Growing fodder for chickens

[tyananomura]

can rice be sprouted for fodder? I have brown rice soaking now and was wondering the best way to make fodder with rice

I don't know if rice will get to fodder or not. Brown rice can be sprouted and takes on average 24-48 hours.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'm doing fodder but living here in FL I am assuming my hens will have greens all year. This is my first year down here and things bloomed all winter. I'm in the panhandle and I'm not sure if that is the way all winters are. I still think fodder is good no matter what.
Lol...I can't imagine starting a roach colony on purpose. I struggle to keep the dang things from ingesting the house. Bleeeech!

They're not the same kind of roaches.

and I don't blame you on the kind you have there!

 

[tyananomura]

So I thought I would try my hand at fodder. Got a bag of red wheat yesterday and added some BOSS I already had on hand. I washed the heck out of the seeds and put them to soak. I didn't have any bleach at the house so I added some vinegar to act as an anti fungal. Hope it works cause the BF doesn't want bleach down the drain into the septic. My setup is temporary to see if it will work for us and meet our requirements. So we had a bunch of gallon ice cream buckets laying around. I put holes in the bottom of three of them and left one as my soak bucket. I am starting with a cup of seed broken down as 2/3 cup wheat 1/3 cup BOSS. my first batch came out of soak tonight and was rinsed really well and put into a growing bucket. I put my second batch in to soak. I'll upload pics when I get back to my computer it isn't working from my phone. If the fodder works for us we are going to build a set up using gutters. We are going to try to eliminate pellets with a combination of fodder, free range, black soldier flies and some other source of protein during the winter. Possibly meal worms but not quite sure yet. Also the fodder will be the mainstay for our future goats pigs and sheep. Hay is just stupidly expensive and god only knows. What is in commercial feeds. I will update as the fodder experiment continues. One question can I use the "waste" water from the fodder for my animals? This will be pertinent in the more permanent set up.

 

[520farmer]

What are some grains that sprout well in high heat, I live in the desert southwest and we don't have forage at all but we do have high heat almost all year lol

 

[Lacy Blues]

So I thought I would try my hand at fodder. Got a bag of red wheat yesterday and added some BOSS I already had on hand. I washed the heck out of the seeds and put them to soak. I didn't have any bleach at the house so I added some vinegar to act as an anti fungal. Hope it works cause the BF doesn't want bleach down the drain into the septic. My setup is temporary to see if it will work for us and meet our requirements. So we had a bunch of gallon ice cream buckets laying around. I put holes in the bottom of three of them and left one as my soak bucket. I am starting with a cup of seed broken down as 2/3 cup wheat 1/3 cup BOSS. my first batch came out of soak tonight and was rinsed really well and put into a growing bucket. I put my second batch in to soak. I'll upload pics when I get back to my computer it isn't working from my phone. If the fodder works for us we are going to build a set up using gutters. We are going to try to eliminate pellets with a combination of fodder, free range, black soldier flies and some other source of protein during the winter. Possibly meal worms but not quite sure yet. Also the fodder will be the mainstay for our future goats pigs and sheep. Hay is just stupidly expensive and god only knows. What is in commercial feeds. I will update as the fodder experiment continues. One question can I use the "waste" water from the fodder for my animals? This will be pertinent in the more permanent set up.

I don't see why not... but I have a feeling that it may depend on how many times you run the water through the fodder and what the condition of the fodder is. If you have even a small amount of mold trying to grow, you might have a worse problem on your hands if it gets to your animals, but if you can keep the fodder mold-free then I'd say GO FOR IT!

 

[tyananomura]

I don't see why not... but I have a feeling that it may depend on how many times you run the water through the fodder and what the condition of the fodder is.  If you have even a small amount of mold trying to grow, you might have a worse problem on your hands if it gets to your animals, but if you can keep the fodder mold-free then I'd say GO FOR IT! 

In the permanent set up it will only be run through once, and would not include the water from the first wash, soak, or wash often the soak just the grow days.

 

[Fryze]

thank you for the link Lacy Blues. I am getting excited we are placing our order tomorrow for our 12 speckled sussex chicks (suppose to be all female, but we will see) and 25 of the fry pan mix of males. I am a little scared also, ooops wrong thread but hey I am excited!

 

[tyananomura]

Bucket on the left is the seeds soaking to go in grow bucket tomorrow. Bucket on the right is the seeds soaked yesterday. Gonna try it for five days worth of soak and see what happens. Hopefully the geese will like it. Gonna introduce it slowly to the rabbits so as to not create a problem supplementing pellets.

 

[Lacy Blues]

thank you for the link Lacy Blues. I am getting excited we are placing our order tomorrow for our 12 speckled sussex chicks (suppose to be all female, but we will see) and 25 of the fry pan mix of males. I am a little scared also, ooops wrong thread but hey I am excited!

Did I share a link?

Oh, the fermented feed link... a little slow... you're welcome!

 

[SigningChickens]

What is BOSS?