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looking down on a group of chickens standing in a circle with their heads hovering over a bucket of fermented chicken feed

How to Make Fermented Chicken Feed

Fermenting chicken feed is an easy and inexpensive way to improve the nutritional value of your chickens food, leading to overall better health - and quality of eggs! It takes very little supplies and time to do. Come learn how!
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Fermentation Time 3 days
Course Chicken Feed, Fermented Foods

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.
Keyword fermented chicken feed, fermented feed, fermenting chicken feed
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