To ferment or not ferment chicken feed? Not necessary with Merry Natural.

If you're anything like many other backyard chicken keepers, you've probably stumbled down the fermented feed rabbit hole at some point. You're scrolling through chicken forums at 10 PM (again), and everyone's talking about how they're soaking their feed for three days, stirring it twice daily, checking the pH, making sure it smells like sourdough and not like a science experiment gone wrong. It sounds amazing (healthier chickens, better eggs, happier hens). But also... exhausting. You've got a full-time job. Kids. A garden that needs weeding. A coop that needs cleaning. And now you're supposed to add "fermentation project manager" to your resume? We get it. You want to do right by your flock, but you don't want feeding your chickens to feel like a part-time job. Here's the good news: With Merry Natural feed, you don't need to ferment. Let us explain. Why Do People Ferment Feed in the First Place? Fermented feed has become wildly popular in the backyard chicken community, and for good reason. When you soak feed in water for a few days, beneficial bacteria (mostly lactobacillus) break down the grains, making them softer and easier to digest. The process also produces probiotics (those "good" bacteria that support gut health and immunity). Here's what fermentation does: Makes feed more digestible: Soaking breaks down phytic acid, an anti-nutrient that can interfere with mineral absorption. Your chickens get more nutrition from the same amount of feed. Introduces probiotics: The lactic acid bacteria that develop during fermentation promote a healthy gut microbiome, which strengthens the immune system and helps ward off pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella. Adds interest: Chickens enjoy the tangy, slightly sour flavor. It's enrichment, especially for hens stuck in a run without access to pasture. Easier on digestion: The softened feed is gentler on the crop and gizzard, making it easier for chickens to process. Sounds pretty great, right? And it is (if you're feeding conventional feed that's pelletized, heat-processed, and basically designed to sit in a bag for months without spoiling). But here's the thing: Merry Natural feed is not conventional feed. How Merry Natural Feed Is Different Most commercial chicken feeds are formulated to be shelf-stable, easy to ship, and as affordable as possible. And that's about it. They're not designed with your chicken's digestive system in mind. That's why so many chicken keepers have turned to fermenting. They're trying to "fix" feed that was never optimized for digestion in the first place. Merry Natural feed works differently. We formulated it to work with your chickens' natural digestive process, not against it. Here's what makes it unique: 1. It's Designed to Ferment (Starting In Your Chicken's Crop) Your chickens already have a built-in fermentation system. It's called the crop. The crop is a specialized pouch in the chicken's throat that holds and moistens food. It's packed with beneficial bacteria (especially lactobacillus, enterococcus, and other lactic acid bacteria) that naturally ferment feed and produce short-chain fatty acids. These acids provide energy and support overall gut health. When your chicken eats Merry Natural feed, here's what happens: The feed enters the crop, where it's moistened with saliva and water. Our whey coating rehydrates and "wakes up" the probiotics we've added to the feed. Fermentation begins, right there in the crop, exactly where nature intended. The beneficial bacteria get to work breaking down nutrients and producing those gut-healthy acids. We're not asking you to ferment the feed in a bucket. We've designed the feed to ferment naturally in the bird, giving your chickens all the benefits of fermented feed without you lifting a finger. 2. Probiotics Are Already Included Merry Natural feed contains the same strains of beneficial bacteria that would naturally develop if you fermented feed yourself: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus licheniformis, and Bacillus subtilis. These probiotics are protected by a unique oil and whey coating during storage. When the feed hits the moist environment of the crop, the coating activates, the probiotics come to life, and fermentation kicks in. You're getting the probiotic boost of fermented feed (without the three-day waiting period, the daily stirring, or the risk of accidentally growing mold instead of beneficial bacteria). 3. Whole, Digestible Ingredients (Ground Finer) Unlike pelletized feeds that are heat-processed and compressed, Merry Natural feed is made with whole grains like oats, wheat, and barley. These ingredients are already more digestible than conventional feeds, so your chickens' systems don't have to work as hard to break them down. We also grind our feed finer than most commercial feeds. This increases the surface area of each grain particle, making it easier for your chickens' digestive enzymes to access and break down the nutrients. Better breakdown means better absorption. And better absorption means healthier, more productive hens. Add in alfalfa hay leaves, peas, fishmeal from wild-caught sardines, sesame meal, and raw liquid goat whey, and you've got a feed that's not just nutritious. It's designed to be easy on your chickens' digestive systems from the start. 4. Formulated to Support Natural Digestion Here's where it gets a little nerdy (but we promise to keep it simple): We separate the oil from sesame seeds, then add just enough back to coat the feed. This does two things. First, it protects the nutrients and probiotics during storage. Second, it keeps PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) in check. Lower PUFAs mean better omega ratios in your eggs. Unlike many commercial feeds, we don't add any direct seed oils. That's a common industry practice to boost calories cheaply, but it can throw off the nutritional balance of your eggs. We skip it. Then we add raw liquid goat whey at the very end of the mixing process. The whey dries around the outside of the feed, creating a protective layer that "comes to life" when it hits the moisture in your chicken's crop. It's like a time-release capsule for probiotics, designed to activate exactly when and where your chickens need it. The result? A feed that supports fermentation in the bird, giving your flock all the digestive and immune benefits of fermented feed without you having to do the fermenting. So... Is Fermenting Merry Natural Feed Necessary? Nope. Your chickens are already getting the benefits of fermented feed because the feed is designed to ferment naturally in their crop. You don't need to soak it, stir it, or worry about whether it's fermenting properly. But Could You Still Ferment It If You Wanted To? Sure! Some chicken keepers ferment feed because their hens love the tangy taste and extra moisture, especially in hot weather or if they don't have access to pasture. If you want to ferment Merry Natural feed for enrichment or hydration, go for it. The cool thing is, you're starting with probiotics already in the feed. So when you ferment Merry Natural feed, you're not just relying on wild bacteria from the air. You're supercharging it with the strains we've already added. It's like fermentation on easy mode. But here's the truth: You don't have to. Your chickens are already getting everything they need from the feed as-is. The Bottom Line Fermenting feed is a great practice (if you're feeding conventional feed that wasn't designed with digestion in mind). But Merry Natural feed? It's already doing the work for you. We've formulated it to activate in your chickens' crop, support natural fermentation, and deliver probiotics right where they're needed most. So skip the jars, the stirring, and the three-day waiting period. Your chickens will be just as healthy. And you'll have more time to actually enjoy your flock. That's the Merry Natural difference. Feed that works with your chickens, not against them. And a little less work for you. Resources Frontiers | Impact of probiotics on chicken gut microbiota, immunity, behavior, and productive performance—a systematic review Frontiers | Chicken Gut Microbiota: Importance and Detection Technology Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Their Manipulation for Improved Growth and Performance in Chickens Fermenting Poultry Feed: Simple Steps to Healthier Birds and Higher Yields - NC State Extension How to Ferment Chicken Feed For Healthier Hens and Eggs - Homestead and Chill Function of the digestive system - ScienceDirect Intestinal microbiome of poultry and its interaction with host and diet - PMC Biointerfacial self-assembly generates lipid membrane coated bacteria for enhanced oral delivery and treatment - Nature Communications

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Yes, what a chicken eats affects the yolk color. Here are examples.

Did you know that you can affect the color of your yolks by what you feed your chickens? It's true! Back in the day, it was true that pasture raised chickens, actively foraging, produced eggs with darker yolks. From a nutrition standpoint, this was a great indicator of egg nutrition. Pasture raised eggs from naturally tended birds are more nutritious. So naturally minded consumers sought out eggs with darker yolks. But... as time went on, the farming industry caught onto this consumer demand. They started adding colorants to chicken feed to make the yolks a consistent shade of yellow or orange. Synthetic carotenoids like apo-ester can be added. And more natural ingredients like marigold and paprika can be added, too. They have no necessary nutritional value. They're there specifically for yolk color. In today's world, a deep orange yolk doesn't necessarily mean a bird lives outside, is on pasture, or is foraging. It doesn't mean the egg is more or less nutritious. Yolk color has become superficial.  At Merry Natural, this is a sad thing. You're losing such an important indicator of what your chickens are eating. That's why we choose to add ZERO colorants to our feed, even the natural ones.  Whether foraging in your yard or pastures or eating kitchen scraps, what you feed your birds affects the yolk color.  Of course, the exact color and difference depends on how much yours birds are eating of each thing, the variety, the stage of growth, etc. But isn't it neat to see the changes? Here are some examples: Grains (like Wheat, Oats, and Barley) = Pale Yellow Yolks Dandelion = Yellow Yolks Corn = Yellow Yolks Zucchini = Yellow Yolks Sunflowers = Yellow Yolks Alfalfa = Golden Orange Yolks Green Peppers = Golden Orange Yolks Kale = Golden Orange Yolks Clover = Golden Orange Yolks Chickweed = Orange Yolks Grass = Orange Yolks Sardines = Orange Yolks Watermelon Rinds = Orange Yolks Carrot Tops = Orange Yolks Pumpkins = Orange Yolks Tomatoes = Orange Red Yolks Red Peppers = Orange Red Yolks Marigolds = Orange Red Yolks Grapes = Green Brown Yolks Acorns = Green Brown Yolks Rosemary = Gray Yolks Cabbage = Blue Green Whites

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Egg test results show amazing nutrition with our natural chicken feed.

In 2024, while I was working with Miller's Bio Farm, their egg farmers experienced something awful - they found a "soy oil" tag on their corn & soy free feed. Gasp! After a series of red flags, this was the final straw with their old feed supplier. They quickly changed to a new, very trusted feed supplier - John at County Line Feed. I helped formulate the feed, giving insight into what customers are looking for in terms of being truly natural, allergy-friendly, and highly nutritious. At that moment, the team made a bold choice. We removed the colorants from the feed. That includes anything unnatural but also natural additives like marigold and paprika. These colorants aren't necessary for a bird's health (although you could argue certain benefits). They're mainly in there to make the yolks orange (no matter what the hens are foraging for). As the months went by, the hens were quite healthy and the eggs delicious. But... the yolk color started to change. We had yellow yolks - not orange! Customers started to ask questions. They started to doubt if the new feed was producing eggs with the same nutrition. After all, it's become common knowledge in the natural food world that orange yolks = pasture raised = more nutritious eggs. I needed to know more, so... I sent eggs for nutritional testing with Dr. Van Vliet.  I really like Dr. Van Vliet. He specializes in metabolomics, the study of cellular processes and their affect on health and nutrition. He's well versed in the field of regenerative agriculture. He's also just a really nice, level-headed guy. He's the perfect person to test and help analyze the results. I sent him 5 egg samples: Orange yolk eggs from Miller's hens on the new feed.Yellow yolk eggs from Miller's hens on the new feed. Orange yolks eggs from a local regenerative competitor using our old feed supplier.Orange yolk eggs from a national regenerative competitor.Orange yolk eggs from a national conventional company (the cheapest I could buy at the supermarket). We waited a looong time for the results, but it was worth the wait. The results showed that yolk color does NOT matter.  That's right. The orange and yellow yolk eggs from Miller's had nearly identical nutrition. If anything, the yellow yolks eggs were slightly more nutritious. Wow! Moreover, I was happily surprised to see that the eggs on the new feed offer stellar nutrition - better than before! There's load of data from the testing. But, here are 4 key data points (and if you scroll to the bottom, you can access the actual, unedited, full results). 1- Eggs on Merry Natural Feed had higher vitamins than any other egg tested! Merry Natural eggs were particularly high in A and B vitamins. I love getting my vitamins directly from food. They are the most bioavailable that way. The problem is, because of soil degradation and cheap farming practices, ingredients have less vitamins than they used to.  2- Merry Natural eggs were second highest in antioxidants. This is particularly important because there's no corn or marigold in the feed, which usually results in higher antioxidants. Antioxidants protect our cells from damage from free radicals. They help our body function optimally and prevent malfunctions. 3- Merry Natural eggs were lowest in PUFAs. We're not going to the lowest PUFAs possible. It's really all about balance and keeping PUFAs in check. As a whole, Americans are eating far too many PUFAs. Thanks corn, soy, and seed oils in everything everywhere.  Eating too many PUFAs can result in a long list of chronic issues, including but not limited to oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and thyroid issues. Overconsumption can basically increase the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and certain cancers. Plus, I've noticed that, with other "low PUFA" eggs, what's really happening is lowering the overall fat in the egg. We like healthy fat! 4- Merry Natural eggs had the most balanced 4:1 omega 6/3 ratio. This one is super important to me. You need omega 3s and 6s, but the modern American diet is all out of whack. Ideally, we should be eating a 1:1-4:1 omega 6/3 ratio. But, largely due to the prevalence of corn, soy, and seed oils, the average American is eating a 20:1 ratio.   Having too many omega 6s compared to 3s can lead to a host of issues including inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, asthma, depression, fatigue... the list goes on and on. I mean, this is just one reason Americans are overall in poor health. What do you think? Does Merry Natural feed provide the nutrition you're looking for in eggs? What's most important to you when choosing layer feed or eggs? (view pdf report here) (view spreadsheet data here)

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Each chicken feed ingredient has a purpose. It's a holistic approach.

We take a holistic approach to creating feed for chickens.  Sure, it's about the ratios of ingredients. Sure, it's about the percent of protein, fat, fiber, etc. Sure, it's about the mg of each vitamin and mineral. But... when you're looking for the best nutrition and the most natural feed, it's more than that. When it comes to natural, we want to minimize the amount of anything synthetic and maximize the nutrition from the feed. Here are a few ways we do that on a whole: We know our farmers. We do NOT buy from distributors selling grain from who knows where (often overseas). We buy directly from farmers we know, farmers who aren't using anything synthetic in their soil, on their plants, or during processing. We know because we've been there, we've seen it, and we've talked to them. In the rare case that we'd need to buy in from a distributor, we do our research and ask the right questions to make sure it's up to our rigorous standards. We source grains that have max nutrition. How do you get grains like that? Working with your farmers. When a farmer takes extra good care of his soil (a regenerative approach), the plant will absorb more from the soil and offer more to the animals that eat it.  We create max digestibility. That makes every element of the feed easy for an animal to breakdown and use. For example, that's why we add liquid whey at just the right time and in the right way. We want the feed to ferment in the stomach (and not in the bag). When done like this, chicken manure actually doesn't make that good of fertilizer! The birds use everything up and put it into their bodies and the glorious food they make for us. We create max bioavailability. We want every element of the feed to have a purpose. For example, we could use one grain or only fishmeal for protein. But that's not the best. Each protein source has a different protein structure. When you diversify the protein, you have better diet and nutrition overall. There's soooo much that goes into choosing feed ingredients and formulating. Keep reading for more details on each ingredients. ----- Wheat Added as one of our many diversified proteins. Also contains vitamins and minerals. Has a 9:1 omega 6/3 ratio, much lower than corn's 25:1-60:1 ratio. From local farmers we know growing without chemicals. ----- Peas Added as one of our many diversified proteins. Also contains vitamins and minerals. Has a 2:1 omega 6/3 ratio, much lower than corn's 25:1-60:1 ratio. From local farmers we know growing without chemicals. ----- Sesame Meal & Oil I know, I know. That doesn't look like sesame seeds, sesame meal, or sesame oil. We add sesame in a very unique way. We have a machine that crushes and heats the sesame seeds to around 100-180F for 5 minutes. It separates out some of the oil. What's left are these sesame sticks. They have all the sesame meal but less oil than is in a whole sesame seed (sesame has a LOT of oil in it). This is added for protein but also to bind the moisture (without too much oil). This makes it so, when we add liquid whey, the feed does not ferment in the bag. It ferments in the stomach! This provides max nutrition. ----- Barley (Layer Only) Added as one of our many diversified proteins. Also contains vitamins and minerals. Has a 12:1 omega 6/3 ratio, much lower than corn's 25:1-60:1 ratio. From local farmers we know growing without chemicals. ----- Oats Added as one of our many diversified proteins. Also contains vitamins and minerals. Has a 21:1 omega 6/3 ratio, lower than corn's 25:1-60:1 ratio. However, oats don't contain a lot of either essential fatty acid, so the omega ratio is kinda a moot fact here. Our oats are from local farmers we know, growing without chemicals. ----- Fish Meal Added as one of our many diversified proteins, and fish meal is particularly high in protein.  It's also a great source of amino acids and of course contains vitamins and minerals. Fish meal is high in omega 3s, and it's omega 6/3 ratio is 0.45:1, below what is optimal for humans. Another reason for adding fish meal is it attracts birds to the feed and actually helps them digest it better. Our fish meal comes from Fertrell. It's 100% whole sardine meal that is wild-caught and sustainably harvested off the coast of South America. They use mixed tocopherols as the preservative (the only preservative allowed under Organic Regulations) and never use Ethoxyquin.  ----- Alfalfa Hay Added as one of our many diversified proteins. Also contains vitamins and minerals. Has a 0.7:1-3:1 omega 6/3 ratio, much lower than corn's 25:1-60:1 ratio. From local farmers we know growing without chemicals. ----- Goat Whey Sourced from a local, chemical-free farmer. Goat whey is added to help the feed ferment and digest easily in the chicken's stomach. It's kinda like a natural probiotic that you take with your food. This helps the bird get max nutrition from the feed and maintain a healthy digestive system. ----- Molasses Added in moderation, organic molasses is a great source of energy for your birds. It also contains minerals and makes the feed a bit more palatable and less dusty. ----- Vitamins & Minerals We use a couple things: Fertrell's Poultry Nutri-Balancer: It's a blend of kelp, minerals, vitamins, and probiotics. 99% of what's in there is natural. However, there are a few that are synthetic(DL Methionine amino acid and the B vitamins). The nutritionist from Fertrell said that they could make us a special nutri-balancer without the synthetic vitamins, but they wouldn’t stand behind it as a complete supplement. The birds wouldn’t maintain good health, and egg production would drop by 5-20%.  Jacqueline's Restorative Mineral Blend for Chickens: This is actually mostly clay. It's in there to bind and remove toxins from inside the bird. This results in a healthier bird and cleaner food.  Our long-term strategy here is to continue to diversify the feed and take care of the soil. With more coming from the grains, we hope to be able to remove all added vitamins and minerals one day! ----- Salt We use Redmond salt. Note that the color is not white like a table salt. What you're seeing is lots of minerals in there. Redmond salt is harvested from an ancient, underground seabed in Redmond, Utah, left behind by the prehistoric Sundance Sea. It has been protected by ash and clay from modern day pollutants. And, Redmond does not use anything synthetic when processing, too. We believe it's one the best and cleanest salts around. ----- Have any questions about our feed or ingredients? We're an open book. Contact us here.

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