You’ve probably heard about fermenting feed; it stretches feed, allows beneficial bacteria to grow, and increases digestibility.
But have you heard about simply soaking your feed?!
If you are currently feeding your chickens a layer or grower crumble (pellets, too!), even a specially ordered high quality organic feed, I cannot recommend soaking enough!
Soaking has brought our feed costs down by over 50%, and our birds look healthier than before.
All we did was soak our feed in plain old well water- it takes less than 5 minutes! Our chickens also prefer the wet feed over dry, too!
Don’t believe me? I dare you to hear me out on all of these benefits, try out the steps below, and give it a week. I bet you will see an amazing change across your entire flock, and you’ll save half the feed; what do you have to lose?
The Benefits of Soaking Chicken Feed: The No-Ferment Method to Reducing Chicken Layer and Grower Feed Costs by 50%
Normally, we would go through a 50 lb bag of chick grower/starter/finisher every week.
At $15 a bag, we were looking at $60 in chick grower feed a month. In addition, we were using about 100 lb of layer feed per month, which would bring the total to $90 per month. When I say we’ve cut our feed bill down to $45 per month, that’s no laughing matter. This cost effective change is worth it by far, and is our first featured benefit. We’ll explain further down in this post how adding JUST WATER saves so much feed, it’s actually going to blow your mind… and perhaps anger you, when you learn how much feed you’ve been wasting.
In addition to saving so much money, our chickens are much healthier- most certainly a great benefit. The process of soaking feed allows chickens to utilize the feed better, conditioning them far better than before; we’ve also seen an uptick in the amount of eggs that our hens are giving. Would you ever believe getting nearly 1 egg per day (about 6 per week) faithfully from Buff Orpingtons? Granted, these are second year hens and it’s the middle of the summer; however, Buff Orpingtons are not known for laying this often. Soaking the feed is obviously doing wonders for our layers just as much as it is for our meat birds.
Less food waste… how amazing does that sound? You always see your chickens scattering their food all about. However, this stuff isn’t going to kick or fly around like pellets or crumbles do. This thick, cat food-like slurry will stay right in the feed pan, especially a heavy duty one (like this one), and your birds will end up consuming most of it, with little wasted! Waste usually comes in the form of whatever sticks to beaks after feeding, and feet after walking through it.
Lastly, less poop! Chickens are constantly dropping their little presents all over the place. But, what if you could cut down on the amount of poop in the coop and in the chicken yard? Soaking feed helps with this, too! What happens with less poop? There is less stink. That’s worth its weight in gold, and I’m sure that you cannot deny that.
Chicken manure is some strong stuff; it can take some getting used to for the newer chicken keepers… in the spring… during heavy, constant rains… while the poop soup stews and the flies dance all around…. You know what I’m talking about, and you probably caught an imaginary, horrid whiff as I described it. For that, I am truly sorry! (Side Note: If you are new to chickens and have not encountered the smell of stewing, wet chicken poop during spring storms, don’t let this deter you. Chickens are amazing animals, and I recommend them 1,010%; they’re worth the smell. Invest in wood chips if your stomach is quick to turn.)
Reconstitution: How Does Water Make Up for 50% Less Feed, Yet Improve Body Condition?
I know, again, it sounds like a bad idea: Using half the feed, for healthier chickens. I double-dog dare you to give it a shot after you hear this:
When you buy feed from the feed store, it’s dry, right? Now, really think about this: is food, in nature, dried out like this? Absolutely not. There is a much higher water content in everything that chickens would forage for, including bugs, fruit, seeds, nuts, and foliage. Chickens fed commercial feed have to drink far more water in order to compensate for this dried out, dehydrated feed. If you feed your chickens these worms as treats or as a protein source with a free range diet, they are still not receiving an adequate amount of water when they eat them. The chickens wind up eating far more feed than they need due to its low moisture content, they require far more water, yet a lot of the food is still wasted, in the form of manure.
Now check this out: When you add half of the feed you would normally use into a bucket, add water to cover, and feed this soaked crumble to your birds, you are giving your chickens reconstituted feed. By creating the slurry, the birds are taking in both water and feed, in non-concentrated amounts. This keeps the chicken from overeating the feed, and the chicken’s body uses what it needs; since the chicken is consuming food at a rate that is far more natural, there is less waste that is produced. I also found that my birds gained weight, likely because they may not have been hydrating themselves properly before; due to the dry feed and high summer temperatures.
In short, feeding chickens this dry feed is like feeding yourself a diet of dehydrated food; you’re going to require far more water to digest the food, and you’re going to eat far more food than you need in its dehydrated form than in its natural form; you’ll probably also get a stomach ache or two, and you may find yourself in the bathroom quite a bit. You could add some corn to the feed to give the chickens a delicious little treat, but just be sure that the birds are receiving enough protein.
How Do You Soak the Feed? Three Simple Steps!
- First, you want to grab a bucket for each chicken pen that you have. Normally, chickens are expected to eat 0.25/lb feed per day. If you have 10 birds, you are going through around 2.5 lb per day, and are probably feeding 3 lb per day (you might be feeding more if you’re trying to maintain older or sickly hens, or very large birds, so please remember that this is a ballpark average.) Let’s grab 1.5 lb of feed for this imaginary pen of 10 birds!
- Next, pour water into this bucket just until it covers the feed. Stir the feed up well, and allow it to soak for 5 minutes. Stir again, and check for consistency. If it’s the consistency of thick mashed potatoes and hard to stir, add a little more water- you want a loose, cat food consistency. This will thicken up too, as the feed slowly absorbs the water. This water absorption demonstrates just how dehydrated this food is!
- Feed the chickens! Place the feed in a pan, and let the feast begin! The chickens may think you’ve lost your mind, but once used to it, they actually prefer this soaked feed!
- As always, you should watch your birds’ body condition daily. If you notice that your birds are not maintaining a healthy weight, increase food intake. Heat, cold, age, size, and breed will all affect a chicken’s body condition, so be sure that all of your birds are of a healthy weight.
You read that right: my birds loveeee their soaked feed, and will take it over dry feed any day! I can’t really blame them though; I’d rather eat mashed potatoes than dry potato flakes, wouldn’t you?
What Is the Difference Between Soaking Feed and Fermenting Feed?
The difference is quite simple here: when you soak feed, that’s all you’re doing. You are adding water to the feed, which reconstitutes it, and feeding it to your birds.
Fermenting feed is an additional step. It requires much more time, it requires more buckets (and lids), and it requires some additional organization. When you ferment feed, you add water to the feed, cover it with a lid, and allow it to sit for 3 days. This starts the fermentation process, which allows good bacteria to colonize the feed. This improves the gut health of your chickens, and it is a very good thing.
However, around here, we don’t have time for that. Plus, you would require at least 3 buckets; for every full bucket of feed that you need per day, you need two additional to keep the fermentation process going. This requires keeping track of the buckets, what day of the fermentation process that they are in, and remembering to refill the buckets. My mental notepad is out of space, so we simply stick with soaking.
I also hoard enough buckets as is, and I might get a few funny looks for buying a dozen more.
