Growing fodder for chickens

[SigningChickens]

Been planting organic non GMO Soybeans and lentils and other grains and pseudo grains to make fodder with. First time we've done anything like this, always planted veggies though.


This autumn we plan to plant wheat, barley, rye and spelt. All organic non GMO of course, already have the seed.

Also planted a bunch of other goodies for the chickens too but that's kind of off topic. Before we knew about fodder planting grains for the critters seemed useless with the small field we have. Making fodder changed my mind about having enough space to raise feed grains etc.

Now I think we'll even be able to make our own breads etc. and feed the birds too.


Still plan on ordering some different heirloom wheat seeds but we have einkorn, black emmer and an heirloom variety of wheat. Pretty stoked about growing seed for fodder and fermented grains from the ground up organically.

I would be careful about soy.

 

[BlueMouse]

Been planting organic non GMO Soybeans and lentils and other grains and pseudo grains to make fodder with. First time we've done anything like this, always planted veggies though.

This autumn we plan to plant wheat, barley, rye and spelt. All organic non GMO of course, already have the seed.

Also planted a bunch of other goodies for the chickens too but that's kind of off topic. Before we knew about fodder planting grains for the critters seemed useless with the small field we have. Making fodder changed my mind about having enough space to raise feed grains etc.

Now I think we'll even be able to make our own breads etc. and feed the birds too.

Still plan on ordering some different heirloom wheat seeds but we have einkorn, black emmer and an heirloom variety of wheat. Pretty stoked about growing seed for fodder and fermented grains from the ground up organically.

This is exciting! I'm doing the same thing for my chooks. I have corn/beans/squash/pumpkins, planted three sisters style. we'll probably eat most of the dried beans, and some of the squash and pumpkins. then I have space for etiher cow peas or adzuki beans, which are the most expensive part of my fermented ration. I'm thinking about adding a couple rows of fooder beets (mangels) and seeing how those are recieved. This fall wheat will go in where the corn was. I have a heritage variety I got from Fedco Seeds (amazing source of heirloom varieties.) It was expensive as heck, but it's a one time expense, since I'll be saving some of the wheat for seed. I expect to use the corn as part of my winter ration (replacing the scratch that I'm using now) and the wheat eventually for fodder. I don't even HAVE a field, I plowed up a 20 x 60 portion of my lawn, and dividied it into two segments so I can rotate crops. The silly chickens come stand by the fence and watch me work. They're curious about everything that has to do with digging because they're ever hopeful that it will produce worms.

I would be careful about soy.

The more I read about soy the more concerned I am, but I wonder if it's really a concern once it's grown into fodder? Sprouting completely changes the chemical makup of any seed, and extended growth as in fodder changes it even more. I don't know either way, but I am curious!

 

[SigningChickens]

This is exciting! I'm doing the same thing for my chooks. I have corn/beans/squash/pumpkins, planted three sisters style. we'll probably eat most of the dried beans, and some of the squash and pumpkins. then I have space for etiher cow peas or adzuki beans, which are the most expensive part of my fermented ration.  I'm thinking about adding a couple rows of fooder beets (mangels) and seeing how those are recieved. This fall wheat will go in where the corn was. I have a heritage variety I got from Fedco Seeds (amazing source of heirloom varieties.) It was expensive as heck, but it's a one time expense, since I'll be saving some of the wheat for seed. I expect to use the corn as part of my winter ration (replacing the scratch that I'm using now) and the wheat eventually for fodder. I don't even HAVE a field, I plowed up a 20 x 60 portion of my lawn, and dividied it into two segments so I can rotate crops. The silly chickens come stand by the fence and watch me work. They're curious about everything that has to do with digging because they're ever hopeful that it will produce worms. 

The more I read about soy the more concerned I am, but I wonder if it's really a concern once it's grown into fodder? Sprouting completely changes the chemical makup of any seed, and extended growth as in fodder changes it even more. I don't know either way, but I am curious! 

I'd like to see some research. I'm curious now too.

 

[SigningChickens]

I sprouted quinoa & it was fast! I two days they were growing out of my sprouting bag! My hens ate it as if they hadn't eaten in a week! I'm going to make it part of their daily diet.

 

[SigningChickens]

This is exciting! I'm doing the same thing for my chooks. I have corn/beans/squash/pumpkins, planted three sisters style. we'll probably eat most of the dried beans, and some of the squash and pumpkins. then I have space for etiher cow peas or adzuki beans, which are the most expensive part of my fermented ration.  I'm thinking about adding a couple rows of fooder beets (mangels) and seeing how those are recieved. This fall wheat will go in where the corn was. I have a heritage variety I got from Fedco Seeds (amazing source of heirloom varieties.) It was expensive as heck, but it's a one time expense, since I'll be saving some of the wheat for seed. I expect to use the corn as part of my winter ration (replacing the scratch that I'm using now) and the wheat eventually for fodder. I don't even HAVE a field, I plowed up a 20 x 60 portion of my lawn, and dividied it into two segments so I can rotate crops. The silly chickens come stand by the fence and watch me work. They're curious about everything that has to do with digging because they're ever hopeful that it will produce worms. 

The more I read about soy the more concerned I am, but I wonder if it's really a concern once it's grown into fodder? Sprouting completely changes the chemical makup of any seed, and extended growth as in fodder changes it even more. I don't know either way, but I am curious! 

I'm urban gardening & my chickens also are very nosy. When I painted the coop the other day they kept getting in the paint lol. They never even offered to help. Lmao.

 

[greenhorn]

You are correct to be careful with soy. But as stated once germinated it's a different animal but I don't plan on feeding many soy sprouts to our birds. We ferment our soy meal with cracked corn, oats and wheat. Fermenting also changes the soy into a nutritional feed without the anti-nutritional factors that are associated with raw soy. There is a thread about feeding meat birds fermented feed but i't's good for all chickens. We also feed out meaties fodder but we feed all our chickens fodder.

Anyway soy is ok if it's fermented, that goes for humans also. When it's prepared raw is when it causes problems.

A couple points of interest:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17495085

http://phys.org/news/2011-02-soybean-meal-sources-good-fish.html

 

[deserthomestead]

I haven't read all 205 pages of this thread, but does anyone have any ideas on how to sprout in high temperatures?
I'm in southern NV and it's about 80 degrees in the house right now. I've tried sprouting the red wheat available at the feed store, but I had some major mold issues.

Should I just try fermenting feed instead, since it thrives at higher temperatures?

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

So I have determined that the best soak time for my BOSS seeds are overnight, about 10-12 hours. This seems to make them germinate and take off the fastest with the highest germination percentage in my opinion. I also tried 24hrs, 6 hrs, and 1-2hrs. 24hrs was too long and caused some of the seeds to split prematurely before roots were sent out, 6 hrs was ok, 1-2 hrs wasn't long enough and the seeds needed more water throughout the first and second days to keep them from drying out. I soak in plastic yogurt containers overnight, then transfer to another of the same containers with lots of 1/8" holes drilled in the bottom and pick out any broken seeds and chaff before dumping the seeds in and rinse rinse rinse (day 1), then rinse a couple times on days two, rinse a couple times on day 3 then transfer to a clear container to green up towards the end of day 3, and feed on the morning of day 4 usually.

 

Thanks for sharing the results of your time tests! I cannot wait to get stared on this.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

My girls don't touch ANY of my herbs. They are all well within chicken height in little raised beds, but they just leave them alone. I have Chamomile, horsemint, rosemary (I saw a couple nibbling this the other day, but am pretty sure they were eating the bugs on it, not the leaves), parsley, nasturtiums, marigolds, peppermint, spearmint, lemonbalm, cilantro/cumin and the chicks don't eat them. Though they will demolish my green tomatoes and they were seriously eyeing my baby bell pepper, so I covered that up quick!

I would be worried the girls would dig up the herbs while digging for bugs. The frames are to keep the chickens from uprooting the plants while enjoying the grass (or whatever you choose to grow) tops. My baby chicks had half of their new 20'x16' run weeded within 10 days...so I think my little ladies need a grazing frame if they want anything but bare ground

 

[Lacy Blues]

I haven't read all 205 pages of this thread, but does anyone have any ideas on how to sprout in high temperatures?
I'm in southern NV and it's about 80 degrees in the house right now. I've tried sprouting the red wheat available at the feed store, but I had some major mold issues.

Should I just try fermenting feed instead, since it thrives at higher temperatures?

Hi there. I'm in northern Nevada. It was quite warm here last week but thankfully has cooled down somewhat.

Perhaps you just need to rinse your sprouts more and several times a day when its that warm. I know that 80 is pretty cool for southern Nevada so I guess my only input is to rinse more often with cold water.