Growing fodder for chickens

[dewey69usa]

Yes, you can use black oil sunflower or safflower seeds to sprout.

 

[ContessaKris]

Yes, you can use black oil sunflower or safflower seeds to sprout.

Would this just be the black oil sunflower seed bags you can buy to feed the wild birds or some special kind I need to look for?

 

[potagergirl]

Would this just be the black oil sunflower seed bags you can buy to feed the wild birds or some special kind I need to look for?

What I have found with using bird seed is you still need to make sure the seed has not been treated (untreated).
Treated means they heat up the seed so it stops it from growing. Nobody in the store could tell me what was treated though,
so I purchased small amounts of bulk black oil sunflower seeds and safflower to sprout. The safflower sprouted
I haven't tried the black oil sunflower yet will try those this weekend.
If you buy a mix to try would you post the information of how it works and the kind you use?
thank you,

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Would this just be the black oil sunflower seed bags you can buy to feed the wild birds or some special kind I need to look for?

I just use the seeds I buy for wild birds at TSC, I throw some in with my wheat and it pops right up. It's Royal Wing brand, I also mixed it into a bag of scratch that I bought so they get some sprouted and some straight.

 

[LindaB220]

Would this just be the black oil sunflower seed bags you can buy to feed the wild birds or some special kind I need to look for?

I paid $12.50 for a 25 lb bag at the local feed store.

Edited for content: That's BOSS

 

[Don P]

I was curious why some said watch out for fermentation in the fodder because many also ferment grains for feed.

I wanted to know what is the problem, just incomplete fermentation, just getting to mold and not lactic bacteria in the Fodder?

I also ferment these seeds and grains with vinegar and a probiotic that we take ourselves with Saccharomyces yeast in it too. I ferment some whole seeds and grains as well as mash. These stay under water the whole time and are not drained like fodder.

I have made fodder from Black oil sunflower, Wheat, Barley, Peas. Have not done it with Millet which I also feed dry.

I also feed some 3-4 day sprouted grain of wheat barley, peas.

My hens eat our pasture grass and I have seen them swallow 5-6" long pieces of grass, no problem and the 3-5" high fodder that has leafed out, they eat the greens and the roots and seeds. I put 6 x 6 blocks of it out in the pasture in several places where the grass is thin in case they miss a few seeds that then get to grow in.
I have given it to them in their pens as well. They eat more than an inch and never get wet stools. They eat more than an inch of pasture for sure when they are out all day.

I do supply them with grit because of the dry whole grains I feed too. Maybe that is why they have no crop problems with long fodder or pasture grass. And all the grains and feed are organic non-GMO. Sometimes the black oil seeds aren't.

I also sprinkle kelp powder, crustacean meal, fish meal, vitamins and minerals and probiotics, ginger, Garlic and cayenne in rotation on to the damp fodder and sprouts or any left over cooked cereal grains from the house. And once in a while a little DE into the food but maily I rub it into their feathers, legs and vents when they come in new, and then put it on their straw floors and nest boxes in the coops and outside run floors when I clean out. Also add a little Zeolite then too, takes out smell and ammonia.

I put organic non-GMO pellets in a round feeder but the whole grains and mash all go in troughs. I like the ones with wire hoops over the top to keep them from walking in it or flicking it out of the trough.

Some don't like the wet mash, and some won't eat up the fines when it is dry, the dry is there for them and the sprouts and ferment get added to the dry fines left so they all get eaten. Occasionally the pig gets some of the fines if I am too lazy to keep mixing it in or it gets a few days old. Then I wash out their troughs and start over.

They get filtered water with ACV and trace minerals and coral calcium powder or bags added.

I have had mites a couple times on new pullets I have bought and scaley leg mites which I use Cedarwood essential oil and Lemon Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Citronella, Neem, Pennyroyal and a couple other herbal extracts or oils mixed and spray it on their legs and in nest boxes and feathers and all over coop.
Sometimes I add DE or Sulfur powder over the oil on legs and the oils kill them off good. In a couple days you see nothing. Put it on my Kune Kune pig too.

Thanks, I have to try the instant potatoes, I have the healthiest organic fed field mice you have ever seen!

 

[butch vb]

I ferment blk sun flower seeds and they eat them first and if I over feed the only thing they leave is the wheat I throw it on the ground and they clean it up later

 

[LindaB220]

I was curious why some said watch out for fermentation in the fodder because many also ferment grains for feed.

I wanted to know what is the problem, just incomplete fermentation, just getting to mold and not lactic bacteria in the Fodder?

I also ferment these seeds and grains with vinegar and a probiotic that we take ourselves with Saccharomyces yeast in it too. I ferment some whole seeds and grains as well as mash. These stay under water the whole time and are not drained like fodder.

I have made fodder from Black oil sunflower, Wheat, Barley, Peas. Have not done it with Millet which I also feed dry.

I also feed some 3-4 day sprouted grain of wheat barley, peas.

My hens eat our pasture grass and I have seen them swallow 5-6" long pieces of grass, no problem and the 3-5" high fodder that has leafed out, they eat the greens and the roots and seeds. I put 6 x 6 blocks of it out in the pasture in several places where the grass is thin in case they miss a few seeds that then get to grow in.
I have given it to them in their pens as well. They eat more than an inch and never get wet stools. They eat more than an inch of pasture for sure when they are out all day.

I do supply them with grit because of the dry whole grains I feed too. Maybe that is why they have no crop problems with long fodder or pasture grass. And all the grains and feed are organic non-GMO. Sometimes the black oil seeds aren't.

I also sprinkle kelp powder, crustacean meal, fish meal, vitamins and minerals and probiotics, ginger, Garlic and cayenne in rotation on to the damp fodder and sprouts or any left over cooked cereal grains from the house. And once in a while a little DE into the food but maily I rub it into their feathers, legs and vents when they come in new, and then put it on their straw floors and nest boxes in the coops and outside run floors when I clean out. Also add a little Zeolite then too, takes out smell and ammonia.

I put organic non-GMO pellets in a round feeder but the whole grains and mash all go in troughs. I like the ones with wire hoops over the top to keep them from walking in it or flicking it out of the trough.

Some don't like the wet mash, and some won't eat up the fines when it is dry, the dry is there for them and the sprouts and ferment get added to the dry fines left so they all get eaten. Occasionally the pig gets some of the fines if I am too lazy to keep mixing it in or it gets a few days old. Then I wash out their troughs and start over.

They get filtered water with ACV and trace minerals and coral calcium powder or bags added.

I have had mites a couple times on new pullets I have bought and scaley leg mites which I use Cedarwood essential oil and Lemon Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Citronella, Neem, Pennyroyal and a couple other herbal extracts or oils mixed and spray it on their legs and in nest boxes and feathers and all over coop.
Sometimes I add DE or Sulfur powder over the oil on legs and the oils kill them off good. In a couple days you see nothing. Put it on my Kune Kune pig too.

Thanks, I have to try the instant potatoes, I have the healthiest organic fed field mice you have ever seen!

Good post!!!

 

[dewey69usa]

I just use the regular seeds. I buy mine at the local garden market. I guess you should make sure they have NOT been irradiated. This renders the seeds sterile. I know they do it to the niger/thistle seed that is imported, but they might do it to the sunflower as well.

 

[juliebd]

Besides, Wheat, Barley and Rye we also sprout Mung beans. In fact our chickens and ducks favor them over all of the other grains and seeds we sprout. And, lentils, too. There are times when the lentils will ferment and the chickens go nuts over that!

I believe that you can have buckwheat and I read that Buckwheat has more nutritional value than the wheat and barley any way. My Daughter and Daughter-in-law candidate have Celiac as well.
Julie