Academic article states sprouted fodder not economical on commercial scale

[lazy gardener]

IMO, articles discussing improved food value of sprouts (compared to whole grain) even though they are focused on human nutrition ARE PERTINENT. Improved food value, regardless of the species that is eating the food is a good thing. As for the cost of sprouting for a BYF, aside from a little time, a little space, and a little water, there is no added cost. It takes me less than 5 minutes/day to provide fresh sprouted grains to my flock of 25+ birds every day during the winter.

 

[Aerliss]

I'm just starting out on this journey, so doing as much reading as possible and just like OP don't have much bias either way. For me the article goes in the "eh, not very valid" pile, because it only had one reference.

ONE REFERENCE?!? My high school essays had more references.

I've read variously that different grains show different nutrient changes during sprouting, so to only reference one study re nutrient value, that only used one grain, isn't very convincing.

 

[lazy gardener]

"And I'm likely going to continue the 'easy way' of feeding, rather than adding complications to my life by either fermenting or sprouting grains for the chickens.
Mary"
@Folly's place
Absolutely, Mary. You need to do what is easiest and most sensible for you. Your method has been working for years, and works very well.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi Mary and all.
Over in the " Feeding and Watering" forum there is a discussion called " Anyone raise sprouts to feed chickens ". Pages 24 thru 29 ( end of 2010 and start of 2011) answers a lot of your questions. The thread was on a search for quality references to advance the discussion. It was a rollicking discussion with lots of opinions, quotes, hot links, history and stats.
Best,
Karen
It is important one distinguishes between sprouting for grain feed ( 1-3 days old) and green feed ( 4 days and older).

 

[Kiki]

Hi Mary and all.
Over in the " Feeding and Watering" forum there is a discussion called " Anyone raise sprouts to feed chickens ". Pages 24 thru 29 ( end of 2010 and start of 2011) answers a lot of your questions. The thread was on a search for quality references to advance the discussion. It was a rollicking discussion with lots of opinions, quotes, hot links, history and stats.
Best,
Karen
It is important one distinguishes between sprouting for grain feed ( 1-3 days old) and green feed ( 4 days and older).

This thread??
anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?

 

[3riverschick]

I spent some time researching historically which seeds poultry breeders preferred. First half of last century, breeders tried a bunch of different seeds and wrote articles on their feeding results. The end result was oat seeds were preferred above others. Some qualifications to this preference were:
Use high quality seeds.
Use forage oat seeds instead of feed oat seeds.
Grain feed was sprouts 1-3 days old and fed as a portion of the daily ration.
Green feed was sprouts 4 days or older used as a supplement to the daily ration at the rate of one cubic inch per adult bird per day.
Should poop get thinner, back off amount of sprouts until poop firms up.

 

[Vivid Hatchery]

Hi,
in my small flock I have used Bovidr Labs poultry Nutri drench in my waterers to great success . When I put nutri-drench in my chicks water for the first two weeks ,I raised robust healthy chicks. I've never had a sick or a dead chick when raised on Drench water instead of plain water.
it is also used as a supplement to the water by many large poultry Farmers with good success and has positively affected their bottom line . if you read the poultry testimonial page several of them have weighed in there with how much it has helped get their chicks off to a good start and improve their bottom line with heavier weights at slaughter .
Http://www.nutridrench.com
best Karen

Hey Karen,

Thank you again, this has been very helpful. I have a small farm, with about 70 breeders, and I have issues with some of my young chicks not making it. Once they get to about a week they are fine, but they are struggling before then. It is common for me to lose one or two chick daily. I am also having problems with my hatch rate. I think it is at least partially nutritional. I started supplementing with vitamin B. I have overlooked Nutridrench in the past, but I am pretty sold by experience. How much of the Nutri-Drench do you add to one gallon? What would you recommend for dosage?

 

[Kiki]

Hey Karen,

Thank you again, this has been very helpful. I have a small farm, with about 70 breeders, and I have issues with some of my young chicks not making it. Once they get to about a week they are fine, but they are struggling before then. It is common for me to lose one or two chick daily. I am also having problems with my hatch rate. I think it is at least partially nutritional. I started supplementing with vitamin B. I have overlooked Nutridrench in the past, but I am pretty sold by experience. How much of the Nutri-Drench do you add to one gallon? What would you recommend for dosage?

Are you familiar with coccidiosis?

 

[3riverschick]

Talk to Bovidr Labs about dosing for a commercial operation. Very helpful friendly people.
I just have a backyard flock .
For my backyard flock,
I use one and a half teaspoons of poultry Nutri drench per quart waterer. you might also want to contact a couple of the other large operations on the Nutri drench poultry testimonial page to see how they're working it .
I have found contacting elite experts and successful large operations very successful. they are more than willing to share how they did it and it's been a great help in my research.
Best,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

One season ( without asking Bovidr Labs) I raised over 40 light Sussex on Sheep Nutri drench because it was less expensive . it worked out great. the birds thrived . beautiful , robust chicks, cockerels, and pullets.
The thing with drench is that it doesn't need to be digested. it main lines directly into the bloodstream so it can nutritionally support the development of the GI tract and thus the immune system without stressing the development of the GI tract . this is really important because the chick is already contending with learning how to digest complex carbohydrates in the midst of rapidly developing GI tract. Why stress the GI tract further with giving it different supplements that also need to be digested.
Best,
Karen