Was thinking about this today.....this thread would be much more active if most of us weren't in the middle of winter.
Grazing Frame - Fodder Table Box - Continuously Grow Fodder & Seedlings & Sprouts For Chickens
- Thread starter Nifty-Chicken
- Start date
ZephyrCoveFarms
Songster
- May 25, 2020
- 170
- 358
- 151
Deer Food Plot Mix is
- Thread starter
- #59
Wow, "LUSH" is an understatement!!!
Is that the rye grass?
Can't wait to see it in the light!
Is that the rye grass?
Can't wait to see it in the light!
- Thread starter
- #73
Nice day out today, so I let the girls have some direct access to the sprouts. You can see the areas they've been kicking up the mulch onto the plants.
As an experiment, I decided to rake up some of that area, pull out the mulch, and drop in some new seeds:
I think after this experiment, I'll give them full-access to the inside, let them have their fill for a few days, then raise the frame up about 6+ inches to see if that helps with the mulch covering.
I guess I could also pull out some of the mulch we added to the run.
As an experiment, I decided to rake up some of that area, pull out the mulch, and drop in some new seeds:
I think after this experiment, I'll give them full-access to the inside, let them have their fill for a few days, then raise the frame up about 6+ inches to see if that helps with the mulch covering.
I guess I could also pull out some of the mulch we added to the run.
ZephyrCoveFarms
Songster
- May 25, 2020
- 170
- 358
- 151
Well, you certainly didn't skimp on the seed coverage! 
- Thread starter
- #92
Update:
This has been (mostly) going really well! Luckily I live in a climate where I can have this going during the Winter. I haven't been watering it much (or at all) the last month or so.
The biggest issue is the height and that we have a lot of mulch in the run. So, I still need to either make the frame taller or remove mulch.
... that said, it's still manageable / easy to dump the mulch off the top (since the top frame is so easy to lift off).
Here it is with a few weeks' worth of mulch on top:
... and the top removed.
All the growth on the right is still from the original seeds I planted 3 months ago in November. You'll see all the sunflowers are gone.
To the left is the mix of old growth and newer growth from when I removed a bunch of mulch that fell through, and where I dropped in a bunch of seeds.
This has been (mostly) going really well! Luckily I live in a climate where I can have this going during the Winter. I haven't been watering it much (or at all) the last month or so.
The biggest issue is the height and that we have a lot of mulch in the run. So, I still need to either make the frame taller or remove mulch.
... that said, it's still manageable / easy to dump the mulch off the top (since the top frame is so easy to lift off).
Here it is with a few weeks' worth of mulch on top:
... and the top removed.
All the growth on the right is still from the original seeds I planted 3 months ago in November. You'll see all the sunflowers are gone.
To the left is the mix of old growth and newer growth from when I removed a bunch of mulch that fell through, and where I dropped in a bunch of seeds.
linguini
Songster
Yikes - apologies - newbie's error! Just realized that my post below is crashing the party. I only noticed the second half of the title of the thread... sorry.
===============================
Thought I'd share some beginner's luck and joy with indoor fodder as well!
I came to BYC for info/advice after noticing that our chooks seemed to be having "eating disorder" - not eating the feed after we switched to layer feed. Like a new mom trying to feed her new babies, I had to try everything I learned from BYC forum! Fodder, of course, is one of them - what can be a better treat than green grass to the chooks when their foraging area is entirely covered by snow?!
I bought a 5 lb bag wheat seeds, started trying about 3 weeks ago. After initial success with stacked up home made plastic trays by the sink, I bought a sprouting cart. Since my volume is quite small, the cart is perfect for my need, and very convenient, ($23 for the cart, it came with shelves and 4 trays). Happy to report that I now have a pipeline going in the house! I can wheel the cart anywhere, e.g. from the kitchen for watering and then to the sunny foyer for growth). I water the trays twice a day.
Here are some photos:
Day 1: soak 3/4 cup of seeds for 12 hours
Day 2-3: wrap the soaked seeds in wet paper towel, put in a plastic container and store in the oven for 48 hours. (night of Day 3, start soaking for the next batch, and repeat)
Day 4-5: move the sprouted seeds to two plastic containers (e.g. 1 lb strawberries plastic packaging boxes are perfect, cut off the top and bottom to make two half trays), covered with wet paper towel. (two half-trays fit into one shelf)
Day 6-8: remove the paper towel when the green leaves are showing, the leaves literally grow one inch each day. (very gratifying to see them grow!)
Day 9 - 10: ready to feed. (one half-tray for each day)
On average, the grass is about 5-6 inches tall when I harvest. 1 cup of wheat seeds weighs around 200g. A 5lb bag can last up to 24 days to a month. (150-200g every other day).
===============================
Thought I'd share some beginner's luck and joy with indoor fodder as well!
I came to BYC for info/advice after noticing that our chooks seemed to be having "eating disorder" - not eating the feed after we switched to layer feed. Like a new mom trying to feed her new babies, I had to try everything I learned from BYC forum! Fodder, of course, is one of them - what can be a better treat than green grass to the chooks when their foraging area is entirely covered by snow?!
I bought a 5 lb bag wheat seeds, started trying about 3 weeks ago. After initial success with stacked up home made plastic trays by the sink, I bought a sprouting cart. Since my volume is quite small, the cart is perfect for my need, and very convenient, ($23 for the cart, it came with shelves and 4 trays). Happy to report that I now have a pipeline going in the house! I can wheel the cart anywhere, e.g. from the kitchen for watering and then to the sunny foyer for growth). I water the trays twice a day.
Here are some photos:
Day 1: soak 3/4 cup of seeds for 12 hours
Day 2-3: wrap the soaked seeds in wet paper towel, put in a plastic container and store in the oven for 48 hours. (night of Day 3, start soaking for the next batch, and repeat)
Day 4-5: move the sprouted seeds to two plastic containers (e.g. 1 lb strawberries plastic packaging boxes are perfect, cut off the top and bottom to make two half trays), covered with wet paper towel. (two half-trays fit into one shelf)
Day 6-8: remove the paper towel when the green leaves are showing, the leaves literally grow one inch each day. (very gratifying to see them grow!)
Day 9 - 10: ready to feed. (one half-tray for each day)
On average, the grass is about 5-6 inches tall when I harvest. 1 cup of wheat seeds weighs around 200g. A 5lb bag can last up to 24 days to a month. (150-200g every other day).
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ZephyrCoveFarms
Songster
- May 25, 2020
- 170
- 358
- 151
I have opened the tops and let my girls mow the greens to nothing, till the soil then replanted three times already. The clover likes this more mild weather, it’s keeping uo with the oats.
- Thread starter
- #7
I can't promise it will be "good", but hopefully it will be fun and productive
I've read a lot of places that say to use it or (smaller amounts) of bleach to kill bad stuff and/or increase viability / probability of sprouting. I'm not 100% convinced, so that's why I'm testing without it as well.
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