Growing fodder for chickens

[patti17340]

I grew my first batch of fodder.. I used some winter wheat , It was only a small batch.. I used a soak and rinse each day.. It grew really nice and I gave it to my chickens today.. I am going to try a bigger batch next week.. Thanks for all this great information.. I learn something new everytime I get on this forum.

 

[kaisabaijai]

"Well I was going to start my Barley Fodder today but the feed store where I orderded it let someone else have it" .....

I thought that only happened here in Thailand and similar 3rd world countries.

 

[Glasshen]

Kai, dandelions are very hard to get rid of, and most people spend a lot of time trying to do so. They also are one of those plants that make it hard for other plants to grow near them. Rye has long roots, also buckwheat might do what you want breaking up the clay etc.

 

[kaisabaijai]

Kai, dandelions are very hard to get rid of, and most people spend a lot of time trying to do so. They also are one of those plants that make it hard for other plants to grow near them. Rye has long roots, also buckwheat might do what you want breaking up the clay etc.

I don't think Rye, barley and wheat will grow here. At least that is the reason I am told that beer is so expensive. I am also told that alfalfa won't grow here and If i could get it to grow I could make a lot of money selling it to rabbit farmers.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Why won't those things grow there? What is your soil's pH level?

 

[Phottoman]

I don't think Rye, barley and wheat will grow here. At least that is the reason I am told that beer is so expensive. I am also told that alfalfa won't grow here and If i could get it to grow I could make a lot of money selling it to rabbit farmers.

I just did a real quick search on Google on growing barley in Thailand, and this is what I found, first listing, might be something for you to check out?

http://www.ccpnorthern.com/

Remember, our barley is grown indoors, not in a large field, and not in any type of dirt, planting soil or anything like that. It's just watered, then the roots grow and suck up water and grow tall and turn green.

I know I just oversimplified that, but we're doing this on a very small scale.

Also, as for growing barley for resale, the lady that got me started in growing my barley in 22" X 11" trays is selling her barley grass as fast as she can grow it. She placed a small advert in a local Craig's list (On line local advertising) and got more calls than she could handle. If I had the room here, I would start doing the same thing. But heck, I wanted to be rich too, but THAT ain't gonna happen.

She lives way out of town in a very rural area, and she brings the turf, barley grass, into town and her customers pick it up from her one or two days a week when she is in town. If you have the space, and want to raise barley or any seed for that matter, dive in, get wet, and enjoy what you grow.

I live in the desert of North West Arizona, and we don't typically don't have grass in our front yards, but it sure makes people turn and look at me in a funny way when I say out loud, "I have to go home and water my grass."

I even brought some into town a few weeks ago to show the people at the feed store what I was doing with the Barley I bought from them. They had a great time asking me all sorts of questions (as if I was some sort of expert). At the time the particular tray I brought in was in it's eighth day of groth including the first 24 hours of bleach soak, and it stood straight and about six or seven inches tall.

I remember many MANY years ago when I had cats, and I would go to a neighborhood pet store to buy six inch square cardboard boxes with this same looking grass and take it home for my cats. I would also cut it with scissors and put it into the bird cage and the parakeets would go CRAZY with it, eating some and rolling around in what was left over when they finished eating.

As a matter of fact, if I had a good source for small six inch square boxes I would probably give that a try, we have lots of pet stores in this area. As I recall, at that time (about twenty years ago) it was about $5 US for each small box.

Skip

 

[Lacy Blues]

I just did a real quick search on Google on growing barley in Thailand, and this is what I found, first listing, might be something for you to check out?

http://www.ccpnorthern.com/

Remember, our barley is grown indoors, not in a large field, and not in any type of dirt, planting soil or anything like that. It's just watered, then the roots grow and suck up water and grow tall and turn green.

I know I just oversimplified that, but we're doing this on a very small scale.

Also, as for growing barley for resale, the lady that got me started in growing my barley in 22" X 11" trays is selling her barley grass as fast as she can grow it. She placed a small advert in a local Craig's list (On line local advertising) and got more calls than she could handle. If I had the room here, I would start doing the same thing. But heck, I wanted to be rich too, but THAT ain't gonna happen.

She lives way out of town in a very rural area, and she brings the turf, barley grass, into town and her customers pick it up from her one or two days a week when she is in town. If you have the space, and want to raise barley or any seed for that matter, dive in, get wet, and enjoy what you grow.

I live in the desert of North West Arizona, and we don't typically don't have grass in our front yards, but it sure makes people turn and look at me in a funny way when I say out loud, "I have to go home and water my grass."

I even brought some into town a few weeks ago to show the people at the feed store what I was doing with the Barley I bought from them. They had a great time asking me all sorts of questions (as if I was some sort of expert). At the time the particular tray I brought in was in it's eighth day of groth including the first 24 hours of bleach soak, and it stood straight and about six or seven inches tall.

I remember many MANY years ago when I had cats, and I would go to a neighborhood pet store to buy six inch square cardboard boxes with this same looking grass and take it home for my cats. I would also cut it with scissors and put it into the bird cage and the parakeets would go CRAZY with it, eating some and rolling around in what was left over when they finished eating.

As a matter of fact, if I had a good source for small six inch square boxes I would probably give that a try, we have lots of pet stores in this area. As I recall, at that time (about twenty years ago) it was about $5 US for each small box.

Skip

I'll bet you could find some online.

 

[kaisabaijai]

thanks for the CCP link.

I will contact them to see if they will sell me some seed.

I would probably have to grow it in trays like you are doing it and that might be too much for as many chickens as I have but maybe i can start it in trays then transplant it to dirt.

 

[spiritrancho]

Howdy Skip
We are almost nieghbors. I live in Dolan Springs. I grow barley grass for my meat rabbits and feed fermented grains to my chickens. I am gradually doing away with commercially prepared feed completely. With alfalfa at $16 a bale I am limiting that also. There is a feed store on Northern in Kingman that sells recleaned barley oats and wheat at about $15 per 50#. It is called Rough Stock and they keep the grains in stock.
My email is [email protected] if you care to correspond.
Carl

 

[Phottoman]

Howdy Skip
We are almost nieghbors. I live in Dolan Springs. I grow barley grass for my meat rabbits and feed fermented grains to my chickens. I am gradually doing away with commercially prepared feed completely. With alfalfa at $16 a bale I am limiting that also. There is a feed store on Northern in Kingman that sells recleaned barley oats and wheat at about $15 per 50#. It is called Rough Stock and they keep the grains in stock.
My email is [email protected] if you care to correspond.
Carl

Hi Carl, I only get into town one day a week, and I don't even think I will be going in next week. I lived in the High Desert of California (Lancaster area) for more than 15 years, and I learned then that you do NOT go to the store for a gallon of milk, or a loaf of bread. You keep a pad handy to list what you need (mine hung over the door of the trailer) and once a week I would tear off that page and have my shopping list all ready. I brought that same idea here when I moved here in 2007, and it still works. There is nothing I need this week in Kingman, so I will be going the other direction (Bullhead City) for the shopping I need to do there. That being said, I'll let you know when I plan on going to Kingman and maybe we can meet, say at either Stockton Hill or Cerbat Feed and Grain. I used to shop for compressed hay at the store you mentioned, I work in Oatman and I would sell small bags of hay to tourists as Burro Feed for $1. And my email is [email protected] or @yahoo.com or @gmail.com. Just remember to make that TWO "T's" not Photoman ...

And a thought in passing, if ANYONE has questions that I can answer, drop me a PM or an email and I will do my best to help.

thanks for the CCP link.

I will contact them to see if they will sell me some seed.

I would probably have to grow it in trays like you are doing it and that might be too much for as many chickens as I have but maybe i can start it in trays then transplant it to dirt.

You are only limited in the size or number of trays you are willing to work with. I have only nine chickens left after that devastating morning when something got in the yard and killed and ate half my Free Range Chicks. It took a long time to overcome that attack.

What I mentioned about the lady that started me, she started out with just a single tray system, stacked one on top of another, and as I did, went through several different types of trays until she found what she wanted. Then she went wild with the whole idea, and started several trays at once. I think she is doing something like twenty or more stacks of trays, way more than I have room for, or I would "help" her out by taking some of the slack and selling her fodder to resell.

If you have room, I think you'd find that raising fodder is NOT that big a deal. It takes me less than five minutes in the morning to water. When I get home from work I take the top tray out to the chickens, and wash it ... a total of another five minutes.

Later that night, while watching the news with half an ear, I rinse my buckets, add the new crop to the tray I fed the chickens with, stack that on the bottom and turn the other trays as I raise them one level ... total time, fifteen minutes. So the entire operation takes less than thirty minutes, spread out over three areas of time in a day.

As I stated, jump in and "get wet." I think you'll see the benefits are well worth the effort ... though I know this isn't for every one.

Skip