anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?

[Delmar]

Quote:
I was just theorizing, but I'm not planning on buying any more flax seed.

Also have you tried sprouting your oats with my no rinse method? My horse oats are sprouting with it. that means after the plotspike is done I won't have to buy it!!!! YAY!!
Ginny

I'm not currently rising. It isn't making anything worse not to rinse.​

 

[vmdanielsen]

Yeah, I'm not doing flax again either.

 

[dottysfarm]

Okay, I have just found this thread and am trying to get it read through... I am about half way at this point... Anyway, I had a crazy thought... Would it be possible for those who sprout to use that sprout water to make a grain based vinegar?

 

[Kassaundra]

Joebryant ............... 5 lbs seriously??????

How many chickens were you planning on feeding?

Sounds like the male reasonig if one is good 12 is better.

 

[Lisa202]

I decided to try sprouting...here I have hard red wheat berries, rye, and green lentils.

I am trying out the green lentils and wheat first... To soak over night.

After 24 hours (1st full day of sprouting) (1 rinse in am and 1 rinse in pm with good draining each time)

After another 24 hours (2nd full day of sprouting) (2 rinses again)

After another 24 hours (3rd full day of sprouting) (2 rinses again)
And I think they are ready. They say that the sprout should be as long as the seed/bean and I think this looks right.

And here they are... on their way out to the coop. (I tried one...eh

)

nom...nom...nom..."these are so good!" said the chickens. The End.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Quote:
Thank you for this post. I've just tried this and I'm still sprouting BOSS for the girls. LOVE the idea of putting screen over the tops of the lids for easy rinsing. Brilliant!!! I have another day or two before they are ready to feed to them.

 

[Lisa202]

Now I have a couple of questions to any sprout experts out there...
tonight when I get home, they will be considerably longer then you see in the last photo (that was last night)..

a) are they still ok to eat longer than the seed/bean?
b) I refrigerate them in a tupperware now?
c) how long are they good for in the fridge?
d) do I have to let the chickens slowly get used to them so they don't get the runs (I read that on this post somewhere)
e) can I plant/or leave them in the jar and will they get longer and get green leaves/grasses?

Thanks!

To spicegirls,

I bought the jars from a natural foods store for 5$ each.

 

[Ali707]

I like this idea, because although they say the feed from the feed store has everything they need in it, I am doubtful. But that's just me.

I have sprouted seeds for family consumption before I ever had chickens, and I let them sprout fully in trays until they are about 2-3 inches long depending on what is sprouting. I am thinking to do that may result in crop binding, and yet, I see those girls scarf down long pieces of weeds and other things and do just fine.

The flax I tried one time and it was a slimey mess. They then turned to glue and stuck to my sprouting trays and NEVER sprouted. I was thinking though to get the extra Omega oils from the flax seed, I would throw them in my dry food blender for 1 second to crack them and then give them to the chickens that way. I would think that by cracking the shells they would probably be more easily digested and be able to get more nutrients from them. What do you think? Any problems with that? I would hate to throw the seeds away just because they don't sprout.

 

[3riverschick]

quoting Lisa202 Now I have a couple of questions to any sprout experts out there...
tonight when I get home, they will be considerably longer then you see in the last photo (that was last night)..

a) are they still ok to eat longer than the seed/bean?
------------
Believe it or not, I actually have an answer for this.

Took a lot of looking and most of the quoted info was sent to the list earlier in this thread.
The synopsis is , Sprouted seeds can be fed as a green food or a grain food. The difference occurs at the 4th day of sprouting. Before the 4th day, the seeds carry the protein of the unsprouted seed. They are fed as grain feed. On the 4th day, the proteins in the seed meet an enzyme(forget the name) and they are turned to starches. Anytime after the 4th day, sprouted grains are fed as green feed.
As I understand it from the classic books, in the old days when farmers would make their own mixed feed, they would have several parts to the ration. A percentage of this and a percentage of that. One of the parts of the mixed feed was called "grain". Instead of using plain seeds from oats or wheat, etc., they could substitute 1,2,or 3 day old sprouted seed as that part of the "grain" part of the mixture.
Green feed was used to condition the fowl ; bring the hens into lay ; and add vigor to the male thru his diet( he would them pass this increased vigor on to his chicks thru robust sperm). For this, they used sprouted grains which were 4 days old and older.
So it's not about the length of the sprout, it's about the age. Some books say one can feed them 4-6 inches long. Other books warn 1 1/2 inches is the max. Still other books say one should feed them at 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. The underlying premise here is that :
1. 1/4 to 1/2 is probably under 4 days, thus grain feed.
2. 1-1/2 inches long could be either grain feed or over the 4 days limit and used as green feed.
3. 4-6 inches is obviously green feed.
Several books did warn that if one was going to grow the sprouts past 1 inch long to be wary of mold or slimy sprouts. Interesting, huh?
Best Regards,
Karen Tewart

 

[featherbaby]

Quote:
Are you doing the Kefir culturing? If not, check out the PROBIOTICS thread and come on over to the Kefir Krazies club! It's Wonderful!