Growing fodder for chickens

[kreagerm]

How thick is your seed layer and what is your watering schedule? Old seed or new?

I water them them twice a day. The seeds were just purchased from the feed store. The layer was about 1 inch or less but now it's about 3 inches deep, and the tray is getting heavy.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I spent a lot of time looking at YouTube's vast collection of fodder videos, and though not one of them I have watched detailed how deep to layer the seed, it *appears* the big commercial systems layer seed about 1/2 inch deep. Sometimes this seed goes in dry, sometimes soaked, and of course that is going to make a *big* difference, too -- seed swells quite a bit after soaking. Sigh.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Here is one super cute video of a clever chicken-feed sprouting system. It really made me smile!

LOTS of other sprouting videos on YouTube for visual learners.

 

[pawtraitart]

I water them them twice a day. The seeds were just purchased from the feed store. The layer was about 1 inch or less but now it's about 3 inches deep, and the tray is getting heavy.

I would put some bleach in your initial soak bucket and go with a seed layer of around 1/2" when you spread them in your trays/totes. When you rinse them, the water should run clear. If it's cloudy, then keep rinsing until you get all the starch out.

 

[doggielove]

Quote:
What section in Walmart would you find the buckets of wheat grain? Thanks.

 

[pawtraitart]

In my Walmart, it's in the emergency food preparation section. If your store doesn't have it, Walmart has a good store transfer system so they could perhaps get it sent to your local store for pickup. You could also try asking a regular grocery store if they could order you a bag of whole bread making wheat. It would come in a burlap type bag. I can't verify quality in getting it that way, but it should work. The cheapest is feed wheat but it's not always available whole.

 

[Chris09]

On planting seeds, any seeds.

Seed planting 101 --
The recommended depth for planting seeds is 1-1/2 times the size of the seed.


So that means a pea seed would be planted at or around 3/4 to 1 inch deep.
Now a seed the size of a millet or milo seed would be planted at or around 3/16 of a inch.

Chris

 

[Chris09]

The seed depth depends on your watering method. If you are on an automatic hydroponic/reservoir type system you can go to around 3/4 of an inch. If you are using a rinse/soak/drain method, it's better to have a thinner layer. For me, a layer of around 1/2 inch works well. When I was putting in a thicker layer, I was left with too much that didn't sprout.

Seed planting depth has nothing to do with watering method, seed depth depends on the size of the seed.
You don't plant millet at the same depth as peas or corn.

Chris

 

[pawtraitart]

Seed planting depth has nothing to do with watering method, seed depth depends on the size of the seed.
You don't plant millet at the same depth as peas or corn.

Chris

The fodder method we are talking about is based on a wheat or barley base which are about the same size. No doubt if you are using a larger percentage of seed other than wheat or barley you would have to make adjustments accordingly.

 

[greenhorn]

Seed planting depth has nothing to do with watering method, seed depth depends on the size of the seed.
You don't plant millet at the same depth as peas or corn.

Chris

Hows does depth apply when there is no soil or medium involved? This is more of a thickness issue.