Growing fodder for chickens

[laughingdog52]

I just dumped the wheat I was sprouting in a glass jar into some flats that I had poked holes for drainage. Wish we luck. I really want to make this work.

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm feeding race horse oats, or rather, trying to grow fodder with them. I'm trying to keep it warmer than the barley and wheat fodder. I had one batch that grew very well... since then, I have a very low sprout rate. Are the feed oats really treated for sprouting? Wouldn't it say so on the tag or something? Getting a little frustrated with them.

My plans are to use oats, wheat, barley and sometimes BOSS for fodder and then I'm sprouting milo (because I can't seem to get it to a fodder size without developing mold problems) and I'm also sprouting fenugreek. They really like the fenugreek and milo. They're learning to like the fodders... I live in the desert and I have no grass of any sort for them to eat so they're having to learn that this green stuff is really yummy and good for them too!

I have some issues trying to sprout the oats in a tray like fodder, but have no issue whatsoever sprouting oats in the bags, I do soak for 24 ish hours prior to setting in the bags to sprout.


I am working on a video for showing how I sprout in the bags, just need to get some time w/ my video'er (my husband)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I did an experiment starting these two batches of fodder *on the same day* ... so this is a direct comparison of how much growth I got growing it the old way vs. growing it the new way ...

Left = Old; Right = New



Sorry for the not so great photo ... I hadn't had my coffee yet ... but I had just soaked the tray on the right and turned the fodder over to inspect it. It isn't wilted, I'd just crumpled it before I thought to take a photo.

Yeah, obviously I'll be doing it the "new" way from now on.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have some issues trying to sprout the oats in a tray like fodder, but have no issue whatsoever sprouting oats in the bags, I do soak for 24 ish hours prior to setting in the bags to sprout.


I am working on a video for showing how I sprout in the bags, just need to get some time w/ my video'er (my husband)

You don't soak them while in the burlap bag? Do you ever change the water during that 24 hour soak?

I did an experiment starting these two batches of fodder *on the same day* ... so this is a direct comparison of how much growth I got growing it the old way vs. growing it the new way ...

Left = Old; Right = New



Sorry for the not so great photo ... I hadn't had my coffee yet ... but I had just soaked the tray on the right and turned the fodder over to inspect it. It isn't wilted, I'd just crumpled it before I thought to take a photo.

Yeah, obviously I'll be doing it the "new" way from now on.

ok... so what is the old way and what is the new way?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

You don't soak them while in the burlap bag? Do you ever change the water during that 24 hour soak?

ok... so what is the old way and what is the new way?

In the "old" way I was using black plastic nursery trays with a mesh bottom. The mesh was so large the dry seed fell right through, so did the soaked seed. And the trays are so large there is no handy way for me to water them from below (flood and drain method). So I had to wait until the seed was well sprouted (in a stainless steel bowl) before transferring it to the grow trays, then I watered them from above with a hand-held shower wand in a bathtub (easy, but supposedly encourages mildew/mold/fungus). By the time the seed was sprouted enough it had pretty much "felted" together in a big mass and I had to (carefully) tear it all apart and fluff it up to put it into the trays. This was good in one way as I got rid of a lot of "waste" material when fluffing it, and I could give it a really good rinse, but I'm sure I was also breaking a lot of the tender sprouts and also confusing them enough they had to spend a couple days finding "up" again, so it slowed down the growth considerably. Also, the way the fodder grew through the bottom of the trays meant a lot of work removing all the bits of fodder, then scrubbing with a toothbrush, and sanitizing the bazillion individual surfaces so the tray was squeaky clean for the next batch of fodder (mildew control).

In the "new" way, I bought stackable food-prep trays, drilled tiny holes in the "top" tray, left the "bottom" tray intact so I can soak, sprout and grow the seed right in the "top" tray by filling the bottom tray with water and stacking them together during the initial soak. This also allows me to water the trays from below (flood and drain method ... fill the bottom tray with water, stack for a minute or so), which is one tip for reducing mold/mildew. I don't have to disturb the seed as much, so it grows faster. The trays are smoother and a slightly better dimensions so they are WAY easier to clean in the kitchen sink, and they are even dishwasher safe. Besides getting much better growth, is also a LOT less hassle!

I was feeling a bit guilty about investing in new fodder trays to save myself some work (the nursery flats were free, so was the rye seed, so this was only costing me labor), but now that I see how much better the fodder grows I don't feel guilty at all. I'm ordering a bunch more food-prep trays today. Merry Christmas Me!

I think the lesson I want to share is to keep tweaking the system until it works for you. There are so many variables ...

 

[laughingdog52]

Thanks for the great info and photos. I am just geting started with materials on hand and working on tweaking this to work for my situation. As time and $$ arise I will try some other more aggressive ideas that I have seen posted, but my chickens will see the benefit either way

.

 

[Kassaundra]

You don't soak them while in the burlap bag? Do you ever change the water during that 24 hour soak?

ok... so what is the old way and what is the new way?

Yes they soak for the first 24 hours in the same burlap sack they are sprouted in. I do not ever change the soaking water and never water again past the initial soak. I do rinse while in the bag after the soak before laying flat to sprout.

 

[OkChickens]

In the "old" way I was using black plastic nursery trays with a mesh bottom. The mesh was so large the dry seed fell right through, so did the soaked seed. And the trays are so large there is no handy way for me to water them from below (flood and drain method). So I had to wait until the seed was well sprouted (in a stainless steel bowl) before transferring it to the grow trays, then I watered them from above with a hand-held shower wand in a bathtub (easy, but supposedly encourages mildew/mold/fungus). By the time the seed was sprouted enough it had pretty much "felted" together in a big mass and I had to (carefully) tear it all apart and fluff it up to put it into the trays. This was good in one way as I got rid of a lot of "waste" material when fluffing it, and I could give it a really good rinse, but I'm sure I was also breaking a lot of the tender sprouts and also confusing them enough they had to spend a couple days finding "up" again, so it slowed down the growth considerably. Also, the way the fodder grew through the bottom of the trays meant a lot of work removing all the bits of fodder, then scrubbing with a toothbrush, and sanitizing the bazillion individual surfaces so the tray was squeaky clean for the next batch of fodder (mildew control).

In the "new" way, I bought stackable food-prep trays, drilled tiny holes in the "top" tray, left the "bottom" tray intact so I can soak, sprout and grow the seed right in the "top" tray by filling the bottom tray with water and stacking them together during the initial soak. This also allows me to water the trays from below (flood and drain method ... fill the bottom tray with water, stack for a minute or so), which is one tip for reducing mold/mildew. I don't have to disturb the seed as much, so it grows faster. The trays are smoother and a slightly better dimensions so they are WAY easier to clean in the kitchen sink, and they are even dishwasher safe. Besides getting much better growth, is also a LOT less hassle!

I was feeling a bit guilty about investing in new fodder trays to save myself some work (the nursery flats were free, so was the rye seed, so this was only costing me labor), but now that I see how much better the fodder grows I don't feel guilty at all. I'm ordering a bunch more food-prep trays today. Merry Christmas Me!

I think the lesson I want to share is to keep tweaking the system until it works for you. There are so many variables ...

Do you have any pictures of the new set up? I have usually 120 or more grown birds at a time and many juvenile growing up as well. Im looking for the easiest ways to grow sprouts. Thanks

Nate

 

[chick-in-florida]

I have used various containers for sprouting and one of the easiest is old aluminum pie pans I use a barbeque fork to poke holes in the bottoms. They drain really easily and make a very nice "sprout pie". I even use styrofoam leftover containers from restaurants and they are easy to poke holes in too. The only thing I could find for sprouting at our tractor supply store was expensive deer plot spike $27 for 40 lbs. I used that bag up then found whole oats $18 for 50 lbs so that's a little better. it's fun to do and living in florida it's easy to just roll my cart of seed containers off the screened porch and hose it off every day. i tried to leave it outside but the squirrels quickly found them. I covered them with screening but the squirrels chewed through that too.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Do you have any pictures of the new set up? I have usually 120 or more grown birds at a time and many juvenile growing up as well. Im looking for the easiest ways to grow sprouts. Thanks

Nate

I don't really have a picture of everything set up yet ... I'm still waiting on the rest of my trays to arrive in the mail.

I'll describe it: I have cheap plastic shelves from Home Depot ($15 each) in a bathtub that has a hand-held shower wand. The shelves are slightly smaller than the trays, which allows me to either set the trays flat on the shelves by putting them crossways, or to tilt the trays against the uprights of the shelves for better drainage. It isn't very elaborate or photogenic, but as we have more bathtubs than people in this house, it is convenient. It is a "garden" tub ... so has a window, but I gather a light bulb in a shower stall would do. That room is pretty cool, which is good for growing the grain I'm using: rye. Right now I'm using a mixture of the food-prep trays and the black plastic nursery flats. I'm switching over to all food-prep trays.

After an extra day or two, the fodder in the nursery trays is as green and lush as the fodder in the food-prep trays. But it is still more work to pre-sprout the grains before putting them in the trays.

About my setup, if I were more ambitious and didn't wish to prevent one tray from dripping into another I would have done custom shelves like these to fit the food-prep trays ...



... but maybe I'd have built the frame of plastic for better moisture tolerance.

Or I'd take the plastic shelves, drill holes in them, flip them upside down, and grow the fodder right in them like another poster describes ... that seems very efficient.

If I wanted to spend more money, I'd buy a bakery rack, which is designed to hold full-sized food prep trays very much like the rack Talbott Poultry shows above.

If you're feeding about 120 chickens per day, going with about 1 square inch of fodder per bird, then the full-sized food prep trays will be more than sufficient. Full-size Hotel pans (as they're called) are almost 21" x 14".

I'll see if I can organize a photo when the rest of my trays arrive and I have the spectrum of growth available to demonstrate.