what are some good seeds to use for a fodder system? And where is a good, inexpensive source?
I have tried barley seeds with best success in terms of germination rate and growth. It's also the least expensive grain where I live and most people who grow fodder where I live use barley seed. I have also tried oat seeds, and they worked but had less germination rate and did not grow as well. Oat seeds are more expensive than barley seeds where I live, so I stopped using oats. I have yet to try wheat seeds. Wheat seeds are more expensive than oats or barley seeds and my local mill tells me they are the harder to grow as fodder than either barley or oats. Those are the only 3 choices I have for fodder at my local mill.
Whatever seed you buy, be sure to tell the mill that you intend to grow fodder with the seed. Not all seed will germinate and sprout due to drying, preserving, etc... of the grain after harvest. For example, I wanted to try to grow whole corn seed fodder, but the mill explained to me that the kernel of the corn seed is killed in the drying process before the whole corn seed is packaged. I have had some people tell me that they get "deer corn" from local farmers that has not been processed and that will germinate. I don't have that option.
My local mill sells barley seed for $7.95 per 50# bag. That turns into about 250# of fresh green barley fodder grass for my girls. They eat everything from the tip of the grass blade down to the root mat. Nothing goes to waste. Where else can you buy 250# of feed for less than $8.00?
IIRC, the oat seed was about $9.50 per 50# bag and the wheat seed was about $12.00 per 50# bag at my local mill.
I have commercial layer feed in my coop 24/7 and my fodder is just a supplement. Laying chickens need to have that balanced layer feed for egg production.
Finally, I want to say that I stopped using my oat seeds for growing fodder because I was not getting the results that I wanted - in comparison to the barley seed - so I now just mix those leftover oat seeds into my scratch feed. Nothing goes to waste with the chickens.
There is an excellent article about a DIY fodder-tower by
@gtaus
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...lar-tree-dish-bins.75190/reviews#review-27635
I'm growing wheat for now in my garage and the ducks love it! Also have bought Rye, Oats and Alfalfa but haven't tried those yet. The local feed store is selling all kinds of stuff, i might try lentils in the future. This is my fodder-tower and the first bins of fodder i harvested:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/albums/fodder.7429127/
I encourage you to check out those links because growing fodder is so easy and you don't have to invest hardly any money into the project. I had scrap lumber to build my fodder tower and the 10 plastic dish washing bins only cost me $10 at the local Dollar Tree. I spend less than 5 minutes per day on my fodder system and in turn I get a dish bin full of fodder everyday. That's a fantastic return on effort for me.
@WannaBeHillBilly posted some
excellent photos on his fodder growing project. If that does not get you excited about growing fodder for your birds, I think nothing will.
