Excellent experimentation and write up! This will be incredibly useful for us since our chickens are confined to a small enclosure due to the number of predators in the area.
My $10 Inexpensive DIY Fodder Tower with Dollar Tree Dish Bins
- Author gtaus
- Publish date
- Article read time 8 min read
gtaus
Thanks for the rating. Hope you give this a try.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. Yes, building a fodder tower out of scrap lumber is very easy, cheap, and super effective. I mainly grow barley fodder. I tried growing oat fodder but the germination rate was very low. (@WannaBeHillBilly has experimented more with oat fodder and reports the soaking time of 2 hours works for him). I tried mixing the barley and oats in one bin, but my oat seeds did not germinate very well. I soak my barley seeds for 12 hours, but @wannbebill reposts that soaking oat seeds longer than 2 hours reduces the germination rate. In theory, you could mix seeds that require the same soaking time and days to germinate in the same bin. But if you are lucky enough to have a variety of seeds to grow as fodder, I would first try them out in separate bins and determine the best soaking times for those seeds. Again, I suspect I soaked my oat seeds too long (12 hours) and actually "drowned" them in the process. My barley seeds have the best germination rate at 12 hours soaking time, but at 24 hours soaking ime the germination rate dropped off drastically. So there is a best soaking time for each type of seed that needs to be considered.
I am going to give this a try with just one bin first in my house. In the TN winter that we are in now my chickens quickly tear up the grass when I move their portable run around. Can't wait to see how they like the fodder.
Here are my chickens
https://youtu.be/6TAi-KRGHRs
Here are my chickens
https://youtu.be/6TAi-KRGHRs
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. As I stated many times, I live in northern Minnesota and don't have the luxury of fresh green lawn grass for about 6 months out of the year. So I grow fodder for my chickens and they really seem to appreciate it.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. I do hope you try it. The fodder tower is cheap to build, and growing fodder is very easy.
gtaus
Thanks for the review.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. This was one of the few truly successful experiments I have done, and I felt the need to share it. Hope others can benefit from my project.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiment with us. I'm going to put my brother to work building my tower(s) next week. I hope Mine will probably have to be no more than 4' high, so I might have to have 2 towers. I'm barely over 5' tall myself, so I think 4' towers might be ideal for me. One question though. Does the barley need light while germinating? I don't use direct light for my own salad sprouts, but they might be more delicate.
Mine will probably have to be no more than 4' high, so I might have to have 2 towers. I'm barely over 5' tall myself, so I think 4' towers might be ideal for me. One question though. Does the barley need light while germinating? I don't use direct light for my own salad sprouts, but they might be more delicate.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. The great thing about this tower design is that you can build as tall as you want. Seeds don't need any light while germinating that first week. The germinating seeds grow nice and green for about 6-8 days, after which they would need sunlight to grow green - otherwise the green grass blades start to yellow. I typically feed my fodder to the chickens about day 6 or 7, so, in theory, they don't need any sunlight at that point.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and coments. I too don't let my chickens free range, so I had to find a way to bring fresh green grass to them. In the winter, here in Minnesota, this was the best option I have found.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. I hope people can see how easy it is to build a fodder tower out of scrap lumber and some plastic bins. Very little cost and immediate payback.
gtaus
I considered buying a ready made shelf for my fodder system, but in the end, the tower system I built out of scrap wood just works better for me. I think any wire/plastic mesh shelving would work, but I was able to make a wooden shelf out of scrap wood to exactly fit my plastic dish bins.
I soak my barley seeds for 12 hours, which seems to work best for me. I tried soaking my barley seeds for 24 hours, but that was too long and I think the seeds "drowned" as they did not germinate and grow well. I manually water my fodder twice a day, about 12 hours apart. But there is no reason why you could not set up some kind of timer to cycle through the flood water. I typically use 1/2 to 3/4 a bin of water when I flood my tower. In my case, I turn on the faucet for about 30 seconds and then shut it off. That's about all the effort it takes. As long as the bins get watered at least once per day, I think it might work for you. If the bins completely dry out, you might risk killing off the growth.
@WannaBeHillBilly has posted a thread with growing fodder using other seeds, such as wheat and oats. What he has discovered is that soaking time does depend on the type of seed, so oat seeds work best when only soaked for 2 hours, for example. He has also had great luck with growing wheat fodder.
I soak my barley seeds for 12 hours, which seems to work best for me. I tried soaking my barley seeds for 24 hours, but that was too long and I think the seeds "drowned" as they did not germinate and grow well. I manually water my fodder twice a day, about 12 hours apart. But there is no reason why you could not set up some kind of timer to cycle through the flood water. I typically use 1/2 to 3/4 a bin of water when I flood my tower. In my case, I turn on the faucet for about 30 seconds and then shut it off. That's about all the effort it takes. As long as the bins get watered at least once per day, I think it might work for you. If the bins completely dry out, you might risk killing off the growth.
@WannaBeHillBilly has posted a thread with growing fodder using other seeds, such as wheat and oats. What he has discovered is that soaking time does depend on the type of seed, so oat seeds work best when only soaked for 2 hours, for example. He has also had great luck with growing wheat fodder.
gtaus
Thanks for the review and comments. This experiment turned into an ongoing project. I have been growing fodder inside my house for about 2 months now, providing my chickens fresh green fodder grass to eat while the snow banks are almost 4 feet high outside. I think they enjoy the fresh greens, and since it takes me less than 5 minutes per day, it's one of the easiest things I do for my chickens in the winter.
For my initial cost of $10, I have grown almost 500 lbs of fresh, green, lush barley fodder from my small backyard flock all winter long for less than 5 minutes of effort per day. The 100 lbs of barley seeds I bought to make my fodder was less than $12.00. For me, that's like getting 10 bags of commercial feed for only $1.20 per 50 lb. bag. Fodder is a supplement to their diet, but it does help stretch out the commercial feed, and I know the fodder is healthy for them.