Growing fodder for chickens

[Glasshen]

When I first started giving them sprouts/fodder, my chickens were rather confused and hesitant. Recently I brought out both the homegrown goodies and their pellets. When I scattered the pellets they were unimpressed. When I scattered the sprouts they were actively competitive to get them. A few days later I tried the same technique with corn and sprouts. The favorite is sprouts! Any kind!

 

[sonew123]

Crap! Ths is my third batch and half are getting moldy can i make weak bleach solution and mist it to kill it off or is it a total waste? Its not BAD but dime/quarter random spots throughout....it was a day or two from being given dang it!

 

[zyzzyx]

Good Morning all---I am just in the process of gathering up the things I will need to start with fodder. I do not yet have my seed trays. Yesterday I was in a paint store and saw a roller painting tray, it looked like it might serve as a tray because it has a built in water/paint reservoir and should be easy to drain well. I can get them for .99 each.

What say you all----again I have no experience in growing fodder

Thanks in advance for any assistance/ideas provided.

 

[groverlvchx]

I say buy one and try it

 

[fuzziecreatures]

We've been growing fodder for a few months now, I had started with hand soaking each tray daily. Then it got to where I wasn't soaking because I was too tired in the am or pm. We bought a ventilated shelving unit and placed it in the basement shower. Now it is automated with 2 hose nozzles set on mist and a timer. It is currently going off every 4 hours for 5 minutes.





We are having a problem with our 2 oldest trays and would love any suggestions. I soak the seeds for 24hrs, rinse the seeds, spray down with 10:1 water/bleach, and rotate daily. There is a grow light in there because the fodder wasn't green anymore, it turned yellow! We keep getting this foamy mold? Extends into the tray about 4 inches, only one end. When I turned the trays, it formed on both ends. I tried adjusting the timer to every 2 hrs for 5 minutes, or every 4 hrs for 5 minutes, or every 8 hrs for 10 minutes

Our mold issues have resolved for now I believe. I soak the seeds in a mild bleach solution, spray down just sprouted seeds with weak bleach solution until it gets upright stems, our watering is on shower on the hose nozzle and occurs every 8 hours for 2 minutes. No more mold for a few weeks and stiffer blades of fodder

 

[Eva2012]

Fuzziecrestures,
There is a C2O (?) Available on amazon, I will look that up to get it right, that is a bird approved bleach solution without the commercial chemicals that are in regular bleach.
Also, I saw a documentary that showed the growth inhibitors that come from aluminium, and I see the aluminium trays for your fodder. That would really concern me.

 

[Eva2012]

OK, this is what I was looking for; it's a chlorine dioxide product; there are several but I found this one on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Aquamira-Wate...5347&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=chlorine+dioxide

It kills all bad bugs and fungi.

 

[Eva2012]

OK, here's a reference to the aluminum toxicity; it stunts root growth especially in seedlings:

http://www.actabp.pl/pdf/3_2001/673-686.pdf

 

[FreedomLover]

Well, we started feeding the fodder to our 9 week old chicks and they absolutely love it. Our big girls were getting jealous so we started feeding them a little bit too.

We aren't yet getting the growth in one week that we expected, but I think it's because the plants weren't getting quite enough light (it's been rainy and cloudy here for most of the week). Today though, they got a good bit of sun and the "growing" trays grew by at least an inch today!

I think I may have the seed sewn a bit too thick in the plastic shoe boxes that we've been using, so I'm going to cut them down to 1/2 # of seed each and see if they do better. Have that 1/2 # soaking right now in a mild bleach solution (we had a little problem with mold at about day 5 or 6). I'm hoping that by cutting the amount of seed down to 1/2 # and using the bleach solution at the beginning soak, that it will stop the mold problem. Right now I just pick out the sections about 1" around the fuzzy stuff and feed the rest to the birds.

I love the smell too! Smells like cucumbers!

 

[PetRock]

I have been having a problem with mold in my fodder trays, too. It is discouraging. I just took 4 trays out and just planted them instead of feeding them to my girls. I had a problem last week with one of my Olive Egger hens and vent gleet plus sour croup. I don't know for sure what caused it but I have never had a case of it in my flock until we started trying fodder. I was out of town for a week and DH fed them a tray without looking for mold. He also gave them long grass clippings (8-10 in) so that may have been part of the problem, too.

I have been soaking my seeds in an oxine/water solution instead of the bleach and also misting them with it. I like using Oxine for a disinfectant. It is safe and does a better job than bleach. They claim that it is 200 times better than chlorine bleach. http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm It does kill the mold on top but not on the roots unless I pick up the mat and spray underneath. Maybe I need to soak in a higher concentration of oxine? I made the holes larger in the plastic trays that I am using and I'm rinsing 3 times/day for at least 2 min./rinse. I'll report back on my results. I'm determined to make this work!