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

[gtaus]

That is fortunately one sorrow i don't have here in WV. - And with ducks there might not even be enough time for the fodder to freeze before it ends up in a cozy warm duck stomach!

I started out giving my 10 chickens a full bin of fodder every morning, but soon found that the root mat was frozen solid before the chickens ate down to that level. Since then, I have been only giving them half a bin per day, and everything is eaten before it freezes. The chickens will still peck at a frozen root mat, but it's much better if not frozen and gets eaten fast.

BTW, how long do you soak your wheat seeds? Did you experiment with different soaking times to see the effects on germination and growth rate? As I stated with my barley fodder, I had my best results with about a 12 hour soak, and 2 hour soak was OK, but a 24 hour soak was really disappointing.

 

[RebelChief]

I saw some wild bird seed on sale during Black Friday. But it was about $15.00 for a 20 pound bag which is a lot more expensive than $8.00 for a 50 pound bag of barley. So I passed. But I do like the idea of all those different seeds and I was thinking maybe buying a bag of wild bird seed and mixing a little bit in with a bin of barley seeds for fodder. Ditto with black oil sunflower seeds, which are also expensive, but might add a little color and/or variety to my barley fodder.

If you try growing some wild bird seed fodder, let us know how it worked out for you.

I get a 20 lb bag for 8.00 at our grocery store. I agree it is cheaper but the variety would be nice too. I have a ton of bird seed so I think I will try starting with that and see how it goes.

 

[gtaus]

I get a 20 lb bag for 8.00 at our grocery store. I agree it is cheaper but the variety would be nice too. I have a ton of bird seed so I think I will try starting with that and see how it goes.

I'd be very interested in your results.

 

[RebelChief]

I will share Heading to the Dollar Store tomorrow to get some tubs . I have all the wood I need to build a nice tower system.

 

[RebelChief]

I put the fodder tower into the shower bathtub of our second bathroom. So there will be no more taking showers in that bathroom. But this is our spare bathroom which we only use for visiting family - usually in the summer months because we live on a lake. In past years, it never gets used in the winter.

As to the smell, yesterday I soaked the first bin of barley overnight and drained it out this morning. So far, no smell. I'll start a second bin soaking today, and probably a new bin everyday until the fodder tower is full. I hope that by not collecting any barley water in the bottom bin and leave it standing for 12 hours will help reduce the smell I noticed when I grew the barley fodder in the garage. I'll know more in a few days when I have a number of bins with moist sprouting barley seeds in the bins.

And just to be clear about the smell I reported in the garage from growing barley in the tower, it was not really offensive. It smelled like wet barley and in the garage my wife never complained about it. When you walked past it, it smelled like maybe you were in a barn. Not a bad, offensive odor, but probably not something you would want your inside house to smell like - if any of that makes sense.

What is the purpose of leaving the barley water in the bin for 12 hours (when it was in the garage)? Do you reuse that water again?

 

[gtaus]

What is the purpose of leaving the barley water in the bin for 12 hours (when it was in the garage)? Do you reuse that water again?

When you soak the seeds, it breaks down the outer coating so the seed thinks it's time to sprout and grow. (OK, that's my impression but I'm not a horticulturist). So I soaked my seeds for 2 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours. The best results I got with barley was soaking for 12 hours. I suppose different size seeds and/or different types of seeds may have different optimized soak times.

I had a collection bin for water on the bottom of my fodder tower in the garage to catch the water and hold it - so it would not drain all over my garage floor. I did not reuse that water as even after 12 hours in the heat of the summer it would begin to smell. At that time, I was watering my fodder tower in the garage at about 8 am and again at 8 pm. So, 12 hours between the flood and drain.

If you live in an area where water conservation is very important, I suppose you could reuse the water. But the smell would get stronger the more times you used it to flood and drain the fodder tower. Some people add a cap full of bleach to their water which helps to cut down on mold. I did not have a mold problem, but I suspect adding a little bleach to the water would make it last maybe a little longer. It might also help with the smell of reusing the water. The other option is to reduce the amount of water you use to flood and drain the tower bins. Most of the water just drains through the system anyway. I typically use about 1/2 bin of water on each flood and drain cycle, but you could use a lot less than that and still have success. If I dumped in 1/2 a bin of water, I got almost 1/2 bin of water in the bottom collection bin. So I am sure I could have used a lot less water (but I live on lake, so water usage is not an issue for me).

Inside my house, in the second bathroom, I just let the water from the fodder tower drain directly down the bathtub drain. No smell with that method. If I was growing the fodder tower outside, I would just let the water drain into the ground. We have lots of squirrels and chipmunks, and tons of birds, so I chose to grow the fodder in my garage to protect the seeds. But there is no reason to collect the water at the bottom of the tower other than to reuse it if you must, or to keep it from flooding your garage floor like in my case.

 

[RebelChief]

This is too funny!
I have been growing wheat fodder I’m my garage, I’m in south Texas. We have a cold snap so this last batch isn’t doing as well. But the chickens love it. Their run is completely sand (our wonderful natural soil here) so it’s the only greens they get unless I take them some scraps. I’m going start growing herbs for them too. This whole chicken thing is an addition!!!

Hi there. I am RGV too. Where did you get your wheat?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I am not sure how well bird seed would be for fodder growing. I would think that the different seeds would have different germination times, so some of the seeds might still be seeds when others are growing stems and leaves.

For the popcorn, I only sprouted it to to roots only - no green stem. The chckens loved them at that point.

When I planted my blue corn seeds for the first time, I grew them to the 3" tall stem stage (~ 6" roots) and then planted them in the garden. A friend had given me a small sandwich bag with about 3 tablespoons of blue indian corn inside. When you are given such a small handful of seed to grow, you baby them and start inside. I have managed to increase that small start to 2 gallon sized ziploc bags - one to grind and one to plant next year.

 

[gtaus]

I am not sure how well bird seed would be for fodder growing. I would think that the different seeds would have different germination times, so some of the seeds might still be seeds when others are growing stems and leaves.

If not fodder, another option might be to sprout the wild bird seeds and put them under a feeding frame and just let the seeds grow at their own pace. Having the seeds grow at different rates might be an advantage in that case.

What I refer to as a feeding frame would be a 2x4 or 2x6 wooden frame with wire mesh on the top. The sprouted seeds could be sown into the soil, compost, etc... under the frame. As the seeds grow, they will eventually reach the wire mesh and become food for the chickens. Or, you could just move the frame after the seeds start growing under the frame and let the chickens tear apart the greens and scratch out the sprouts/roots.

I might be trying something like that next summer since my chickens have eaten the grass in the chicken run down to the dirt. Now, I have the chicken run filled with fall leaves which I hope will decompose enough to grow sprouts in next spring.

 

[RebelChief]

Threw together a fodder system today. I'm pretty proud of myself because I'm just getting into woodworking. I can easily follow a plan but just winging it is not my strong suit. I have a total of 10 bins that will be for growing. Thank you for the inspiration.