Backyard chicken vaccination

Anytime you can take feed that would otherwise be waisted, and make it useful, is a win.  Adding starter is great, but not necessary to ferment, so if you don't have it, you can still ferment the crumbles.  I don't ferment crumbles personally, I j suggested that to give your chicks an extra boost.  
I have layer crumbles ( don't have any chicks) in an auto feeder.  I ferment 1 cup of wheat and barley, and add other, like chia seeds, flaxseed, oatmeal, stuff like that, depending on what I have.  It ends up being about 2 1/2 cups. I give them once a day.  Doing this drastically reduced my feed cost.
My thinking is the chicken feed is probably made for maximum absorption already, so fermenting the feed is still probably beneficial, because it adds probiotics, but it doesn't expand, so it makes sense in my mind why the  chickens would eat the same amount.  With hole seeds the seed itself puffs up so it increases in volume, and fermenting eliminates the enzyme that keep the body from being able to absorb the nutrients, and makes it more digestible.  The chickens can eat less, but get more out of what they eat. There for eat less.  I'm not an expert, this is just what makes sense to me.  I could be totally wrong.

If I'm following this post correct your last 2 chicks are still doing well?  I hope that is the case.  Good luck.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:

If I'm following this post correct your last 2 chicks are still doing well?  I hope that is the case.  Good luck.

So far, yes they are! They’ve been out with mama on rainy days and in 43 degrees this morning with barely any feathers and shes doing great at keeping them warm and dry. I think the buff may be a roo based off his size difference and tail feathers coming in.

The girls add apple cider vinegar into the chicken water to fend off disease and help the chickens.  We do not vaccinate and never will.  3 years with chickens, turkeys, ducks and a goose and no real problems.  Occasionally a bird gets sick but that will happen regardless.  Once the birds got worms, probably from a bird flying over dropping poop into the run, but a simple dose of Ivermectin across the flock stopped that pretty quick.
We read up on the apple cider vinegar quite a bit before starting our flock, there is plenty of information out there, a quick search found this write up but you can search for more.
https://www.justagric.com/apple-cider-vinegar-in-chicken-water/

I'm so glad they are doing well.  Sometimes bad stuff happens, and there just isn't anything you can do about it. I hope they continue to be well.

Michael Fundaro wrote:The girls add apple cider vinegar into the chicken water to fend off disease and help the chickens.  We do not vaccinate and never will.  3 years with chickens, turkeys, ducks and a goose and no real problems.  Occasionally a bird gets sick but that will happen regardless.  Once the birds got worms, probably from a bird flying over dropping poop into the run, but a simple dose of Ivermectin across the flock stopped that pretty quick.
We read up on the apple cider vinegar quite a bit before starting our flock, there is plenty of information out there, a quick search found this write up but you can search for more.
https://www.justagric.com/apple-cider-vinegar-in-chicken-water/

We do apple cider vinegar regularly as well, among other things. Some I heard recently was that its bad to give to chickens during hot weather because it can cause acidosis. Not sure if it’s true but could be worth looking into!