anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?

[Lacy Blues]

Ok, today I started soaking lots of stuff. I had a few pieces of burlap left over so I made 3 smaller bags out of them. I am soaking oats, wheat, milo, and barley in burlap. I soaked some lentils earlier in one of my nylon mesh bags but only for a few hours as if I soak them longer, they start fermenting and won't sprout well at all. There was some brown rice in my cupboard that looked like something had gotten into it. We had some grain moths or something in the cupboard a few months back and I never found what they were after until possibly today. Anyway, I dumped all of that rice into a deep container and ran water into it to wash away all the gunk. If it won't sprout then, I'll just toss it into my ferment bucket. Anyway, probably tomorrow morning I'll take all those burlap sacks out of the soak and get them on the rubber pan and stack them like you do and then put the other rubber pan on top and see if they don't sprout faster having that much more moisture around. Hopefully that will make the difference.

 

[lazy gardener]

If I bought a bag of wheat, how long could I expect it to remain viable and maintain it's nutrient content? Also, any one have any thoughts about what would need to be added to wheat, BOSS, and lentil sprouts to make a balanced sprout feed for chickens this time of year? I'm starting to think it's not worth fighting to get them to eat the crumble... if you can't beat them, join them! Any one using sprouts as a basis for a balanced home made feed???

 

[Lacy Blues]

Maybe if you ferment your crumble they would eat it. I don't know if you could make a balanced ration using just sprouts, fodder, etc. There are amino acids, vitamins and minerals that are not in the sprouts. They are very healthy for them but I don't think they could live on them and be healthy for very long.

 

[lazy gardener]

Lacy, that's the question I'm asking. What suppliments would I need to add to the grains to meet all of their needs. Can't ferment crumble this time of the year unless I give them an other heated dog bowl. But I was fermenting in the fall, and again, they turned their beaks to it.

 

[enola]

Day 3 on my sprouting............

My oats molded.

 

[PetRock]

Day 3 on my sprouting............

My oats molded.

So sorry! How long was your initial soak? What were you sprouting them in? Did you rinse them with cool water twice a day and make sure that the water was completely drained after rinsing? I started growing fodder last year and had problems with mold. I learned that they needed to be rinsed well at least twice a day to prevent mold. Now I just sprout the grain and feed it to the chickens on day 3 or 4. We keep the temps in our house cold in the winter and warm in the summer so I may have to deal with mold again once it warms up. We can have temps of 100 plus for days at a time in the summer.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Lacy, that's the question I'm asking. What suppliments would I need to add to the grains to meet all of their needs. Can't ferment crumble this time of the year unless I give them an other heated dog bowl. But I was fermenting in the fall, and again, they turned their beaks to it.

How wet did you serve it? They don't like it real sloppy. If you want to come to the fermented feed thread, rather than talk about that on here, I'll get the link for you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds/13180#post_12562042

 

[enola]

Initial soak 8 hours - rinsed 2 times daily - 65 or 68 degrees in house - good ventilation

Are oats a cool weather sprouter?

Trying again today!

 

[Kassaundra]

The most success I have w/ sprouting is in a bag or sac (burlap is where I started and still my favorite, but I have made sacks from old cotton sheets and used already made pillow cases). Before I came across that method I had all kinds of trouble drying out, or molded or whatever, but since using the sacks no sprouting issues at all. The only exception is if I try and grow more the 5 days I will get mold, but I always feed out at 4 days.

 

[pinkaliboo]

BOSS = Black Oil Sunflower Seeds