Growing fodder for chickens

[sueblack]

Phottoman, thank you for that post. I have read this entire thread, and while I have had great success growing fodder from wheat, sprouting barley has been a bust.

I think that part of the problem for me might be corrected by using the method you use for putting holes in one end of the tray and staggering the stacked tray so that the water from one tray drops to one end of the tray below then has to travel through the root mat before reaching the holes at the opposite end of the next tray.

I built a tower out of Wal-Mart shelving as described and pictured by TalbottPoultry, but my trays have the holes drilled across the bottom of the entire tray. Water from one tray showers down onto the top of the next tray. LeslieDJoyce explains in Post 818 that she found that only soaking the root mat from below helped to reduce mold problems. This might explain why your method with the trays works better.

Also, I think my pantry is too cold for sprouting barley (54-57 degrees), so I am moving the sprouting buckets of barley into my 70 degree house to see if warmer temps help the sprouting. Wheat sprouted just fine in my pantry, but the barley won't. It has to be the temp.

 

[UrbanMamaHen]

This is the thread I follow for mealworms.... it is quite active

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/492636/mealworm-farming/5320_20#post_10517792

I will caution you about not having a cover.  Lots of things like to eat mealworms.  Mice will eat the whole colony if they can get to them.  I keep mine covered BUT you must provide plenty of ventilation that is the key to keeping mold down.  I use carrots.... the seem to work best for me.  I don't find much left and I don't have to do anything special with it.  Just put it in and they eat it. 

Omg, I hadn't thought of mice. I have my mealworm bin in the house so mice hasn't been a problem, but I can see them being a problem if the open bin was out in the garage. Thank you for the caution. I was planning to move the bin out to the garage soon.

 

[Oregonbeek]

I have quail but have not given them any of the fodder yet. I will give them some this weekend and post on how they like it. At this point, the fodder I am making has been in addition to regular food for the geese, ducks, chickens, guineas, and turkeys. I can tell on the days that I feed the fodder the consumption of the regular food goes down which is a good considering the cost of feed.

I thought I would mention that the guineas love the fodder. I think they like it best of all the birds that I have given the fodder to.

All of our birds are nuts over the fermented feed so I am going to up production. I am using the bucket with holes inside another bucket method which seems to be working okay. No more big mess.

That's awesome! I'm excited to hear how your quail like it!

 

[Oregonbeek]

I feed fodder of barley to my quail right now and they absolutely love it! Just watching them scratch and peck and just eat it all up is quite a site to see. Plus the fodder last a lot longer as a feed source too.

That's good news! I would think that fodder would be good to knock down their feed costs. Quail require fairly high-protein feed so I was hoping that fodder would be a good supplement/alternative.

 

[FreedomLover]

drain to a pail to be emptied into a drum to dilute urine for the garden.

THAT is a really good idea! I've been watching a thread on the SFG forums about using urine in the garden. Hmmm... *wonders how hubby would react to me using a bucket in the bathroom*

I decided to "experiment" and see how things went. I'm on day 3 and have one tray of "green shoots", one tray of "roots" and another batch soaking. Doing this on a very small scale, as I don't have any larger containers to use atm and can't afford to buy any right now. But it's a start!

 

[corancher]

That's awesome! I'm excited to hear how your quail like it!

Fed some fodder to the quail this morning. They are afraid of it. I had the same reaction from the other birds so I think once they figure it out it will be okay. The geese and ducks have really started to looking forward to the fodder and gobble it down pretty quickly. Fed the fermented feed again today and it's a hit with everyone.

 

[NotAFarm]

I love that 3/4 of a cup of grain can turn into this is less than a week....


I've been taking the scissors to it and cutting the long blades into "inch or so" size pieces and leaving an inch with the root mat intact.

Here is my set-up (feeds 25 adult chickens) as it is today-
Purchased the mini greenhouse at Tractor Supply last Friday for $20.00.
7 shoe box size storage containers, .97 cents each, drilled holes in bottoms of 6
1 "Perma-nest" garden tray (green-no holes), 1 humidity dome (clear-no holes) fits on the garden tray-using it as a tray (had on hand but purchased originally through Amazon for starting garden seedlings)
1 glass casserole dish (from the kitchen) used for soaking

Day 1-Top shelf-casserole dish with 3/4 cup of grain soaks 12 hours
Day 2-Bottom shelf-left-drained grain put into a box with holes drilled in it, a damp paper towel layed on top of the grain and a second box (no holes), with a dish towel in it (for darkness), "stacked" on top of the paper towel (to put some "weight/pressure" on the seeds.
Day 3-Bottom shelf middle-grains with rootlings covered by a damp paper towel.
Day 4- Bottom shelf-right-grain with new sprouts showing
Day 5-Middle shelf-left-grains getting green growth
Day 6-Middle shelf-middle-green looking ready
Day 7-Middle shelf-right-on it's way to a "trim" and feeding time

This is inside my house. I take the garden tray and dome tray to the kitchen sink that has a "hose". One at a time, I rinse each box and let most of the water drain, then put the box back onto the tray to finish draining. I do this twice a day. If I'm rushed, I will just "water" each box with a watering can and the trays catch the water which I empty later when I have time. I start the new grain in the morning, adding 3/4 cup of grain to the casserole dish with enough water to cover and have an inch over top of the grain. I let it soak all day. I rinse it during the day if I'm home and if I think about it. In the evening, I put the soaked grain in the empty box from that day's feeding.
I will only be growing fodder until April, when the grass gets green here, and then will start back up in the late fall.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: Some lost lost most of their mealworms to a mouse..... Kassaundra I think it was. Other bugs can kill them too..... spiders and such.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I love that 3/4 of a cup of grain can turn into this is less than a week....


I've been taking the scissors to it and cutting the long blades into "inch or so" size pieces and leaving an inch with the root mat intact.

Here is my set-up (feeds 25 adult chickens) as it is today-
Purchased the mini greenhouse at Tractor Supply last Friday for $20.00.
7 shoe box size storage containers, .97 cents each, drilled holes in bottoms of 6
1 "Perma-nest" garden tray (green-no holes), 1 humidity dome (clear-no holes) fits on the garden tray-using it as a tray (had on hand but purchased originally through Amazon for starting garden seedlings)
1 glass casserole dish (from the kitchen) used for soaking

Day 1-Top shelf-casserole dish with 3/4 cup of grain soaks 12 hours
Day 2-Bottom shelf-left-drained grain put into a box with holes drilled in it, a damp paper towel layed on top of the grain and a second box (no holes), with a dish towel in it (for darkness), "stacked" on top of the paper towel (to put some "weight/pressure" on the seeds.
Day 3-Bottom shelf middle-grains with rootlings covered by a damp paper towel.
Day 4- Bottom shelf-right-grain with new sprouts showing
Day 5-Middle shelf-left-grains getting green growth
Day 6-Middle shelf-middle-green looking ready
Day 7-Middle shelf-right-on it's way to a "trim" and feeding time

This is inside my house. I take the garden tray and dome tray to the kitchen sink that has a "hose". One at a time, I rinse each box and let most of the water drain, then put the box back onto the tray to finish draining. I do this twice a day. If I'm rushed, I will just "water" each box with a watering can and the trays catch the water which I empty later when I have time. I start the new grain in the morning, adding 3/4 cup of grain to the casserole dish with enough water to cover and have an inch over top of the grain. I let it soak all day. I rinse it during the day if I'm home and if I think about it. In the evening, I put the soaked grain in the empty box from that day's feeding.
I will only be growing fodder until April, when the grass gets green here, and then will start back up in the late fall.

I love your setup ( I have three of those mini green houses.. : ). I need to get some wheat. The BOSS sprouts very quickly, but takes three weeks to grow into fodder, so I think I will use those just for sprouts. My oats that I tried started to smell fermented...so I just mixed them in with my FF ....everyone loved them. They had sprouted a tiny white tail, but hadn't grown any for several days and were started to smell not quite right. Plus I think they got too cold..we got a bunch of snow/cold weather right when I started them. Anyway, next time I'm able to pickup a bunch of grain I'll be sure to get plenty of wheat! Excited!!

~ Aspen

 

[DMRippy]

I love that 3/4 of a cup of grain can turn into this is less than a week....


I've been taking the scissors to it and cutting the long blades into "inch or so" size pieces and leaving an inch with the root mat intact.

Here is my set-up (feeds 25 adult chickens) as it is today-
Purchased the mini greenhouse at Tractor Supply last Friday for $20.00.
7 shoe box size storage containers, .97 cents each, drilled holes in bottoms of 6
1 "Perma-nest" garden tray (green-no holes), 1 humidity dome (clear-no holes) fits on the garden tray-using it as a tray (had on hand but purchased originally through Amazon for starting garden seedlings)
1 glass casserole dish (from the kitchen) used for soaking

Day 1-Top shelf-casserole dish with 3/4 cup of grain soaks 12 hours
Day 2-Bottom shelf-left-drained grain put into a box with holes drilled in it, a damp paper towel layed on top of the grain and a second box (no holes), with a dish towel in it (for darkness), "stacked" on top of the paper towel (to put some "weight/pressure" on the seeds.
Day 3-Bottom shelf middle-grains with rootlings covered by a damp paper towel.
Day 4- Bottom shelf-right-grain with new sprouts showing
Day 5-Middle shelf-left-grains getting green growth
Day 6-Middle shelf-middle-green looking ready
Day 7-Middle shelf-right-on it's way to a "trim" and feeding time

This is inside my house. I take the garden tray and dome tray to the kitchen sink that has a "hose". One at a time, I rinse each box and let most of the water drain, then put the box back onto the tray to finish draining. I do this twice a day. If I'm rushed, I will just "water" each box with a watering can and the trays catch the water which I empty later when I have time. I start the new grain in the morning, adding 3/4 cup of grain to the casserole dish with enough water to cover and have an inch over top of the grain. I let it soak all day. I rinse it during the day if I'm home and if I think about it. In the evening, I put the soaked grain in the empty box from that day's feeding.
I will only be growing fodder until April, when the grass gets green here, and then will start back up in the late fall.

LOVE this! BTW Eggs were PERFECT! Thanks!