Black oil seeds or hearts?

[Chris09]

I believe you are incorrect, Chris09. It's my understanding that sprouting increases the bioavailability of the seed's nutrients.

Sprouting only make the nutrients that is left after sprouting "more available".
Sprouting take a lot of nutrients and in doing so the product looses some nutritional value it would have as a seed, now it may gain some nutrients in the growth of vegetation and root but since chickens don't digest fibrous material very well there is a nutrient loss there.

What works for humans doesn't work for poultry and other livestock.

 

[hen madame]

How long does it take to sprout BOSS? If this does make more nutrients available to them I'd be willing to try.

 

[TalkALittle]

Sprouting only make the nutrients that is left after sprouting "more available".
Sprouting take a lot of nutrients and in doing so the product looses some nutritional value it would have as a seed, now it may gain some nutrients in the growth of vegetation and root but since chickens don't digest fibrous material very well there is a nutrient loss there.   

What works for humans doesn't work for poultry and other livestock. 

But sprouts don't have leaves, stems, or roots. You are feeding before the plant grows anything beyond those first two "leaves" that are the seed leaves or cotyledon.

 

[Chris09]

But sprouts don't have leaves, stems, or roots. You are feeding before the plant grows anything beyond those first two "leaves" that are the seed leaves or cotyledon.

Are you soaking or sprouting?
In order to be a sprout it has to have some growth sprouting from the seed.
The radicle root is the first thing to emerge from the seed and then it turns into a primary root, the sprout needs the radicle and primary root to take in extra nutrients from the soil IF it was in the soil.
Now if the sprout has there cotyledon then they have a hypocotyl stem.

Wheat sprout showing radicle root just starting to emerge.



Bean sprout showing good growth of radicle root. At this point the hypocotyl stem and cotyledon is just starting to emerge.

 

[TalkALittle]

Yes, of course there is some "vegetation" growth in sprouts. I just wasn't sure you were differentiating between sprouts and fodder. A lot of people don't. From what I've gathered, the optimum time to feed sprouts is at 4 days. After that, there is little additional benefit realized until the plant actually becomes much larger and is by then considered fodder. Actually, I think there is a study out there that showed that livestock did poorer when exclusively fed sprouts over 4 days old but less than 8 days old.