anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?

[Lacy Blues]

I wanted to share some pics of the process that FINALLY works for me!

In this first pic, I have my soaking/sprouting container. It holds 3 quarts and I used plastic canvas for the lid insert after cutting out part of the lid so water can be added or dumped easily... I don't even have to take the lid off.



They soak overnight or for 24 hours usually and then I place them in a dishpan to drain. I use one of those sink racks that goes in the bottom of the sink to angle my containers. They get rinsed every day, usually only once but twice would be better. I have also started doing something to minimize/cut down on mold issues. During the soak, the first half of the amount of time, I add just a drop or two of dish soap (Kassaundra's idea) then I'll rinse them and then I'll ad a healthy splash of ACV to the soak water for the remainder of time. I got this information by doing a search on mold inhibitors for sprouting.



Now for the fun part. I used to sprout the seeds in the original container and they would start just fine and if I didn't get them out of there by a certain point, it would be extremely difficult to get them out at all. When I put them in a tray of any kind though, I always had trouble with mold gaining a foothold. Finally, I figured out this system...

I got a Sterilite container about the right size and I cut holes in the end, using the same plastic canvas to cover the holes to allow for quick easy drainage and some air circulation too. Sprouts go in these containers until they've grown a little bit... I like to wait until there is a little bit of green on them before serving.



I have a piece of wire shelf set inside a plastic tub lid for my sprouts to drain into.




Wheat sprouts just a couple days old. These get fed out at this approximate stage... maybe one more day.


Sorghum milo just starting to get a bit of green.



Barley. I let this get a couple of inches long, mow it with the scissors and then separate all the roots into the fermented feed bucket.


BOSS. I let these get pretty long. Then I'll take usually half of them, separated into another pan and go over them with my pizza cutter to cut them up. There will be a lot of these sprouts so separating them by half isn't generally an issue. After taking half of them out of the pan, I'll spread the remaining sprouts out. It gives them more room and in another day or two, I'll use them the same as the others... chopped.


And even my oats are sprouting. I'll let these grow another day or two and then use them. If they get long, I'll mow with scissors into the feed bucket and then separate the roots in there too.


So that is my sprouting system and I'm so happy that I can finally grow them successfully!

 

[jennianne]

@Lacy Blues Great post, especially the pictures and descriptions of stages. I have been letting my barley go to the just getting a little green point, too, and I was wondering what others do. I also soak first in mason jars, rinse them a few days, then place them in Rubbermaid food containers about 1/2 inch or so deep. I spray them with water a few times a day until they're a little green, then pull them apart and feed to my girls (who gobble them up!).

Definitely going to keep the soap/ACV in mind, great tip.

 

[lazy gardener]

Jenni, when you put them in the Rubbermaid, are there drainage holes in the bottom of those containers? Do you not rinse them at all at that stage? Just spray them???

Lacy, I like the way you cut your lids. Where did you get those containers? I just picked up 2 glass containers at good will that will hold about 2 quarts each. How much dry seed do you put in your containers? Do you find that they get too matted and encourage the sprouts to get "sour" in the middle?

I'm still working out a system to grow the right amount of sprouts for my flock of 16. Have been using 1 qt jars, as well as my 3 tiered "salad sprouter". I drilled some 5 cup refrigerator dishes, but am not terribly happy with the outcome with those. My kitchen space is limited, so I have less room than I'd like. FF now lives on the floor beside the wood stove and chimney, and it seems to be very happy there. I've caught the cat snacking on it.

 

[jennianne]

Just spray them to keep them from drying out, no drain holes in the rubbermaids.

 

[Lacy Blues]

You could just spray them as jenni suggests but in my particular situation that did not work out well at all! Therefore, I cannot advise it.

I got those containers from Dollar Tree. I've checked back for more and they don't have them anymore... at least not where I live. I cut the lids with a dremel and the plastic canvas was easier, cut with scissors.

My large containers have drainage holes in addition to the mesh at the end... well, one drainage hole but it can also drain out where the mesh is poking through the bottom. I have pictures if you'd like to see them... I just didn't want to overwhelm the thread with photos and details.

 

[Leahs Mom]

When I do mine on the countertop (as opposed to the bag method that @Kassaundra showed us...which I use sometimes) I just use a bowl and a stainless steel strainer. These strainers come in several sizes so you can go from large to small depending on how many you want to do at one time.

I put the seeds in the strainer then into the bowl filled with water covering the seeds for the initial soak (12-24 hours).

Then just lift the strainer out and set in the sink and dump out the water from the bowl.
Then I rinse the seeds with running water from the sink thoroughly. I can then just shake or "toss" the seeds around in the strainer to get the excess water out and place the strainer on a canning jar ring that's placed in the bottom of the (now empty) bowl. (Placing it on the ring allows the water to drain out and keeps the seeds from sitting in a puddle of water.)

I usually place a sheet of paper towel over the strainer to keep out some of the light the first few days.

Then I just keep rinsing, shaking/tossing, and putting back into the bowl until they are sprouted to the length I want. I probably do the rinse 3x/day...but could be more or less depending on your availability. I'd suggest at least morning and evening.

Never had any mold issue this way.

 

[jennianne]

Wanted to mention that I am doing my sprouting indoors and the humidity is very low this time of year due to running heat in the house. It is possible that I will have to add drainage when the humidity rises. For water, I only spray about an ounce of water twice per day. My sprouts take longer than what others seem to be getting.

Also, I am only sprouting about a half cup of barley per container, looks like the pics of others' set ups show much higher amounts being sprouted at a time--that might affect dampness/dark for mold to be an issue.

One other thing I thought about is I am using organic seeds that appear to be very clean and free of any contaminants. I am very pleased with my sprout rates and the 0% mold but I think I paid too much. I only got 20 pounds, though, and in order to get a better price you generally have to buy a much larger quantity than I can reasonably use or store for my slow rate of consumption. Plus since this was my first time sprouting, I was not sure if I would keep up with it and didn't want to have loads of seed go to waste if I didn't want to continue sprouting.

 

[Lacy Blues]

As long as you have chickens, loads of seeds will never go to waste.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

As long as you have chickens, loads of seeds will never go to waste.

can i feed whole wheat berries to them, or does the wheat have to be cracked first? the wheat I have refuses to sprout under any conditions.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They can eat the whole wheat berries just fine. I still like to sprout them a bit for more volume but when I get lazy, I just throw the wheat as scratch.
The only thing that really needs to be cracked is corn since it's so large. That said, they don't have problems with sunflower seeds.

A 2 hour soak works best for me followed by 3 more rinses the first day and at least 2 rinses each day thereafter. It sprouts after about 3 days. Temperature matters. 65-75F works.