Growing fodder for chickens

[MyTDogs]

I live in FL so I wonder if this would be too difficult or if the benefits would outweigh the work. My birds free- range daily And we have lots of green most of the year. Outside temp would definitely be too high ( can easily hit 80 in the middle of January) and my house is kept around 75 year round. I love the idea but not sure if it would be worth the extra effort. Right now I feed fermented barley along with a game cock conditioner that contains soy. The barley is free but i would like to get away from The soy in the gcc if I can get the protein high enough with other things.

Great thread... thanks for starting it!

 

[Lilwanis]

Mine get fermented oats, so they already eat the oat grain, I was meaning a way to make the oats work as fodder.

The website, sproutpeople.org has instructions on sprouting and growing just about anything you can think of, including oat grass. They also have bird mixes. I read the oat grass section and they use a soil construct, but link to another site that has hydroponics instructions.

I haven't started my sprouting adventure just yet, but am planning to get some seed and supply soon. Doing some home remodeling atm.

 

[pawtraitart]

I live in FL so I wonder if this would be too difficult or if the benefits would outweigh the work. My birds free- range daily And we have lots of green most of the year. Outside temp would definitely be too high ( can easily hit 80 in the middle of January) and my house is kept around 75 year round. I love the idea but not sure if it would be worth the extra effort. Right now I feed fermented barley along with a game cock conditioner that contains soy. The barley is free but i would like to get away from The soy in the gcc if I can get the protein high enough with other things.
Great thread... thanks for starting it!

Barley and wheat fodder probably would't be beneficial to you since your birds enjoy nearly year round access to greens free ranging. The fermented barley should be just fine. If you want to replace the soy for protein, there might be options with a different kind of fodder/sprout that is more of a warm weather crop less likely to mold with the higher temperatures in your area. (I think that most of the soy grown in the US right now is Monsanto genetically modified (GMO) which I find annoying.) Anyway, according to my most recent research, lentil sprouts contain 22 to 35% protein. I have some mixed into my newest soak bucket.

 

[Kassaundra]

The website, sproutpeople.org has instructions on sprouting and growing just about anything you can think of, including oat grass. They also have bird mixes. I read the oat grass section and they use a soil construct, but link to another site that has hydroponics instructions.
I haven't started my sprouting adventure just yet, but am planning to get some seed and supply soon. Doing some home remodeling atm.

I usually do fermented grains through the majority of the year and have done sprouts in the past in the winter, this year I haven't started the sprouts yet since there is still plenty of green, I am trying to decide if I will do the sprouting like I've done before or take it a step further and do this fodder for the winter.

I sprout mostly oats and have had no trouble sprouting it, but never attempted to grow it to fodder size.

 

[jodyb]

Does tall fescue work?

 

[pawtraitart]

It won't grow as fast as you need it to and would require soil.

 

[pawtraitart]

Oh, and I've found another thing to add to my bird feeding program! Pumpkin seeds! We just got around 3000 lbs of FREE pumpkins for our livestock. I'm going to set aside a bunch of seeds to add into my bird bread recipe. I've read that you can sprout them, but they don't grow very well. I'm still going to try it, though. Pumpkin seeds have a protein level of 19.5%. More research to do......

 

[Nikoi Gryphon]

I've been watching this thread for a while, and I got a little bit of Red Hard Wheat from the Local health food store- I'm not sure if its Heat-treated or not, hopefully not. I put some in a jar to start soaking =)

They had White Wheat, oats, Lentils, peas and a bunch of other things.. I just got a little baggy to try it. So if it happens to be heat treated I'll know. xD

 

[pawtraitart]

I've been watching this thread for a while, and I got a little bit of Red Hard Wheat from the Local health food store- I'm not sure if its Heat-treated or not, hopefully not. I put some in a jar to start soaking =)

They had White Wheat, oats, Lentils, peas and a bunch of other things.. I just got a little baggy to try it. So if it happens to be heat treated I'll know. xD

I would bet that they'll sprout just fine. Have fun!

 

[Daisy8s]

I went to my local feed mill yesterday to stock up and compare prices. At my mill here in Michigan I pay 24 cents per pound of layer mash and 22 cents per pound of dry wheat seed. But, if each dry pound of seed becomes five pounds of fodder then that price drops to approx 4 cents per pound of fodder!!

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited as I consider 4 cents per pound to be about as close to free as you're going to get!

Of course I've just started the process and I don't know how well this will work but at a cost of $1.10 for 5 lbs of wheat seed this is an experiment I can afford to do--especially as I already have the trays to use to grow them, as well as an unheated back room that will be the perfect site for sprouting.