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

[gtaus]

I have 3 farmers within 5 miles of me that have little hutches with 50 lb bags of deer corn at the end of the driveway and a coffee can for the $5, plus a gas station with a pallet of deer corn and 2 pallets of deer apples at the pumps. The beauty of living in farm country, lol. Unfortunately, they had a deer test positive for CWD in the northern part of the state, so deer corn and deer apples are going to be going away as baiting deer for hunting is no longer allowed.

I don't know about our state laws on baiting deer with corn or apples, but I do remember seeing a sign by the bags of corn at one store asking people not to feed wild deer as pets. Too many people have had car collisions with deer crossing the roads to get to some free corn in somebody's backyard. That can lead to totaling out a car, or worse, loss of life (deer and human).

 

[gtaus]

Yeah, I knew you wouldn't be interested due to pricing, but I figured it was the most likely bet.

I really do thank you for taking the time to send some info and a link. But if I grow fodder, it has to be easy and cost effective. I think my fodder tower and spending less than 5 minutes per day makes this process easy enough for anyone. So it's then just a matter of finding seed that makes it cost effective, and, so far, the best option for me has been a 50# bag of barley for $8.00.

 

[BDutch]

The popcorn doesn’t grow as fast as your barley. Also because it was a bit thirsty today.


Maybe interesting for another wintertime supplement: yesterday i read an article about hemp seed. As a very healty supplement for chickens. It has much proteins and also stimulates egg laying in winter.

 

[Kusanar]

Duckweed may also be fairly easy to grow and use as protein supplement. It's around 30% I believe. Now, I managed to kill some, but I had it in an aquarium with a power pump and I don't think it liked the moving water.

 

[gtaus]

Maybe interesting for another wintertime supplement: yesterday i read an article about hemp seed. As a very healty supplement for chickens. It has much proteins and also stimulates egg laying in winter.

Hemp is a wonderful plant for many things. But I know it was banned here in the states for most of my life just because it looks like the Marijuana plant. Don't know if that has changed recently, but I know our local mill does not sell any hemp seed.

 

[gtaus]

Duckweed may also be fairly easy to grow and use as protein supplement. It's around 30% I believe. Now, I managed to kill some, but I had it in an aquarium with a power pump and I don't think it liked the moving water.

I saw a YouTube video of a guy growing Duckweed in a small pond outside. He skimmed a little Duckweed off the top of the pond and the chickens loved it. I don't know if that would be possible for me to grow indoors at my house with what I have to work with, and growing outside in the frozen snow is obviously a non-starter. But I am aware of Duckweed and it is something that I think deserves more thought. Thank you.

 

[Kusanar]

I saw a YouTube video of a guy growing Duckweed in a small pond outside. He skimmed a little Duckweed off the top of the pond and the chickens loved it. I don't know if that would be possible for me to grow indoors at my house with what I have to work with, and growing outside in the frozen snow is obviously a non-starter. But I am aware of Duckweed and it is something that I think deserves more thought. Thank you.

From my research, it looks like it can double in size overnight if it is growing well, so if your container has enough space for 2 days feedings that should be fine, simply skin off half of it each day and let it re-grow. I believe you could grow it inside fairly easily if you had it in still water or at least not a power filter blowing the water all over the place. I would start it out like prepping an aquarium, put some fish food in the water and let it rot, as it decomposes it will turn into ammonia, bacteria will populate that will turn the ammonia into Nitrites and then more bacteria will turn the Nitrites into Nitrates which is what the plants eat. You keep adding fish food every so often to keep this cycle going and can help it out with some aquarium additives that have some of the bacteria in them, also your duckweed may come with some of the bacteria as they were likely harvested from a pond. Provide a broad spectrum light for the plants to keep them growing, a 2 bulb florescent works, just put a warm bulb on one side and a cool or white on the other and you have pretty much the full spectrum.

 

[gtaus]

From my research, it looks like it can double in size overnight if it is growing well, so if your container has enough space for 2 days feedings that should be fine, simply skin off half of it each day and let it re-grow. I believe you could grow it inside fairly easily if you had it in still water or at least not a power filter blowing the water all over the place. I would start it out like prepping an aquarium, put some fish food in the water and let it rot, as it decomposes it will turn into ammonia, bacteria will populate that will turn the ammonia into Nitrites and then more bacteria will turn the Nitrites into Nitrates which is what the plants eat. You keep adding fish food every so often to keep this cycle going and can help it out with some aquarium additives that have some of the bacteria in them, also your duckweed may come with some of the bacteria as they were likely harvested from a pond. Provide a broad spectrum light for the plants to keep them growing, a 2 bulb florescent works, just put a warm bulb on one side and a cool or white on the other and you have pretty much the full spectrum.

Thank you for that info. One thing I have noticed with my fodder is that I cannot feed it to my chickens if it is wet/damp. My current temp is 12F, which is 20 degrees below freezing. I made the mistake of watering my fodder one morning before I pulled the batch to feed my chickens that day. I gave the girls the fodder, recently watered, and when I came back in the afternoon hardly anything was eaten - it had frozen into a large fodder popsicle. Since then, I stop watering the fodder bin the night before I bring it outside to feed to the chickens.

It does not take very long for anything to freeze in our weather. How would I feed Duckweed to the chickens in the winter because, as I understand it, the weed grows on top of the water and is completely wet. I like your idea for none freezing months, but that is also when they have access to fresh grass and foraging.

 

[Kusanar]

Thank you for that info. One thing I have noticed with my fodder is that I cannot feed it to my chickens if it is wet/damp. My current temp is 12F, which is 20 degrees below freezing. I made the mistake of watering my fodder one morning before I pulled the batch to feed my chickens that day. I gave the girls the fodder, recently watered, and when I came back in the afternoon hardly anything was eaten - it had frozen into a large fodder popsicle. Since then, I stop watering the fodder bin the night before I bring it outside to feed to the chickens.

It does not take very long for anything to freeze in our weather. How would I feed Duckweed to the chickens in the winter because, as I understand it, the weed grows on top of the water and is completely wet. I like your idea for none freezing months, but that is also when they have access to fresh grass and foraging.

It does float on the water. It can be kind of wrung out like a sponge if you don't care if you kill it (I wouldn't if you wanted it to grow, but if feeding then it would be fine) or you could put it in a mesh strainer overnight, say, harvest at night, put it in the strainer, feed in the morning, harvest again at night.

 

[Pigpye]

Tell her it was a gift for her