Fodder Question 2: Alfalfa seeds with a white coating, what's that?

[563879]

Bought some Alfalfa from the local seed store to try to make some Alfalfa fodder for the Duckies. The seeds are coated in something white:

The coating washes away during soaking and this is how Alfalfa seeds should look like:

Now what is that white stuff?
And is that eventually toxic or harmful for birds?

Is it white and fluffy? Mould? I had a fodder system back a while but after a few days it would grow mould on top of the root mat I think due to no a/c system.

 

[EggWalrus]

Well Thank you very much! - I know Hudson Farms, they are practically my neighbors, just at the wrong end of my (long stretched) property. I tried to sell them my Duck's eggs, but we could not agree on a price. They are not selling any grain other than corn on the cob when it is in season.
I have found a feed mill, but they don't carry barley. I buy the pellets there and they have corn and wheat but don't bag it. They buy in bulk, store in large silos and use those grains for their production.
We have some Micro-breweries and -distilleries here in Charleston, they have to use barley (at least the breweries) and i will call them next week.

We know what you are malting that barley for...

 

[gtaus]

Is it white and fluffy? Mould? I had a fodder system back a while but after a few days it would grow mould on top of the root mat I think due to no a/c system.

It looks like a little bit of mold to me. Some people will treat their seeds with a capful of bleach in the soaking water and that seems to kill the spores that grow into mold. Occasionally I will see a little mold like that in my barley fodder, but it does not seem to affect my chickens. If I had a lot of mold, I suppose I would dump that bin in the compost pile, but a tiny bit does not bother me.

I don't know what the best method of preventing mold is, but I think that the fodder bins need a chance to dry out just a bit so they are not always soaking wet. It seems to me that the only mold issues I have encountered was when I had the fodder bins too wet. Fortunately for me, spacing my 2 daily waterings out at 12 hours apart allows my fodder bins in the fodder tower to drain out and not encourage mold growth. But, I suppose everyone needs to find what works for their environment as temp and humidity will vary for us all.

 

[springchicken66]

I personally taste every bin of fodder before feeding it to the Duckies, if the taste is off it will be tossed and they get ½ cabbage that evening. (Until i run out of cabbage heads)
So far the Alfalfa bin is looking promising, it is the one at the bottom of the tower, so that its water won't taint any other bin and the water runs of clean. Tomorrow or Friday i will pull it out and place it at the window.
Wanted to sow Alfalfa last year, but somehow missed the right time. But this spring…

So the barley you are all buying - Is the barley in the grain isle ( split peas, lentils etc ) what everyone is using ? or is this different in the feed store ? Sorry I`m a bit ignorant with this.

 

[Sally PB]

If you are looking at "pearled" barley, it won't sprout. Like white rice, it's had the hull removed. What you want is seed, but one that is untreated. Treated seed is for crop planting; there are various "treatments," from inoculants to pesticides to pelletizing for ease of planting.

I've tried chia, and it doesn't work well at all. It turns into goo. I also tried brown rice, and it was somewhat better, but I won't do it again. Both of those I got at the grocery store. I've had good luck with alfalfa, but it's expensive. It's the same seed you would buy to make alfalfa sprouts to eat yourself. I just ordered some barley for sprouting, but it isn't cheap either, at $10/pound. But with just four chickens, it'll last me a while. This is as much an experiment for me as for fodder for the chickens.