Growing fodder for chickens

[wormrun]

I talked to my feed dealer and the woman said the farmers buy the feed seed for planting. IDK . . . seems like a lot of questions need asking before buying. SOrry, i'm not in OH, just commenting. What prompted that comment from her was that I couldn't get the seed to sprout. GUess it is my methods or lack there of. lol

Feed seed can be planted, it is just untreated seed in its natural state. Which is great cuz I'm thinking of planting some BOSS! Seeds for planting can be planted but not for sprouting due to the treatment given to prevent mold, etc. Which type of seeds did you use? Barley must have hulls, oats - they are such a pain, I'll post pix later for now keep oats of it. Wheat is super easy and Barley (with hulls) is also super easy! Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) EASY! Triticale also sprouted very easy. Just go down to the grocery store to the bulk section and buy some whole - wheat berries. Sprout them! Rinse and drain @ 2x each day.

 

[JohnnyxRex]

So does this really save money? I've been meaning to do this anyway for juicing purposes.

And does the grain type matter much?

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I did a quick count in my head and came up with 96 adult birds. Several of these are waiting in the cull pen. I think 12 of the 96 are bantams... and then I have a whole boatload of babies from this year's hatch... 44 of them outside (33 are bantam Andalusian project babies) and about 20 more inside (half are bantam Andalusian project babies) with a couple dozen more (large fowl) eggs in the incubator! Boy am I tired! These numbers include my daughter's Campines and my mixed breed egg layer flock.

I want to get down to 4 large fowl roosters, taking turns in two separate pens with perhaps a dozen hens in each pen. I want the same thing for my bantam project pens... so that would be a total of approximately 56 chickens which is still a lot more than you have and are slimming down to. On top of those, I will have a meat project going at the same time in a different pen. I'm combining breeds for this. I started with Delawares. This past January I picked up a pair of White Wyandottes to cross into the Delawares because I want a rose comb on them as we had quite a few issues with frost bite this past winter. I am also receiving shipment of a few Chanteclers to cross into this project but they are currently just babies so they won't get crossed in until next year. My Wyandotte pullet went broody for me and she is hatching out some "Wydells" as we speak. They were due to hatch today and so far as I can tell, she has 2 under her. There are 5 more due to hatch. I hope they do. I would rather she raise them than me!

I forgot to mention earlier that I also have started on raising mealworms (just one more thing for me to keep up with!)

You poor thing! It's a full time job just feeding everyone, muchless anything else.

So does this really save money? I've been meaning to do this anyway for juicing purposes.

And does the grain type matter much?

YES!

Wheat sprouts and grows the quickest for me, but it does depend on your area, humidity, etc. And it depends on your setup.

What kind of juicer do you have (off-topic but...)I am dying to get some organic seed (for us humans ; ), and grow fodder for us and use it in smoothies and juices! Yummo

~ Aspen

 

[OHhappychicks]

OK! just called the local feed mill, and they said they have the wheat seed that you can plant AND feed. Is this what I want? 14.95 50# bag.

 

[highline]

OK! just called the local feed mill, and they said they have the wheat seed that you can plant AND feed. Is this what I want? 14.95 50# bag.

So long as it is feed seed you should be ok. Mine has a sticker on the bag stating "not for planting". I assume the mill just wants to sell the more expensive "planting" seed for that purpose.

 

[Phottoman]

I just felt the need to jump in here for a minute.

Several questions have been asked about how long to let the water soak, or drain.

I have posted several pictures of my set-up, it came to me after several tries with blocks or lengths of 1" X 2" scrap I had to separate the trays, putting that between the trays and tilting them slightly.

I drilled holes through one end of each tray and then stagger them (the drilled ends) so that they drip into the tray below them, the water runs to the opposite end of the next tray, then drains into that and repeat all the way to the bottom.

I originally had too much water in my trays, they weren't draining totally. The result was tons of sees that seemed to have sprouted, but that was all they did, and after several days (10 days in the trays) they never seemed to germinate fully into grass. I wasn't getting a good root base. The holes I made weren't allowing enough of the water to run out the bottom of the tray into the next tray.

I then made bigger holes, and my seed count went way down, but they still weren't letting ALL the water to drain.

I now have holes that are a little more than 1/4", and they are draining wonderfully. Also, don't let the water take too long to drain. When my water was draining slow, I had a mass of seeds that didn't 'grow.'

I have posted several pictures in this thread and others, and now my ten trays drain completely within about three minutes, maybe four minutes. In my case, I am using three 1/2 gallon milk containers, filled to the place the milk had been, so it is almost a measured amount. Three of these (or one done three times) is sufficient to give me the grasses you have seen in my pictures. This is done twice a day.

Your seeds do NOT need to "stand" in water, they only need to be damp twice a day.

And I do not suggest misting, you really need to practically flood the seeds and let the water flow over and through the seeds. It is this flooding and draining (and maybe a LOT of air circulation) that has prevented my seeds from growing mold.

I hope this helps. I am NOT an expert at this by any means, your mileage may vary, I can only tell you what has been working for me, for nearly six months.

Skip

 

[OHhappychicks]

I guess I will go up there and take a look at what they have. Thanks!

 

[JohnnyxRex]

You poor thing! It's a full time job just feeding everyone, muchless anything else.
YES!

Wheat sprouts and grows the quickest for me, but it does depend on your area, humidity, etc. And it depends on your setup.

What kind of juicer do you have (off-topic but...)I am dying to get some organic seed (for us humans ; ), and grow fodder for us and use it in smoothies and juices! Yummo

~ Aspen

I have a Jay Kordich Powergrind Pro. Super quiet. And the only hybrid on the market. I'm 15, and my dad got it a year or two ago. No one liked juicing at first but once I got into health thing I really appreciated that he got a good one. I am probably going to be an oncologist, and that pretty much opened me up to a whole new world. I even got a Vita-mix for my birthday in Feb.

If your looking for juicing stuff, Jay Kordich is the way to go. He is known as the "Father of Juicing". You do NOT have to buy anything from him though. He has free recipes and stuff.

Have you seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead? Free online.

Anyway I get excited about that stuff, we can talk more if you want.

Alright ima' have to go through this thread and find out more.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

OK! just called the local feed mill, and they said they have the wheat seed that you can plant AND feed. Is this what I want? 14.95 50# bag.

Yes. that is what you want. I bought wheat, oats, and barely today at our local feed mill and I think most of the seed was $12.45 per 50lb bag.

I have a Jay Kordich Powergrind Pro. Super quiet. And the only hybrid on the market. I'm 15, and my dad got it a year or two ago. No one liked juicing at first but once I got into health thing I really appreciated that he got a good one. I am probably going to be an oncologist, and that pretty much opened me up to a whole new world. I even got a Vita-mix for my birthday in Feb.

If your looking for juicing stuff, Jay Kordich is the way to go. He is known as the "Father of Juicing". You do NOT have to buy anything from him though. He has free recipes and stuff.

Have you seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead? Free online.

Anyway I get excited about that stuff, we can talk more if you want.

Alright ima' have to go through this thread and find out more.

Johnny,

Awesome. We used to have a Blendtec blender, they are awesome. You can get spoiled on them quickly. LOL We should be getting another good blender here pretty soon.

Yes, we have seen that movie. I actually was going to do a 30 day juice fast, but after about 15 days I started having memory loss, couldn't think straight, my head was dizzy, and I was tired so I had to start eating some protein (meat, eggs, etc) again. I lost quite a few pounds, and felt cleaned out, but I'll be started another juice fast next week. I generally do not eat very much meat anyway, so I am always low on my B's. I've been eating a good, clean, mostly plant diet for several years now so my system is pretty cleaned out, so I may not need to do juice as long as some people.

Okay..I'm fixing to take over this thread talking about health and such....if you'd like to talk more message me.

~ Aspen

 

[Lacy Blues]

Is there a link to this "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?"

Two of those sound like me...