Finding sproutable grains

mobius said:

Also, for sprouting with canning jars, I use a circle cut out of that bumpy plastic shelf liner material (I don't know how else to describe it!) and insert that with a canning ring over the jar for drainage. Easy. I have also seen people use craft needlepoint screen, same thing...

Have fun! There are so many options...I looked on craigslist the other day and found a 50# bag of whole oats for $10 from a local farmer.

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Yes, I agree. That's clever to use that material! We've just cut out squares of old door/window screen. Works great, except for the wee wee teeny seeds on occasion that I have tried.

harmesonfarm said:

Currently I sprout a whole wack of variety...depends on what i have. Currently I've been going through my gardening seeds, and sprouting out those for the girls (the ones that i need to dump anyways due to aging). They seem to love them. I also do, red clover, hard red wheat, barley, and alfalfa.

I love the sounds of sprouting out the BOSS, as well as beans. Might give those a try once i'm done sprouting the blend i have right now.
Don't sprout these...but they sure do love peanuts and quinoa. Has anyone tried sprouting those? I get a wild bird seed blend from the feed store that i've started giving them a bit of, they love it.

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I'd be very cautious of sprouting seeds that are meant to be planted. Many of them are treated with fungicide. You might want to do a search of the companys you buy your veggie seeds from to see if all fungicide treated seeds are so labeled.

lazy gardener said:

I'd be very cautious of sprouting seeds that are meant to be planted. Many of them are treated with fungicide. You might want to do a search of the companys you buy your veggie seeds from to see if all fungicide treated seeds are so labeled.

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that's a good point, all mine are certified organic and unsprayed...not sure if they can do that in canada or not either. Definitely something to be aware of though! These are from a small scale seed saving company. Thank you for the advice and heads up!

Any way you can increase your room temperature up to 65-70 degrees? They will sprout faster.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/425134/anybody-raise-sprouts-to-feed-the-chickens/230 said:

I'd be very cautious of sprouting seeds that are meant to be planted. Many of them are treated with fungicide. You might want to do a search of the companys you buy your veggie seeds from to see if all fungicide treated seeds are so labeled.

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Yes Lazy gardner,
That's why I use Plotspike Forage Oats. They have no chemical coating and like other oat seeds are non-GMO being created by special linebreeding at Louisiana State University circa 2002.
http://www.plotspike.com http://raganandmassey.com/product/plotspike-forage-oats/
I get mine at Tractor Supply. I get the 25 lb.. bag, they also come in a 50 lb. Lasts for years, properly stored.
Why Oats? Historically, oats have proven themselves the very best seed to sprout for poultry. Given as green feed, not grain feed, the sprouts help the males create more robust sperm, hopefully leading to more robust chicks. The green feed sprouts also help bring the hens into lay.
What is green and grain feed?
Grain feed is sprouts 1 thru 3 days old. It is fed instead of part of the daily ration. As an enrichment of their daily ration.
Green feed is sprouts 4 days and older. On the 4th day nutritional change takes place in the sprout which makes it green feed providing to the male and female the virtues listed above. Best to feed the sprouts no older than 7 days. You can grow them longer but there is no nutritional advantage to that and runs the risk of the sprouts spoiling.
For Green feed: feed one cubic inch per bird per day of 4 thru 7 day old oat sprouts. or to bowel tolerance. If bowels get a bit soft, back down a bit in amount and they will firm up again.
Sprouts should smell fresh and feel crisp. If they smell foul and/or feel slimy, they are spoiled, do not feed, discard.
To learn more about the history of sprouted grains, and oats in particular, including how-to, see pages 24 thru 29 of this BYC thread at top of this post.
Best Regards,
Karen

Another way to avoid treated seed is to not buy "seed" anything, but "feed" grade. Normally those come out of the bin, are fanned (cleaned) and bagged as is.

Oats have been a traditional livestock feed for just about always. We used to feed oats as a creep feed to young beef calves and they could fed free choice out of creep feeders. Due to the bulk of the husk, they could not get enough to founder on. Horses were also fed a ration of oats to supplement any hay forage or grass they had access to. In fact, that is what used to be on a 50# bag of whole oats........."Race Horse Oats". Other than having been run through a cleaner to rid them of any trash and stems, they were simply whole oats.

A farmer approximately 15 miles north east of me has non-GMO corn, soy bean, sunflower, canola, wheat and barley. Also another farmer south of me about 10 miles has non-GMO rye if anyone's interested.

I have had great success using n 10" x 20" plastic growing trays. I buy them in sets. I poke holes in a try using an ice pick or awl -- LOTS of holes in the lower or draining section of the tray. I put grains in a bowl to soak for a day then put them in the growing trays. After a good watering of the tray, I place the "holey" tray inside another one, then place a third tray upside down on top (or a piece of plastic wrap) to keep them from drying out. Water and let drain twice a day. Wheat (I've used several varieties) works great, barley great though harder to come by for me. Rye is OK. I buy 50 pound sacks of the grains at the local farmer's coop or feed stores.

If you want actual green grass for the chickies, put the tray under florescent lights once you see both root and stem sprouts. They love them! Do be careful not to over-feed though as they can impact the crop if eaten too much at a time. Also, don't let the grass get too high! I have cut way back on what they get now.

I have 14 barred rock pullets and a white crested black polish cockerel (freebe) all 7 months old now. I'm getting 12 - 14 eggs per day from my girls and a lot of trouble from my cockerel as the girls love to pick all the feathers out of his tail. They have always harassed him!

Sprouting oats I have trouble with. I've done the same thing I do with other grains but only get about a 10% sprout rate. Of course they love them un-sprouted, too. Don't know what I'm doing wrong with the oats. Hm...