Growing fodder for chickens

[pawtraitart]

Black Oil Sunflower Seed

BOSS is great for chickens and it fits nicely into a fodder program. Just toss in a handful to your wheat or barley mix.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

You are too kind. The fact is that I'm a chicken geek of epic proportions. Just ask my husband. He was laughing at me this evening as I sat in my chair going over my notes for next breeding season. Poor guy. LOL

I should send my boyfriend to live with you. You two could make all kinds of fancy color-coded breeding maps. He is SO eager to get started on brreeding, and we don't even have special birds!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

You are too kind. The fact is that I'm a chicken geek of epic proportions. Just ask my husband. He was laughing at me this evening as I sat in my chair going over my notes for next breeding season. Poor guy. LOL

Awww he should cut you some slack. Your geekiness works out quite handsomly for the rest of us

 

[pawtraitart]

I should send my boyfriend to live with you. You two could make all kinds of fancy color-coded breeding maps. He is SO eager to get started on brreeding, and we don't even have special birds!

Ohhhhh.....fancy color coded breeding maps........I like it. Another way to be chicken obsessed. My husband will love the redecorating....okay, he might make me live in one of the coops at that point.

 

[pawtraitart]

Awww he should cut you some slack. Your geekiness works out quite handsomly for the rest of us

Hey, I do what I can for the betterment of chicken kind.

 

[JulieNKC]

No, I haven't, but I'm continuing a line of research. I'm starting by breaking down the nutritional profile of the complete layer ration available at my local feed supplier. The details on the tag are less than.....inspiring. It reads as follows:

Grain products, processed grain byproducts, plant protein products, calcium carbonate, roughage products...and then goes down to list the various vitamins and minerals plus the binders, amino acids, and preservatives. I got to reading that one day, and I said...."What the heck am I feeding my chickens????" LOL For one thing, I know there has got to be GMO corn in there. I can see the corn flecks in the pellet and unless I pay the big bucks for certified organic feed, chances are it's GMO feed corn. The other grains and plant proteins....who knows? The tag also lists percentage levels for protein, crude fat, crude fiber, lysine, etc. I figure that there has got to be a way that I can provide what my birds need in a more natural way without all the chemicals and "mystery" grains. I'm not at the point where I can put aside the commercial feed completely, though. For example, I first have to nail down the alternative to synthetic dl-Methionine which is an amino acid that helps in the digestion of protein. From my initial research, there could be an herbal solution but one step at a time. It's on my to-do list. LOL

According to this, you could use potatoes. http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5098033 They are used in europe instead of synthetic dl-methionine because the rules for organic labeling are different.

 

[pawtraitart]

According to this, you could use potatoes. http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5098033 They are used in europe instead of synthetic dl-methionine because the rules for organic labeling are different.

Potatoes? I'll look into that! Thanks for the tip! Hey, that would work out perfectly. We get free potatoes every year since we live in farmland country.

 

[RoyalPayne]

BOSS: Thanks! Have read this entire thread. I am ready to start. Thanks to all for the info.

 

[Tarps]

Thanks for the information Pawtraitart and Chris09, next time I have chicks I will experiment by offering the chicks fodder, chicken feed and grit and then to other chicks just fodder and grit.

 

[RainyPeeps]

So, I fed the girls their first wheat grass 2 days ago and I have to say I was way more excited about it then they were. I think they are too spoiled, as they are used to almost daily treats from the garden or the dinner table. They ran over like always when I went out and I broke the biscuit up into smaller sections and even spread some individual grasses around their fenced area. They were less then impressed. They looked at me like, what else ya got? Eventually they ate almost all of it throughout the first day. I fed them more yesterday and today. It seems like they barely ate any today. Did anyone else have this problem with snobby chickens? Do you just feed them the whole biscuit? I felt the need to break mine up because I have 2 silkies and a polish who are still under 20 weeks and the big girls already can pick on them if they get in their way. I thought by breaking it up and spreading it around, everyone would have a chance to eat my wonderful wheat grass.

Also, the temperature here has been very mild, in the mid 60s the past two days, resulting in the temperature inside my house to spike even higher. Today my roots started to look totally gross. I guess it's from the higher temps and moisture in the air here. My first 2 biscuits didn't have this problem. Tomorrow brings lower temps, so I hope this problem will be resolved for my future flats of fodder.

Gross!!