Growing fodder for chickens

[groverlvchx]

Happy Thanksgiving!

My chickens enjoyed the squash guts today.

 

[mg15]

Thank you,
mg

 

[CaliTX]

Chickens, ducks, and rabbits all got their first taste of fodder today... Nice Thanksgiving treat! Working on getting a setup where we can do more. This was our experimental go at it.

 

[Kassaundra]

I had all my grains already fermenting, but just got some more yesterday, so am going to attempt fodder, see if it is as easy as sprouting only.

 

[Warner123]

I was finally able to locate some wheat berries. I soaked them, and now starting my first tray. Wish me luck! Trying to figure out how to automate the watering process. I have some ideas. Will update on my progress.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Good Luck!

 

[notinoz2007]

I found red wheat berries at winco yesterday for .57/lb. the regular was much more expensive so red went in the cart, along with millet. both are soaking today and will be transferred to trays tomorrow. I'm so excited!!

 

[groverlvchx]

I'm going to try to find millet--that's good stuff! Does it fall through your drainage holes? Does it grow as fast as wheat and rye? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!! My chickens won't be getting any fodder for a couple days. I'm behind in production. I have wheat and rye sprouting in varying stages in four trays. Tonight I will add two more trays so will have six in the rotation. I seem to need six-eight days to get it to ready stage. It gets dark at 4:30 here now. sigh...

 

[Talbott Poultry]

I am using a 4 stack shelf unit from Wally Mart.

I turned everything upside down and re cut the legs,

Each shelf has 16 divided sections on the bottom.

I drilled 5 #35 holes in each section.

Monday night I rinsed and soaked 1 quart of wheat.

Tuesday night I drained, rinsed and left in strainer with weight on top.

Wednesday night I rinsed and spread out on shelf bottoms.
(Most seed had at least 1/4 inch roots.)
Note 1 quart of wheat does not allow for enough depth.
Next batch using 1-1/4 quarts.

This morning I watered, real good.
Several hours later I looked at it again.
I still had water standing in every compartment and a sweet smell.

Tonight I increased the size of all the holes to a #25
To each compartment I added 3 more hole to the center line of the shelf.

My question is what size holes and how many does everyone use?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Here is an update on our Fodder Feeding experiment.  Already my feed bill has gone down.  We give Fodder in the morning first thing when we let them out to free range.  They attack it like nobody's business!!!  The guineas are taking longer to get on board with it but they won't starve themselves, lol.  We then give layer pellets in the afternoon.  This has worked great and I am seeing an increase in eggs!  We had been down to less than a dozen eggs but we are up to almost 2 dozen yesterday. 

Here is the fodder at 5 days of growth,

Fodder at day 7 it smells sooooo sweet and yummy it is a mix of wheat and barley,

And here is my small breeding pen of Cukoo Marans enjoying their little slice the first day.  You should have heard that roo calling those girls over!!!

Okieridge, next time you take out some of your fodder, could you please post pictures of the bottom of the tray so we can see the holes? Also, would you ask your husband what size drill he used?