Growing fodder for chickens

[pigeonguy]

Started my fodder Thursday. Took winter rye seeds rinsed real well. Then left them soak 24 hours. Friday I drained off the water and left in the strainer set it over a bowl and covered with a towel for 24 hours. Saturday they had sprouts some 3/4 inch long. I rinsed them real well then took them out of the strainer and put in my fodder trough spread about 3/8 to a 1/2 inch deep. Guess now I wait rinse wait.
My fodder trough is plastic rain gutter 3 inches wide by 5 ft long with end caps attached. One end cap has a bunch of little holes drilled in it to drain the water when rinsed. The fodder trough will double as a feeder. Meaning when the fodder is finished I will take the whole thing out to the coop and hang it for the birds to eat out of.
Someday I have to get some pics to post. Words just don't do the things I build justice.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Oh, no need. I can see that in living color! Good job and by the way, excellent work! It's looks FAB!

 

[groverlvchx]

Here's my nearly finished tray of rye grass--they get 1/2 tray today and 1/2 tray tomorrow. meanwhile I have another tray growing and another strainer sprouting. This is so fun!

The fruit flies are NOT fun, however. Where did they come from, the rye seed? There aren't any left outside anymore--everything is frozen dead! I have a small dish of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap set out. It's not keeping up with production. I'm going to put out a couple more dishes. UG!
Today I pulled up a big old brussel sprout plant (the brussel sprouts only got as big as marbles. Our growing season isn't long enough here.) They ran away from it at first, but when I checked later they had it almost all cleaned off. Their eggs are gonna be SO yummy!!! Can't wait...

 

[Lacy Blues]

Here's my nearly finished tray of rye grass--they get 1/2 tray today and 1/2 tray tomorrow. meanwhile I have another tray growing and another strainer sprouting. This is so fun!

The fruit flies are NOT fun, however. Where did they come from, the rye seed? There aren't any left outside anymore--everything is frozen dead! I have a small dish of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap set out. It's not keeping up with production. I'm going to put out a couple more dishes. UG!
Today I pulled up a big old brussel sprout plant (the brussel sprouts only got as big as marbles. Our growing season isn't long enough here.) They ran away from it at first, but when I checked later they had it almost all cleaned off. Their eggs are gonna be SO yummy!!! Can't wait...

This is something I have done for fruit flies before.

Take a banana peel and leave it out on the counter. When it looks like all of your fruit flies have landed on it, take a can of bug spray and spray the area real good! Then immediately get a hot soapy sponge and clean it all up.

 

[starchix]

Without reading all the way to the end of this thread, I will chime in here to suggest, for small amounts of grains, that people go to their local natural food store or even the bulk section at larger grocery stores. The average bulk food section will have at least one kind of wheat, and the cost is pretty low compared to buying it online and paying for shipping. Our local natural food store and Whole Foods sell many more kinds of grain, including Sprouting Barley, Soft White and Hard Red Winter Wheat, Emmer Wheat, Spelt, Teff, and one other ancient grain. These ancient grains are much more expensive per pound, but if you were going to try growing them for harvest, a pound or two would be fine. I can't find whole Oats for sprouting at either of these places, so I buy it and Rye at our local feed store.

Now I am wondering if I could sprout some of my leftover 'Fall Green Manure' mix?

I currently sprout a mix of lots of these grains for my 7 girls during the warm summer months, just to the 4 days point. I use quart canning jars on my windowsill and rinse them twice daily. I start with 2/3 C of dry grain.

After reading about the changes that take place over several days on one of the entries, I see the difference in value between 'sprouted grain' (days 1-4) and 'fodder' (sprouted to the green stage). In the past I have grown fodder in leftover nursery flats, but I have started with a thin layer of soil or sand to hold the seeds. Maybe I'll skip that from here on out.

Great thread, and very timely, now that colder weather means the end of feeding our girls greens from the garden.

 

[RoyalPayne]

Sorry, pawtraitart, for the delay in answering your question about my cooking method. I boil them. For about 24 hours, very low simmer. I have also used an old crockpot and left it on for 3 days. My processor is an old Cuisinart, heavy thing, so old the white has yellowed. I also have a new Ninja, but it isn't as powerful as the Cuisinart. I say this cause I believe it's the combo of the length of cooking plus the power of the processor that makes it possible to grind the bones. I'm playing around with the microwave, my hubby said the cost of the electricity to cook the leg/arm bones make the biscuits pretty expensive. Maybe the microwave might cut that down bit. Plan on playing with the turkey carcass this Turkey Day. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[prayerwheel]

This is such a great and informative thread, thanks to all who contribute, i am learning so much and am fascinated by the myriad ways people create systems that work for them!


I'd love to know which of the sprouted grains peoples chix tend to like more? And do their tastes change over time or do they seem to consistently like the same grains?

Since this is a thread about optimum nutrition for our chix,I'd like to, respectfully, share my viewpoint about the use of microwave ovens for cooking anything one wants to retain it's nutritional value. I used to use microwaves all the time, but when I started researching the harmful effects a few years ago I changed my tune.The 'wave' in micro wave destroys any nutritional value and actually alters the cellular structure to where the body (animal/mammal/any body) doesn't recognize it as food and can't process it as such .Even for boiling water; the beneficial oxygen that is available through boiling process is destroyed when microwaved. Although I'm sharing my opinion here, there are countless articles and studies available for corroboration online.
A pressure cooker may be a viable option for softening those bones AND retaining the majority of their nutritional value in a much shorter cooking time?

Cheers and thanks again for all the great ideas!!!
Ann

 

[RoyalPayne]

Pigeonguy, I love the idea of the guttering! Thanks, so much easier for me and my space than planting trays or plastic bins. I can hardly wait to get started. Luckily I have 10s of feet of this stuff, replaced my guttering several years ago, and it's been sitting around waiting for the fairys to put it on the pole barn. I'm repurposing several of the lengths.

 

[Spangled]

i have been thinking about this for a while , i have about an acre of perennial peanut hay growing ,
i was wondering if i could mow it with a bagging mower , and feed it to the chickens , ether green , or maby dried out and fed during the winter as a supplement to there feed , the peanut hay is about 28 % protean , , now if i could just get them to eat it

Peanut hay. I was looking at this the other day online. Is this hay that makes regular peanuts that we buy in a bag from Planters Peanuts? The ones I was looking at were called peanuts, but looked like they had an unfamiliar pod with peas in it. What kind of peanut hay are you talking about?

Have you tried yet to get them to eat it? How many times? Are you saying they won't even peck at the leaves? Chickens often take a few days before they'll try something new or get to liking something new, which I suspect you already know. That's too bad if your chickens don't like it after being given a chance to eat it a few times.

I would love to grow peanut hay if the work and water involved were low. Otherwise, it can be cheaper just to buy it. I would wonder about how thick the stems were. My chickens won't eat thick stems, but they do eat leaves, besides if the stems are too thick my chickens might get an impacted crop. If the peanut hay were mine, I would probably feed it straight from the field, hopefully getting my chickens to do the work of harvesting it. Maybe fencing off portions of the hay so they could spend a few weeks on it instead of eating it all at once.

I would like to dry it, but I would have to figure out drying racks and then the leaves might get brittle and fall off onto the ground, etc. If I had a drying system that was quick and easy, I would definitely try drying it. Also, I would wonder about mold and check to see if dried peanut hay had a tendency to harbor mold which could hurt the chickens.

But, all things considered, peanut hay (if it were the right cultivar) would be something I would like to feed my chickens.

 

[groverlvchx]

Just wanted to update you all on my fodder system--it's almost completely up and running with the rotation offering my 17 chickens 1/2 tray daily.

There is one more empty tray on the bottom, but started harvesting today. They LOVED it! So far, my system is as follows:
I bought a 50lb bag of rye seed from the farm&garden (made sure it was for planting) for $16.
I calculated the size totes for each chicken to get a generous square inch of fodder daily and bought four from Walmart, along with the large one for drainage catching.
I had hubby drain many small holes in the bottom of the totes. All growing trays get a really good soaking twice daily and rotated every other day so the longest grass is on top. On rotation days, I wash out the bottom drainage catcher really well.
Using an ice-cream bucket and a piece of plastic-canvas, I wash 1 1/2 cups rye, skim off garbage, and rinse several times, then set to soak overnight (see bucket on left).
Come morning, I dump the soaked seeds in a strainer, rinse well and set strainer over ice-cream bucket with a plate weighting it down. They stay like that 36 hours, rinsing every 12 hours or so, to start sprouting.
After a day and a half, I dump the sprouted rye into the tote, rinse well, and set on the bottom of the stack.
That's my system! I might switch to giving them a full tray daily since they liked it so well right off the bat and it's winter with everything dead outside. And I'd like to pick up some wheat to add to the mix, but 50 lbs is alot to store (3 1/2 of those five gallon bakery buckets).
I've been dealing with fruit flies, but yesterday I put out a dish of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap in it, and today I got out the vacuum and stirred them up and sucked them down. It's MUCH better now. I will set out a few more dishes of ACV/dishsoap to keep it under control.
I'm SO thankful for this thread! I've learned so much and I plan to keep following it to keep learning from you all.