What are the pros and cons of raising chickens on a fermentation bed, and is it suitable for balcony keeping?

Raising chickens on a fermentation bed is generally considered an effective and more reasonable ecological method of chicken keeping. Using a fermentation bed to keep chickens on a balcony is entirely possible! The droppings from chickens on a fermentation bed can be buried in sawdust and promptly decomposed by active bacteria, so no odor is released, and there is no need to clean up and sweep away the droppings. Moreover, chickens living in such a clean environment are less likely to get sick, so raising chickens on a fermentation bed has become a new favorite among balcony dwellers returning to a simpler, more natural way of life.

1. Advantages

(1) Deodorizing and eco-friendly, clean and hygienic. With chickens raised on a fermentation bed, the coop is clean and hygienic, and there is no need to clean out chicken manure. Under the action of the beneficial functional bacteria in the Jinbaobei fermentation bed, the chicken manure is completely decomposed. Part of it is broken down into odorless gases (such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, etc.) that are released, and part is decomposed into crude protein and bacterial protein, etc., achieving a pollution-free, zero-emission chicken-raising process that is neither dirty nor smelly.

(2) Healthy flock, rarely gets sick. Through physical adsorption, chemical neutralization, and the biochemical action of the fermentation process, the fermentation bed litter eliminates the odorous substances in chicken manure. The air quality in the chicken coop is good, significantly improving the health of the chickens.

(3) Saves medicine, saves labor, saves energy. Chickens raised on a fermentation bed rarely get sick and are relatively healthy, reducing the use of medication (medication for controlling respiratory and intestinal diseases). During the rearing process, there is no need to spend time cleaning out chicken manure, saving a great deal of labor and time. The surface temperature of the Jinbaobei dry-spread fermentation bed stays at around twenty-something degrees all year round, greatly reducing the coal and electricity used for heating the chicken coop, generally saving more than half.

(4) Significantly improves the quality of market chickens. The improved health of the flock itself raises the quality of the market chickens. Healthy chickens use less medication, so drug residues in the chicken meat are reduced, the meat quality is good, and the egg quality is high. Chickens living on a soft, dry surface essentially eliminates breast blister disease. Market chickens have complete, clean feathers all over the body, and are neither dirty nor smelly.

(5) Waste recycling and reuse. The mixture of Jinbaobei dry-spread fermentation bed litter and chicken manure and urine is a high-grade, high-quality bio-organic fertilizer or coarse feed, rich in nutrients, loose and airy, and odorless. After processing into organic fertilizer, it can be used without burning roots or seedlings, and can be widely used for nutrient soil for seedlings and flowers, for cash crops, fruit trees and vegetables, or as coarse feed for other animals.

2. Disadvantages

Unlike fermentation bed pig-raising technology, fermentation bed chicken-raising technology generally has no drawbacks. Raising chickens in a fermentation bed chicken coop uses microorganisms as the “central” role in the circulation and conversion of material and energy. It uses high-tech means to collect specific beneficial microorganisms, and through processes such as screening, culturing, testing, purification, rejuvenation and propagation, forms functional microbial strains with strong vitality, which are then mixed and fermented in a certain proportion with sawdust or wood shavings, auxiliary materials, activators, salt, etc., to make a finished organic composite litter, automatically satisfying the physiological needs of the chickens in the coop for warmth, ventilation, and trace elements. It is an environmentally friendly ecological chicken-raising model.

In a fermentation bed chicken coop, chicks live on this organic litter from birth, and their excrement is rapidly degraded, digested or transformed by microorganisms; the nutrients provided by the chicken droppings cause the beneficial functional bacteria to continuously reproduce, forming high-protein mycelium, which, when eaten by the chickens, not only aids digestion but also increases the feed conversion rate, lowers the input-output ratio and the feed-to-meat ratio, and can save 20-30% of feed for producing market chickens of the same body weight, while saving more than sixty to eighty percent of manual labor.

3. Points to note

(1) Farmers must sign a fermentation bed production contract with the strain-supplying company, so that if there are problems they can go to the strain-supplying company.

(2) Regularly drink a 1:200 dilution of EM bacteria. Feeding fermented feed can break down the nutrients in the feed in advance, making it easier for the chickens to fully absorb them.

(3) The stocking density of the chickens must be well controlled. If the density is too high, there will be too much manure per unit area, and the bacteria in the fermentation bed will not be able to effectively decompose the manure. Five to six chickens per square meter.

(4) The growth of beneficial bacteria requires a moist environment. Observe the humidity of the fermentation bed, and you can spray a 1:200 dilution of EM bacteria. Keep the humidity at around 30%.

(5) Pay close attention to the activity of the probiotics: when necessary, add a 1:50 dilution of EM bacterial liquid to regulate the activity of the probiotics, to ensure that fermentation can proceed normally.

(6) No chemical drugs: the use of chemical drugs and antibiotic drugs is prohibited in the fermentation litter, to prevent them from killing the probiotics and reducing their activity.

(7) Attention must be paid to ventilation and air exchange.

(8) Normal disease prevention.

Therefore, fermentation bed chicken-raising technology has many advantages, and its clean, odorless characteristics make it even more suitable for balcony dwellers' chicken-raising choice!