Fodder Question?

[WannaBeHillBilly]

OMG! Type "Seed suppliers, OH" into Google Maps:

 

[AgnesGray]

OMG! Type "Seed suppliers, OH" into Google Maps:
View attachment 2015514

This is a whole new batch of options! I've been looking at feed stores and feed mills. Thanks for the tip! I'll call a few of these Monday.

Sorry OP for the rabbit trail!

 

[gtaus]

He quoted me a price on wheat of $18 a 50lb bag, but when I got there would only sell it for $1.50/lb making the bag $75.

The big thing about growing fodder is that it is supposed to be an inexpensive way to supplement your commercial feed. At $7.25 per 50 pound bag of barley, I can make about 250 pounds of barley fodder. So it saves me money and provides my chickens some fresh greens in the winter. No way would I bother growing fodder if the seeds cost me $75.00 per 50 pound bag. I get commercial layer feed at about $!2.50 per 50 pound bag, and really I suspect that the chickens would do just fine on commercial feed alone.

I hope you can find a feed mill that supplies local farmers. I cannot imagine that farmers would be buying any grain seed at $75.00 per 50 pound bag. Not where I live anyway.

 

[AgnesGray]

The big thing about growing fodder is that it is supposed to be an inexpensive way to supplement your commercial feed. At $7.25 per 50 pound bag of barley, I can make about 250 pounds of barley fodder. So it saves me money and provides my chickens some fresh greens in the winter. No way would I bother growing fodder if the seeds cost me $75.00 per 50 pound bag. I get commercial layer feed at about $!2.50 per 50 pound bag, and really I suspect that the chickens would do just fine on commercial feed alone.

I hope you can find a feed mill that supplies local farmers. I cannot imagine that farmers would be buying any grain seed at $75.00 per 50 pound bag. Not where I live anyway.

This is my way of thinking as well. No way! I'll keep looking and believe I'll find something sooner or later.

$7.25 is amazing!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

The big thing about growing fodder is that it is supposed to be an inexpensive way to supplement your commercial feed. At $7.25 per 50 pound bag of barley, I can make about 250 pounds of barley fodder. So it saves me money and provides my chickens some fresh greens in the winter. No way would I bother growing fodder if the seeds cost me $75.00 per 50 pound bag. I get commercial layer feed at about $!2.50 per 50 pound bag, and really I suspect that the chickens would do just fine on commercial feed alone.

I hope you can find a feed mill that supplies local farmers. I cannot imagine that farmers would be buying any grain seed at $75.00 per 50 pound bag. Not where I live anyway.

So you you have a ratio of 1:5 from dry grain to fodder? - That's impressing! Best i have achieved with Winter Wheat was 1:4 so far. - Still haven't found a source for barley here…

 

[gtaus]

So you you have a ratio of 1:5 from dry grain to fodder? - That's impressing! Best i have achieved with Winter Wheat was 1:4 so far. - Still haven't found a source for barley here…

When I was growing fodder out in the garage this summer, I would weigh the fodder bin as I fed it to my chickens. At that time, I was able to turn 1 pound of dry seed into just over 5 pounds of fresh, green barley fodder grass. That was pretty impressive to me. But, as I have said, fodder grass is as much as 95% water weight.

This winter, I am taking my fodder bins ready to feed to the chickens and letting it dry out the last couple of days and grow in the sunlight of my south facing kitchen sliding window. So my fodder bins, after sitting in the sun for 2-3 days without any water, are just under 5 pounds. But, as you know, the grass turns a darker green in the sunshine and also a drier fodder is much better for my chickens when the temps are sub-freezing at about 10F outside. The drier fodder does not freeze as fast and now my chickens are able to eat half a bin of fodder before it turns into a green ice berg.

BTW, today was the first day my chickens have been outside the coop for about a month and a half! We are experiencing a heat wave here in northern Minnesota and our temps are a balmy 31F today! I took advantage of the situation and chipped off the ice and snow from the pop door, and spread a garbage bag full of fall leaves into the chicken run (my chickens will not go out and walk on snow). So the girls are enjoying a little fresh air and sunshine and are playing in some nice dry leaves. Nice winter break I would think.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So a heat wave in Minnesota is when H2O is available in liquid form!
We are forecasted to reach 20°C (68F) tomorrow. In February!!!
Today it was 16°C (60F) and everybody was in the pool! Friday we have snow in the forecast. I wish Greta and Donald could agree on one setting of the thermostat!

You're correct that fodder is mostly water! That's probably why my Duckies are so crazy about it. I have noticed that they no longer empty out their 5gls waterer over night since they get ½ bin of fodder every evening. And they poop bright green…

 

[AgnesGray]

31F really can feel balmy after a long cold stretch! haha We weren't aware of this fact until we moved to the plains of Ohio. The Apls of Northern Italy have nothing on a cold Midwest wind! Nice that your chickens could enjoy some outdoor time, gtaus!

 

[gtaus]

Nice that your chickens could enjoy some outdoor time, gtaus!

This is my first winter with chickens, and I have learned a number of lessons. I plan on building an A Frame type of removable panels so I can make an area in the chicken run that is not 3 feet high in snow. I imagine the panels to be made out of a wooden frame, using some wire to hold it together and provide some strength, and then covered with a clear plastic to keep the snow out. The A Frame design should let the snow slide off and down the plastic. The plastic covered sides should act like a mini greenhouse and keep it just a bit warmer inside the A Frame if the sun is shinning. Anyway, that's my current thinking.

One thing I did do right was assume that my chickens would not want to go outside in the run covered with snow. I built my chicken coop about twice the size recommended for the number of chickens I have (I have almost 8 square feet per bird in the coop). This has worked out good because my chickens have rarely gone outside this winter. But there is easily 2 feet of snow in the chicken run and drifts about 3 feet high.

More to the issue of winter feeding fodder, for where I live, is that it has really worked out much better for me to let the fodder bin(s) dry out for the last day or two in a sunny window and then feed the fodder to the chickens. Previously, my fresh, green, damp fodder directly from the fodder tower froze like a green iceberg in our temps this winter and the chickens would not eat frozen fodder. So drying out the bin for that last day or two, and cutting back to half a bin of fodder per morning, was just the right combination of adjustments needed for my 10 chcikens.

 

[gtaus]

We are forecasted to reach 20°C (68F) tomorrow. In February!!!
Today it was 16°C (60F) and everybody was in the pool!

I won't see those temps until May, typically. But that's just life here. One advantage we have here in Minnesota is that we have all 4 seasons to enjoy - Winter, June, July, and August. Or, if you are a hockey fan, we have 9 months of good ice followed by 3 months of indoor skating only.....