever! So, fermenting chicken feed is an inexpensive way to improve the nutritional value of basic dry feed while also consuming less of it.
Supplies Needed
- A container to ferment chicken feed in, such as a large glass jar, bowl or bucket. It should be large enough to hold a day or two worth of feed for your flock, plus extra room for water, stirring, and expansion. A quart or half-gallon mason jar worked well when we had just a handful of chickens. Now we ferment chicken feed in a 2-gallon bucket for our flock of 13.
- Chicken feed. You can ferment crumble, pellets, or whole grain chicken feed – including chick starter! We’ve found that whole grain feed holds up the best, as the others get more mushy as they expand. We use our long-time favorite organic layer feed from Scratch and Peck. You can even ferment scratch as a treat, though it shouldn’t replace their layer feed.
How to Ferment Chicken Feed
1) Mix Feed and Water
First, add enough dry chicken feed to the container for one or two daily servings for your flock. For reference, the average adult chicken will consume about 1/4 to 1/2 pound of food per day. For our Scratch and Peck mash grain feed, that equates to about 1/2 cup of food per chicken per day (weighed dry). We typically ferment enough to serve over the course of two days.
Next, pour water over the top so that the feed is fully submerged, plus a couple inches of room on top to expand.
How much feed should I ferment?
If you plan to offer fermented feed as their primary food source, do your best to estimate a day or two worth of feed for your flock size. To offer it regularly, you’ll need to start staggered batches every few days (date the containers) in order to have a finished batch available at all times. Or, to offer fermented feed as an occasional treat (with dry food still available), simply make one batch at a time; the amount doesn’t need to be exact.
2) Cover and Ferment
Cover the top of the container with a loose-fitting lid, plate, or other makeshift lid. It doesn’t need to be air tight! The goal is to prevent drifting mold spores from floating in, but allow fermentation gasses to escape.
Set the container in a location with moderate temperatures and out of direct sunlight for three to four days to ferment. Check and stir it each day. Add additional water if the feed has absorbed it all and is no longer submerged. Floating or exposed feed may mold!
By day or two or three, you should see small bubbles on the surface and/or within the feed mixture. It should smell slightly tangy, sour, and sweet – similar to yogurt or yeast. (Ours smells a tad fishy since the feed contains kelp meal.) The liquid will also get increasingly cloudy. If the fermented chicken feed develops mold or putrid odors, do not feed it to them!
While fermented chicken feed is safe to consume beyond day three or four, it gets increasingly sour and may become less palatable for your spoiled chicken’s taste buds.
3) Drain
If the fermented chicken feed hasn’t absorbed all of the water by serving time, you can either drain off the excess or reserve the liquid to jump start a new batch. Soaking fresh feed in already-fermented brine will actually put the next batch about a day ahead of schedule! However, I wouldn’t continue to use the same brine more than a couple times or it will become too sour.
However, the feed will spoil faster when it’s no longer submerged in its liquid “bath”. So if you plan to feed over the course of two days, simply scoop out half on day three and then drain/use the rest on day four.
TIP: If you have a large flock and would like to regularly make fermented feed, consider making a DIY self-draining bucket system! Drill many small holes in the bottom of one 5-gallon bucket, nestle it inside another 5-gallon bucket, and then fill with food and water to ferment. Once it’s done, simply lift the top bucket and the liquid will drain away into the lower bucket.
4) Feed
Now for the best part! Serve the fermented feed in a tray or dish that all of your chickens can eat from. For our current flock of 13, we usually spread it out between two wide shallow repurposed plant saucers so everyone has room to gather round and enjoy. I love listening to their happy little peck-peck-pecks on the tray!
Simple, effective, and worthwhile!
In short, making fermented chicken feed is an easy and inexpensive way to give your girls a boost! It can lead to healthier chickens, better quality eggs, and potentially lower feed costs. What’s not to love about all that? I hope you found this article helpful and interesting. If so, please spread the love by leaving a review below! Above all, I hope your chickens enjoy their new feed!
You may enjoy these related articles:
- Sprouted Seeds: A Health Treat for Backyard Chickens
- Top 10 Chicken Coop Supplies That Will Make Your Life Easier
- 10 Ways to Keep Chickens Cool During Hot Summer Weather or Heat Waves
- Tips on Caring for Chickens During Cold Winter Weather
- Feeding Chickens Eggshells or Oyster Shells for Essential Calcium
- Best Practices for Storing & Washing Fresh Backyard Chicken Eggs
- When Do Chickens Start Laying Eggs? 5 Telltale Signs It’s Soon!
- Top 18 Chicken Breeds for Your Backyard Flock
How to Make Fermented Chicken Feed
Equipment
- Large glass jar, mixing bowl, bucket, or other container (BPA-free preferred)
Ingredients
- 1-2 servings chicken feed of choice (for the whole flock) including whole grain feed, pellets or crumbles
Instructions
- Check the serving recommendations for your chicken feed (e.g. 1/4-1/2 cup per chicken per day). Then, choose a large enough container to fit one or two daily servings of feed for your flock, plus some extra room for water, expansion, and stirring.
- Add enough chicken feed to the container for one or two days servings for your flock. We usually ferment enough to serve over two days.
- Pour water over the top of the feed. Add enough so that the feed is fully submerged and has a couple inches of room to expand.
- Cover the top of the container with a loose-fitting lid, plate, or other makeshift lid. It doesn’t need to be air tight.
- Set the container in a location with moderate temperatures for three to four days to ferment (such as out on the counter, in the garage, etc).
- Check and stir it each day. Add additional water if the feed has absorbed it all.
- After 3 to 4 days (our chickens prefer day 3) give them the fermented feed. If it hasn’t absorbed all of the water, you can either drain it off and discard, or reserve the liquid to jump start a new batch of fermented feed.
- However, the feed will spoil faster when it's no longer submerged in its liquid "bath". So if you plan to feed over the course of two days, simply scoop out half on day three and then drain/use the rest on day four.
- Repeat as desired, and develop a schedule. Since it takes a few days to ferment, some folks start staggered batches every couple of days (date the containers) in order to have a finished batch of fermented feed available at all times.
124 Comments
Marilyn A Reid
I used your fermenting recipe and my chickens got to try it this morning. They ate more heartily than ever! Another batch is in the works. The girls and I thank you.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Marilyn, so great to hear your chickens enjoyed it!
Laurie
Very well put and thorough!
In the winter, fermentation slowed SO I used some apple cider vinegar which my hens LOVE!
I can use two jars and alternate because the mash is ready by 48 hours!
That leaves room to soak wheat berries for wheat grass and ferment some pearl barley!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Laurie, sounds like you have a good schedule down and some spoiled hens, I am sure they enjoy it all!
Rowena Parr
Thank you for the recipe and instructions on soaking feed. I was wondering do you put the soaked feet out on a flat feeding situation? Because they will never be able to eat it properly if its dispensed in a traditional feeder.
At the moment, I put a little water in their pellets each day just to make it a little softer and they gobble it up fairly quickly, but I have to put it in the bottom of their plastic feeder (think conical plate) and take the top off. This now gives one of my greedier hens the perfect excuse to get in the middle of the feed and scratch/fling it everywhere. Ugh.
I want to begin a soaked feed process with them, I just need feeder ideas.
Thanks!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Rowena, we put out fermented feed in addition to their regular dry feed in the feeder. We fermented their feed and only put out enough for them to eat at one time, we have only fed it as an addition and not their sole source of feed. Hope that helps and good luck with your situation.
Deirdre
Thanks for the great info. Do you ever add any sourdough discard to the mix?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Deirdre, thank you so much! We haven’t added sourdough discard to the ferment itself but we have given our chickens discard on its own but you could likely add a bit to the beginning of the ferment process and it may get the fermentation process started more quickly. Hope that helps and let us know how it turns out!
Meg
I’m wanting to start fermenting my chickens’ feed and have a question about quantity. Everything I’ve read says fermenting will stretch their feed. So if we’re fermenting the recommended serving size (say 2 cups since that’s what you prepare for your chickens), are you giving them the entire fermented jar that started off as 2 cups? Or just giving them 2 cups of fermented feed? Hope that makes sense!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Meg, we don’t measure our chickens feed as they have free choice dry feed available at all times. With fermenting, the feed does expand in size so it takes up more room in your chickens crop and the nutrients in the feed become more bioavailable so they don’t need to eat as much to get the same nutrition. We have always fermented feed as something extra for our chickens and haven’t used it as their only form of feed throughout a day. If you have a lot of chickens you may give them the whole jar of fermented feed but if you typically measure your hens feed, I would use a post fermented cup measurement since the feed does expand in size. Hope that helps and good luck!
Laurie
I use a pie plate or one of those rubber feeders for the fermented mash.
If the pan is too light, narrow and has high sides, they will tip it over.
The pie pan allows them to scratch it out and hunt/peck.
The rubber feeder is a little heavier if you want them to be neater.
Good luck with that.
Hope this helps!
Laurie
I had that same question.
I have found that 1 1/2 cups of mash makes about 3 cups of fermented feed.
I was giving that to six chickens since they also have dry mash available.
I had to remove two from my flock because they were aggressive and still feed the same amount to the four and the plate is still clean at late afternoon cleanup.
Hope this helps!
LInda
Have you had experience with your eggs tasting fishy? We do ferment our feed but I don’t believe this to be the case. I am reading that tooo high of Omega 3 is the reason for the fishy taste. Maybe we could add in other grains to cut this fishy taste. It has happened to us with two differnt brands of feed. We are using Non GMO, Non Soy from a local elevator. It does cost us less than having Organic Feeds shipped to us is too costly.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Linda, we have not had any “fishy” eggs as far as I can recall although I believe our chicken feed has some kelp meal in it which is supposed to be high in omega 3 but I haven’t noticed the flavor coming through in the eggs. Does your feed contain any kelp meal or another ingredient that is high in omegas such as flaxseed? I believe studies have shown that pasture raised chickens may have an increase in omega 3’s so if your birds are able to forage on different plants and grasses in your area, that may be contributing to it as well? Hope that helps and good luck!
Bryce Robbins
Great post Deanna! I have been fermenting the same feed you are using for about 6 months. It works great!
I started off using large mason jars, shaking them about once per day. I had a difficult time preventing mold growth if I forgot to shake it once per day though. So I had a thought… I also make homemade Kefir with raw goats milk which itself acts as a good preservative due to the PH. I added 1/2 cup or so to the mix and this really helped prevent the mold growth! As an added bonus, it helped with the fermentation process and added to the bioavailability of the nutrients. Our chickens love it! I still add it to this day. About 1/2 cup of kefir for every 4 cups of feed. The store bought kefir may work as well, but would not be as effective as it is pasteurized.
DeannaCat
Hi Bryce, so glad to hear the recipe is working so well for you and thanks for sharing the tip on adding some kefir to the ferment, I am sure you chickens love it even more than before!
Laurie Giesler
I tried fermenting with the Scratch & Peck Starter but it smelled like chemicals on day 3. We are on a well and I use a Berkey filter system, too. Did I do something wrong??
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Laurie, that is very odd as we use Scratch and Peck and there isn’t a whole lot in there to make it smell that way, fermenting their feed will definitely produce a smell, sometimes even off putting, so maybe that was more of what you were smelling in general. As long as you keep the feed submerged below the water or mixed well enough each day so no mold forms, the feed should be good to go. Hope that helps.
Laurie
I actually fixed it by not covering the jars and only using paper towel with a rubber band to make sure yeast didn’t take over.
Thomas Underwood
Can I ask what kind of vessel you’re fermenting in? First thing that came to mind was maybe how ball jars smell a little whack when you first open them, but maybe something similar to that?
Dan
How can i get Niacin into the mix for ducks?, can i add peas to the mix?, or a little brewers yeast?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Dan, everything I have seen suggests adding Brewer’s yeast or nutritional yeast to their feed, I am assuming you have chickens and ducks both cohabitating together? I would double check the proper amounts to add per “x” amount of feed but it’s probably easiest to add the yeast to the fermented feed after it is done fermenting and not before and that goes for adding peas as well. Sweet potato, pumpkin, and various types of fish (tuna and sardines) have good amounts of niacin as well. Hope that helps and good luck!
Kit
I have tried this twice, once as chicks and once as nearly grown hens. The chicks would have nothing to do with the fermented feed. The hens however were suspicious but eventually ate it all pretty quickly. Will absolutely do this again, but I’ll have to figure out how to do a larger batch at once.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Kit, I don’t know how big of a batch of feed you need to make but you could likely make a batch in a 2 or 5 gallon bucket and use a large stick to stir it a couple times a day.