Growing fodder for chickens

[h4farms]

FYI to all outdoor growers, my fodder was raided by some pesky raccoons last night so I have to start my whole cycle over again

 

[keirys]

FYI to all outdoor growers, my fodder was raided by some pesky raccoons last night so I have to start my whole cycle over again

That stinks !!! My DH killed my fodder, he decided to experiment with it *sigh*

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Hey Aspen - Most nutrition is achieved at day 7 from what I hear. I may have read that on a site or two. I will paste a study for your viewing pleasure so you can see the nutritional breakdown. Naturally it depends upon what you are feeding as well. Rabbits for example, LOVE the greens and if I go to day 8 I don't stress. I may have gone to 9 on my sprouts again, this is not critical mass for a rabbit. If I were feeding cattle in the dead of winter, I would stick to the guidelines. If I were feeding chickens I would consider giving them this food at any stage of development for the sprout. Chickens gain calcium even from this fodder. My question is how much calcium do chickens need? Well, if the egg shells are getting thicker does that mean you've achieved nirvana? Not sure.

Most of my critters free range all day, every day so I know they are getting a lot more to eat than just what I'm feeding them. The longer I can stretch my feed out the better. Money is extremely tight right now, so I have to make every go as far as possible.

None of my eggs are soft/thin shelled. They are all big, thick, and delicious. I do not feed oyster shell or any other thing like that.

This would be great to do year round for those ladies that have to be penned and cannot forage. is there a limit as to how much you can feed this to the flock without hurting their dietary needs?

Not that I know of. : ) I feed my girls as much of it as they'll eat.

FYI to all outdoor growers, my fodder was raided by some pesky raccoons last night so I have to start my whole cycle over again

Oh dear, that is not good at all! Bummer

~ Aspen

 

[Arielle]

Aspen, I find it intersting that you don't supplement the Ca with all that foraging-- I have noticed that if I let my SS forage longer than 4 hrs a day their eggs thin down to the point of broken bags of goo. THey have 3.25% layer available in their coop, but once out to forage cover a large area before cooping up for the night. IDK what to think.

Somewhere somehow the girls MUST absorb enough calcium to build and egg every day. That is a lot of calcium. Granted Ihave noticed the birds foraging seem to eat and eat and eat like everything is far more delish than commercial pellets!! lol

 

[wormrun]

This would be great to do year round for those ladies that have to be penned and cannot forage. is there a limit as to how much you can feed this to the flock without hurting their dietary needs?

Here are the nutritional ingredients in Nutrena Layer Crumbles & Pellets:

Nutrient Level
Crude Protein 16.0%
Lysine 0.7%
Methionine 0.3%
Crude Fat 2.5%
Crude Fiber 8.0%
Calcium 3.4% - 3.9%
Phosphorus 0.45%
Salt 0.25% - 0.65%
Sodium 0.15% - 0.23%
Then there's a study done about nutritional yields for each grow day that might give you a comparison.
Here's the Fodder Chart by Sprout Day using Barley:

 

[Marlene2012]

where do you get the beet seed, or mangel? Thinking I might give that a try for winter feed.

 

[Fryze]

Thank you all for the info, I am really new to this as we are to get our first ever batch of chicks in about 2 weeks, and I have been reading like crazy over the last 2 months to try and get as informed as possible, I find I am getting information overload, LOL. If I repeat questions I am sorry, I made it to page 25 of this thread last night/this morning still have plenty to read! If it is not to much to ask At what age can chicks start on fodder?

 

[Fryze]

Ok another newbie question, sorry. How do I ferment oats and will fermented oats and fodder be enough in dietary needs for my mixed flock of layers and meat birds? they will be able to be outside in a run also. Oh and does anybody have a list of toxic plants, I live in central Ohio and I want to make sure there isn't any toxic plants where we plan on putting the coop and run.

 

[Amastacia]

Aspen, I find it intersting that you don't supplement the Ca with all that foraging-- I have noticed that if I let my SS forage longer than 4 hrs a day their eggs thin down to the point of broken bags of goo. THey have 3.25% layer available in their coop, but once out to forage cover a large area before cooping up for the night. IDK what to think.

Somewhere somehow the girls MUST absorb enough calcium to build and egg every day. That is a lot of calcium. Granted Ihave noticed the birds foraging seem to eat and eat and eat like everything is far more delish than commercial pellets!! lol

it is my understanding that they can get a lot from bugs that they find while foraging. last summer i didn't give oyster shells at all and free ranged my 8 hens a lot. i did feed them some of the egg shells back, but that was it. i didn't have any problems. it might depend on how many bugs you have in your area, or perhaps what kinds, but i have a lot of bugs so maybe that helps.

 

[AnotherSusan]

Does anyone eat turnip greens ? Yes laugh, I have heard of "turnip greens" but are they the tops of any turnip or a specific turnip?

There is a variety of turnip, and probably more than one, that is grown just for greens. It is an heirloom variety called Seven Top Turnip. The root is not good for eating but it makes a good amount of greens. Chickens might eat the root, haven't grown it since I got chickens, so don't know.

On the fodder front, I gave up on oats. They take waaaay too long to sprout, so I am fermenting them instead. The chickens like them either way.

No wheat at my mill. They said come back end of summer as they will have it then.