Advice for sprouting a lot of grain

[chickiedoodle]

Well it is the end of summer and our girls have officially eaten every green thing on our property in their forages. So, until the rain starts--in another 2 months

--I wanted to sprout some grain for them. We have nearly 50 chickens at the moment, so I need to do a lot and want to know if anyone has a good method for sprouting lots at once. My mom used to sprout in little jars on the counter---but that would be a lot of jars

 

[the lemon tree]

I've seen a user on here that goes by "Sproutgirl" who occupationally sells sprouts at farmers markets. I'm sure she can give you some really good feedback.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Put a 5 gallon bucket on the porch with a pin hole in the bottom. Fill with grain. Fill with water once a day an let it drain.

 

[al6517]

Where are you from??, Bermuda grass grows well with very deep an active root systems that cannot be pecked away by a hungry herd of chickens. it takes to fertilizer well but will not begin to grow well until the nightime temps stay at 60 degrees, hence the where you from Q. sounds like any type of fescue for the winter would be good it germinates well and fast but can be stripped bare in no time flat by a flock of 50.

AL

 

[purpletree23]

I'm a newbie so please be patient. What kind of grain do you sprout and what are the benefits for the chickens?

If you sprout grain in a 5 gallon bucket with a pin hole at the bottom doesn't the hole get covered and plugged by sprouts?

More information please.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

We sprout rice (different purpose, but chickens can eat it) and we have an easy set up. We take a 20 gallon fish tank and put a rack inside it to hold up pieces of poster board. On the poster board we poke a grid of holes (100 per board and fills up the board completely they are spaced about a cm apart) and place a grain on each hole. Then we place a line of one ply toilet paper across and spritz it with water to make it stick. After a few hours we put the dried board into the rack in the fish tank. Then fill the tank with an inch or two of water (it will "crawl" up the pieces of poster board) and place a lid with a 60 watt bulb on 24/7. The rice sprouts in a week. I've done this for my garden with seeds though and it works really well.

Okay so this sounds like a lot of effort but it isn't especially since we need to know just how many sprouted and have to count them. Since you don't have to be so precise and you want to use it as feed, you could though just spread a layer in the bottom of the fish tank with an inch or so of water and then put the top on with a 60 watt light 24/7. It should still work great. Rice is ridiculously easy to sprout. If you have any questions you can pm me.

 

[the lemon tree]

Quote:
I personally have sprouted mung beans, alfalfa, garbanzo beans, wheat, barley, and sunflower seeds but the list doesn't end there. You can sprout all kinds of other seeds, grains, and beans.Here is a pretty helpful link about all the things you can sprout and how.

If I were to use the 5 gallon bucket idea, I'd drill a few holes and line the bottom with a fine mesh; it keeps the sprouts in, the water out. I would also make sure they drain REALLY well or else you'll have a mold problem.

 

[chickiedoodle]

Thanks everyone!
I think I will try the bucket system and see how it works. I am sprouting wheat, corn, and sunflower seeds--scratch grains.
AL, I live in Nor Cal. Bermuda grass does live here, but only grows well in the middle of the summer--our night temps are in the 50s "most" summer nights. But there is a small patch of it down by the river--not much to look at right now as the girls visit it every morning

Maybe I will try a field of it next year. The chickens free range and have lots of forage all winter/spring and much of the summer, it is just this end of summer into fall season that greens are scarce.
Chicky, thanks for the link, I will check that out.