Fermented Chicken Feed for Improved Health

Fermented chicken feed provides many benefits to improving chicken health.

By Susy Morris
Updated on June 9, 2021
article image
by iStockphoto.com/Milous
Fermented chicken feed may help improve your flock's health.

Many of us have heard about the benefits of adding fermented foods in our own diets, including reduced risk of sickness, better nutrient absorption, and higher digestibility, to name a few. The same is true for your poultry flock and other animals. Fermenting feed for your flock is actually very easy, and the benefits range from increased egg production in winter to lower feed consumption.

When I first inherited a flock of chickens, I fed them organic chicken pellets from the local feed store. I liked the convenience of filling a feeder once a week and not having to think about it. Then I added ducks, turkeys and guinea fowl, along with more chickens. That’s when I started to think about ways to increase the health of my flock and decrease my feed bill. I found a source of inexpensive whole grains from local farms and began researching feed-mix ratios and digestibility. In my search, I turned to vintage livestock books, which are a wealth of information for any of us who want to step away from the premixed livestock feed industry. My interest was piqued when I found frequent mentions of soaking, sprouting and souring grains before feeding them to livestock.

Girl feeding chickens inside of a chicken pen

The nitty gritty

The main reason to ferment chicken feed is that it improves our birds’ health. Probiotics help fight off sickness and help gut health, and studies have shown that birds fed fermented feed are less susceptible to salmonella and campylobacter. In fact, the amounts of these two types of bacteria in particular were shown to be lower in the digestive tracks of birds fed fermented feed, something important to those of us who raise birds, especially meat birds, and particularly if we process them on-farm.

Beyond the health aspect of fermenting feed, it is beneficial simply for economic reasons. Soaking or fermenting feed softens the grains, making it easier for the birds to digest and nutrients more readily available, thus reducing feed intake. The wet feed is also more palatable to birds, thus reducing feed waste, especially when it comes to commercial feed mixes. My birds eat about 25 to 30 percent less when fed soaked or fermented feed. This really adds up when you’re feeding between 50 and 75 birds, but it’s still a valuable savings even if you have a small flock.

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