Growing fodder for chickens

[Bangarang64]

Can someone link me to a recommended pump? I'm not sure how many gallons per hour I should look for, (I'm guessing 40 -50 so it pumps about 11 gallons every 15 mins?) and I'm not sure if any of them will lift the water 6 feet above the holding tank.

Any suggestions?

 

[Phoenixxx]

Um, anybody else have an abundance of fruit flies hanging about the trays?

 

[michaelf]

My last tray this week. My chickens love it. I love the idea of being able to give them some green material during this winter. I let them out but they have stripped all the green (weeds) out of the yard. So this will help to keep the green stuff for them! I have some more started

 

[SilverDuck284]

Um, anybody else have an abundance of fruit flies hanging about the trays?

I do! I also noticed my trays aren't draining completely. I just put some holes in the bottoms of tupperware. Now with the fruit flies, I'm worried about stagnant water. I'm thinking about cutting out the bottoms and gluing screen or mesh to them...

 

[Nana D]

I Love this post! I have really learned so much on Foddering from all of you. I can't wait to give it a shot. My girls can't go out to free range due to owls, fox and hawks. They will love this.. Keep posting, I'm going to keep reading. Thanks to everyone for sharing your ideas.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My last tray this week. My chickens love it. I love the idea of being able to give them some green material during this winter. I let them out but they have stripped all the green (weeds) out of the yard. So this will help to keep the green stuff for them! I have some more started

Did you punch holes in the bottom of your tray?

 

[davemonkey]

Just in case someone lurking through here wants to try growing feed/greens but doesn't think they have the right "equipment". You can use ANYTHING. Just for fun, I had my kids take a couple egg cartons, fill them with a bit of soil (we used yard soil, but I do NOT recommend this for long-term set-ups, due to potential for mildew/mold). We went through last year's garden seed left-overs and even a couple gems from the pantry (like chia seed), soaked them overnight, then spread them.

And that's all there is to it really. The egg cartons are sitting on plastic wrap and then inside other egg cartons (cartons will have little breather holes in the bottoms, so they are not water-tight). We covered it all with plastic wrap to keep in moisture for the first 4 or 5 days. It is Day 2 and most of the seeds are sprouted except the corn, which looks ready to start soon. After a week or so, we'll feed it to the hens.

It's as easy as that if you just need a quick fix for some greens for you chickens.

Oh, and if you think that even THAT is too complicated, you will see I also took a piece of foil, folded the edges like a mini-pan, and spread the seeds on a wet paper towel. Moisture is controlled by covering with plastic until you are ready to take the sprouts out to the chickens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

For now, I'm basing the value of non-commercial feed supplements (including fodder) on ... cost savings ... I have A LOT of birds so if I can save some money here and there it makes a huge difference... I tried raising meal worms but it never really worked for me...

In a previous post I mentioned how all of us are bean counters and that we all act exactly like the large commercial poultry giants, Tyson or Perdue does.

I rest my case.

In an effort to help you with your difficulty in raising meal worms, I am including this information.

Meal worms, aka "Darkling beetles are a pest in commercial poultry houses and the worms or larva pick up and harbor chicken diseases and internal parasite eggs from the litter and droppings. The problem arises when the commercial broiler chickens discover this new food source and feast on the worms or the adult beetles. What is a real hoot is wondering how many of the meal worms (If any) that are sold every year in this country for chicken food come out from under the manure cake in a commercial poultry house. It is a prime growing environment for immature darkling beetles also known as meal worms. Moist chicken house litter and waste chicken feed produces meal worms by the 10s of millions every day. This IMHO is something that we all should be thinking about instead of arguing with each other about sprouted grains or about how many newly hatched chickens can roost on the head of a pin. (in case your are wondering the correct answer is zero because newly hatched chickens don't roost)

Never take anything that I, or that anyone else tells you at face value, look at all the facts for yourself, study the facts, and then and only than jump to conclusions, but look where you are going to land before you take the leap of faith. Below is some science based information on meal worms otherwise known as darkling beetles. This is a good place for us to begin our search for the truth. If you decide to ignore this information that's fine, I have posted time and time again that your chickens are your chickens and that they are yours alone, and I advised you to do with them as you saw fit.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef507.asp

 

[michaelf]

Did you punch holes in the bottom of your tray? 

Yes I did I have another one I set it into. I rinse under sink well and let water run out of holes. I set it in another pan and set under a 45 watt light. It works really well for me.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes I did I have another one I set it into. I rinse under sink well and let water run out of holes. I set it in another pan and set under a 45 watt light. It works really well for me.

What did you use to drill your holes? sorry for so many questions but when we drilled holes in those cheap plastic trays they got cracks in them and looks like it would be difficult to drill holes the aluminum too. I'm thinking on using a cat litter try next. maybe the plastic would be thick enough the bottom won't crack.