Grow Your Own Fresh Greens All Year.

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Same here for 165 chickens.

 

[GardenState38]

I sprout wheat grass for my cat and had thought of doing the same for my chickens.
This fall I've planted a raised bed of mixed greens just for the chickens--beets, turnip, kale, clover, etc.
I'm covering it with a cold frame, hoping it will keep the girls in greens into the winter.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

There's a long thread on the forum on sprouting, if you want to do a search for it. There are some threads on wheat grass, too.

For large amounts of sprouts for a flock, people usually use 5 gallon buckets or big bags to sprout in. I've never used a bag, but you just hang the woven bag on a hook to drain, after soaking or rinsing.

For the buckets, you just use a pair of buckets that nest inside each other. The one on top needs to have holes drilled in the bottom. That one is where you put the seed. The bottom one holds water. You just set the bucket with the seed into the bucket with the water, to do the soak or a rinse. When you want to drain it, you take it out. I dump the water out of the bottom bucket then.

For wheat grass, you can also use garden flats to grow it. I have flats with drain holes and flats without drain holes, that nest inside each other. I use landscape fabric to cover the bottom, for holes that are too big.

You can even just grow wheat grass in pots or flats, in dirt, if you want to cut it for them or just put the whole thing in the coop or run.

 

[annep]

Such a great idea! I've thought about sprouting for them in the winter, but hadn't put the brain cells to it yet on how I was going to do it..Thanks for doing it for me! HAHAHAA

 

[TNChick82]

Thanks for all the great tips. I have been trying to figure out how to grow some grass. I don't have a green thump at all.

so this sounds like something I can do and not kill it.

 

[SteveBaz]

I have a 6 boxes under a Grow light in the basement and rotate them out for a couple of days each and 2 at a time so they can recover from the constant picking and the winter cold. Then to get fresh ones out there that had a chance to get watered good, get out of the cold for a few days and get refreshed with constant light under the grow lamp. I hung a light over a table in the basement and put the used on the right side and take fresh from the left and keep sliding them down till they get rotated to the front of the line again.