anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?

[Tutu of 5]

I sprout adzuki beans; wheat berries and mung beans. I have sprouts in all forms of the process going all of the time. (Soaking, starting to sprout 1-2 days old, and finished and ready to feed to the chickens 3-4 days old.) They gobble them up. I also chop up kale, chard and spinach for them everyday....and hang it on the fence so it gives them something to keep busy with too. Good luck!

They seem to enjoy it all.

 

[pfewless]

I was reading about growing and feeding fodder to my hens. Has anyone done this and how does it help or hinder their laying? I want to reduce my feed costs but I dont want my girls to be nutritionally deficient or have it hinder their laying. I have 6 girls, 1 roo, all are healthy and average 4-5 eggs a day in the winter.

 

[RichnSteph]

I was reading about growing and feeding fodder to my hens. Has anyone done this and how does it help or hinder their laying? I want to reduce my feed costs but I dont want my girls to be nutritionally deficient or have it hinder their laying. I have 6 girls, 1 roo, all are healthy and average 4-5 eggs a day in the winter.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens

 

[Pezgallo3]

Where is the best place to purchase these seeds? Any good ideas on where to find non GMO without breaking the bank?

 

[OkanaganPeppers]

Where is the best place to purchase these seeds? Any good ideas on where to find non GMO without breaking the bank?

What are you thinking of sprouting?

I'm lucky...I have a organic non GMO grainery near by with reasonable prices. And I get my BOSS from a local produce store 40 lbs for $24.00 canadian. Not sure of your American prices or the best place for you buy your seeds/grains, I would think that it is just wheat, corn and soyabeans that you would have to be careful of. Any other seeds and grainsyou might want to sprout should be pretty safe for being OP type and non GMO.

 

[rides2far]

I tried to start sprouts. I didn't realize I should just use some of the seeds so I dumped the whole packet in! What a mess. I went on line after that to learn how to do it properly!

 

[Pezgallo3]

At what age can I start feeding my chicks sprouted grains?

 

[Pezgallo3]

To be honest I would sprout anything I can get my hands on at this point. Im in Southern California and finding it hard to find anything in bulk. My whole reasoning is to cut costs on feed so don't want to buy one pound at a time from the grocery stores. I found a place today that can get me wheat but its about an hour and a half away. Ill probably be buying 100lbs at a time just to make the drive worth it.

 

[Pezgallo3]

What are you thinking of sprouting?

I'm lucky...I have a organic non GMO grainery near by with reasonable prices. And I get my BOSS from a local produce store 40 lbs for $24.00 canadian. Not sure of your American prices or the best place for you buy your seeds/grains, I would think that it is just wheat, corn and soyabeans that you would have to be careful of. Any other seeds and grainsyou might want to sprout should be pretty safe for being OP type and non GMO.

To be honest I would sprout anything I can get my hands on at this point. Im in Southern California and finding it hard to find anything in bulk. My whole reasoning is to cut costs on feed so don't want to buy one pound at a time from the grocery stores. I found a place today that can get me wheat but its about an hour and a half away. Ill probably be buying 100lbs at a time just to make the drive worth it.

 

[OkanaganPeppers]

At what age can I start feeding my chicks sprouted grains?

To be honest I would sprout anything I can get my hands on at this point. Im in Southern California and finding it hard to find anything in bulk. My whole reasoning is to cut costs on feed so don't want to buy one pound at a time from the grocery stores. I found a place today that can get me wheat but its about an hour and a half away. Ill probably be buying 100lbs at a time just to make the drive worth it.

The youngest age that I have fed chicks is about 1 week old and I fed them chia sprouts. I only feed them enough as a treat to make them extra friendly

1 - 2 tbsp on a dampened coffee filter works great! But I also cut the green tops off from the roots/filter before feeding

Something I've done in the past was ask the health food store to special order me in a 10 kg bag of something instead of buying it by the pound. But before asking a health food store to special order in a 10 kg bag of something, make sure you do a test sprout on it. Not everything in the health store will sprout and this includes organic products get a process done before shipping called "Ionizing radiation" to kill microorganisms. This happened to me once when I bought 10 kg of organic soyabeans. Oh well I at least found multipul uses for it so just write it off as a learning lesson

Seems sprouted BOSS is pretty popular, here it is sold as wild bird feed, so if you have a store that sales that kind of stuff that might be a good start.