Don't tell the wife, I'm growing fodder in the 2nd bathroom!

[pauoa]

When you are taking care of your chickens and going through the process of growing fodder, you’re also staying out of her hair - sounds like a win-win here! Just make sure to grow her something too - try a money tree... yet another win-win idea!

 

[gtaus]

I think my issues were that I spread them too thick and inconsistently in the pan, and that my temps were too high (90's! and I did them outside).

I put about 1 pound of barley seeds in my plastic dish bin, let them soak for 12 hours, then drain. The seeds are usually consistently level in the dish bin after the soak, but if not, I'll level them out. I only water my bins twice a day, which I believe gives them time to somewhat dry out between the flood and drain cycles. The seeds are about 1/2 inch deep in my bins, and they seem to grow well. I have heard that too little or too many seeds may cause a problem. Also, I don't know about temps in the 90'sF as it never got that hot where I live when I was growing the fodder in my garage. I know the seeds seem to germinate and grow better if slightly moist, but neither wet nor completely dry.

Fermented feed options are not on my list as in the winter here the wet feed would turn to ice in no time. I notice that as the temp has dropped down into the 10'sF, my chickens are eating the green barley blade grass but some of the root mat is frozen before they eat down that far. I throw any root mat remains into their compost bin in the chicken run, and it disappears in a day. I don't know if they go back and eat it along with the kitchen scraps or if it is scratched into the compost. Either way, I figure it is not wasted.

I am surprised your chickens did not like the barley fodder, but I wonder if your growing results were patchy, at best, that maybe some of the seeds in the 90'sF temp had spoiled/rotted or mold started to grow? My fodder smells like fresh green grass like you would have out on the lawn in summer. At any rate, we do what we can and go with those results that work.

 

[gtaus]

When you are taking care of your chickens and going through the process of growing fodder, you’re also staying out of her hair - sounds like a win-win here! Just make sure to grow her something too - try a money tree... yet another win-win idea!

Well, my wife likes her house plants but I don't think you can eat orchids. This winter I have 3 pots of Swiss Chard growing in the house and she planted 1 pot of Basil. I really like Swiss Chard, and it grows fairly well inside the house. I tried growing some Swiss Chard a few winters ago but towards the end of winter (Feb/Mar) my plants got full of aphids. So I told my wife that I would only grow the Swiss Chard until/if we see any aphids.

One of the things I like about the chickens is that they really don't take much time to take care of. So I'm only out of my wife's hair maybe 10 minutes per day with the chickens. Even growing the fodder is less than 5 minutes per day, In my fodder tower, I have 6 bins growing, but I only run the water for about 30 seconds in the morning, and again 30 seconds at night. The water floods and drains from the top bin down to the lower bins and out the bathtub drain. How easy is that? Even I have been successful on this project!

 

[BDutch]

I have been reading the first 7x10 reactions.

But now I have to go to my chickens to prevent them from sleeping outside in the bush.
Curious how this goes on. It reads like a good and fun detective.
If there still is no solution in the end I can give you more nice ideas to solve youre problem.

 

[TheChiggens]

4!
I cant wait to see how this goes!

 

[BDutch]

Amazing. 5+ weeks and still not discovered. This detective is ongoing.

After seeing Murder at the Orient express last friday, I got this idea. If you get into trouble @tgaus, ask us all to come over to your house. Fans will come from all over the world to save you.
But do consider the disadvantages too. The spare bathroom is needed for all your guests and they will eath the seeds and fudder for the chickens if they get hungry.
(hope my English is readable, for I am from the Netherlands and never lived in an Englisch speaking country).

So. This could be you're nr 19 ? Just say to you're loving wife " a few of my fans will come to rescue me if you don't accept the fact that I will be using the bathroom in winter. "

 

[BDutch]

I've got another idea. A plan to save you're growing fudder if youre illegal hobby is discovered. And you have to remove you're fudder-tower imediatly.

Make a walk-in closet in the garage. Hang a plant growing-lamp (e.g. used for canabis) and maybe a heater in there. Put isolation (e.g. strawbales) around it if you really have to move everything to you're man cave. Otherwise you're carbon footprint is going the wrong direction.

 

[My Chicken Friends]

Some of you may remember that this summer I experimented with growing barley fodder for my chickens (My $10 Inexpensive DIY Fodder Tower with Dollar Tree Dish Bins). My fodder tower was in my garage at that time. That was a successful experiment and I stated that I wanted to try growing fodder in the house this winter.

Well, it's October in Minnesota and the fresh green grass is no longer growing. Today I snuck in my fodder tower while the wife was in town. I put the fodder tower in the bathtub of our second (mostly unused) bathroom. I pulled the shower curtain across the rod so she cannot see the fodder tower if she walks past the second bathroom. Problem is, sooner or later, I know my wife will find out.

So, if anyone wants to offer a list of excuses I can use on that occasion, I'd like to hear your suggestions so I can keep peace in the family. I am kicking around a few ideas, but don't know how well they will go over when I get found out.

1) Fodder tower? What fodder tower? I don't see no fodder tower.

2) Oh yeah, I meant to tell you about that, but you were so busy that I just didn't want to bother you at the time and then I just forgot about it, I guess.

3) The chickens seemed less happy and a little less perky without fresh grass to eat, so I thought I would grow some fresh greens in the other bathroom, which we really don't use much, and you probably won't even think about it, really.

4) I got a request from the good people at BYC forums to update my article on the fodder tower and they wanted to know if I was having any success growing fodder in the house during the winter.

Any help in advance appreciated. Obviously, this is a limited time request.....

BTW, first batch of barley seeds is soaking in the first bin tonight. So I am already committed.

Oh, honey I thought this is what you were suggesting in your response to them in the garage. I’m so great full to have a wife that understands the need to put them indoors

 

[DukesDucks]

Hopefully you won't find the barley tower in the bedroom window, and a pillow and blankets in the bathtub.

 

[Sequel]

Hopefully you won't find the barley tower in the bedroom window, and a pillow and blankets in the bathtub.