Growing fodder for chickens

[Arielle]

Quote:

 

[Arielle]

I am growing sun hemp for fodder and masa corn instead of feed corn. I compared white corn nutrients with the yellow corn nutrients and decided to go with white corn instead.

Could you expand on "masa" corn?? Is this a term applied to the old heritage corns, rather than the commerical corns? Dent? Popcorn, fresh eating? Lost . . . . lol

Ok read further on-- got it.

I"m very surprised at the chemical anaysis of white v. yellow. I've been looking at the selections from Sand Hill Preservation-- too many to pick just one.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: A cheerful flower-- it always makes me smile!

 

[kaisabaijai]

A cheerful flower-- it always makes me smile!

I used to eat dandelions when i was a kid. I also remember a song that mentions dandelion wine but I have never tried it.

The field we had that was scattered with dandelion flowers did look pretty nice. The horses liked eating them also.

 

[erinszoo]

We pick the flowers and make dandelion fritters. They taste like fried zucchini. Yum!

 

[Arielle]

Mybe it is just me-- they smell funny to me-- like they might be bitter. Wonder if they are like broccali--depends on your taste buds.

 

[chickengmaw]

I use plastic pails that I get from the bakery to soak the seed in for 24 hours. I use a colander with small holes in it and rinse the seed several times before I put them into the pail with water and bleach.. Then I fill the pail 3/4 full of water and a 1/4 cup of bleach. I add the seed and stir it around and pour it off into a colander set inside another pail. Then I put it into the sprouting trays. I have small slits in the bottom of the trays so the seed won't fall through. I also have the trays sitting on top of cookies cooling racks. They sit inside our bathtub and I keep the drain closed so when I am rinsing them, no seeds fall into the drain. If some fall out of the tray you can pick them out. I rinse mine twice a day, I forgot to rinse them one evening, so the next morning. I allowed them to set in the water for about 10 minutes. Kind of like a soaking rain then I drained them off. I hope this helps you.

 

[Arielle]

I use plastic pails that I get from the bakery to soak the seed in for 24 hours. I use a colander with small holes in it and rinse the seed several times before I put them into the pail with water and bleach.. Then I fill the pail 3/4 full of water and a 1/4 cup of bleach. I add the seed and stir it around and pour it off into a colander set inside another pail. Then I put it into the sprouting trays. I have small slits in the bottom of the trays so the seed won't fall through. I also have the trays sitting on top of cookies cooling racks. They sit inside our bathtub and I keep the drain closed so when I am rinsing them, no seeds fall into the drain. If some fall out of the tray you can pick them out. I rinse mine twice a day, I forgot to rinse them one evening, so the next morning. I allowed them to set in the water for about 10 minutes. Kind of like a soaking rain then I drained them off. I hope this helps you.

I've seen two sizes at the bakery: 5 gal and 3 gal, which do you use?

 

[jramirez]

Can this be done (growing fodder) outside? I live 35 miles south of San Antonio, Texas. The weather is just now beginning to warm to the 70s - 80s. I have been doing this in my laundry room which is pretty small. Does it need to be a cool area for this to grow? Or will it grow in a small greenhouse outdoors? When I say greenhouse I mean one of those I can buy with the plastic wrapping.

 

[colorfield]

I can't wait to try this with the chickens I'll be getting this summer. Is anyone using food grade plastic tubs, bins, or trays for growing fodder? If so, what are you using?