Growing fodder for chickens

[groverlvchx]

Tip your head to the left...this is my current system. I have 6 trays and 1 bucket for soaking. That covers a 7 day cycle. I think it will work well for the chickens, but it's taking me 1/2 hour twice daily to water and rotate. My thought is, I can rig a drain from the bottom drainage catch tote to a large bucket on the floor and just dump a pail of water twice daily on the top tote. That would save me lots of time, but the trays would not get rotated and the seeds/sprouts would not get the sloshing they get now. Does this beg for mold/mildew or would that be okay? They drain pretty well...any advice?

Thank you!!
Carol

 

[groverlvchx]

OH and I thought you all would get a chuckle out of this. Usually in the morning I open the pop-door and they all come popping out. Not this morning. There are two trays of whey/mash and plenty of scratch and they will NOT come out because SNOW trumps the treats. LOL

Hopefully their bellies will overcome their fear of the new white stuff. Otherwise it will be a LONG winter for my MN chickens.

 

[pawtraitart]

Tip your head to the left...this is my current system. I have 6 trays and 1 bucket for soaking. That covers a 7 day cycle. I think it will work well for the chickens, but it's taking me 1/2 hour twice daily to water and rotate. My thought is, I can rig a drain from the bottom drainage catch tote to a large bucket on the floor and just dump a pail of water twice daily on the top tote. That would save me lots of time, but the trays would not get rotated and the seeds/sprouts would not get the sloshing they get now. Does this beg for mold/mildew or would that be okay? They drain pretty well...any advice?

Thank you!!
Carol

Looks good to me! You could try watering only 1x a day if you are taking each tray out. It works perfectly for me. If you put it on an automated system, I think you have to water more often because there isn't as much agitation to prevent mold. I could be wrong. I don't have an automatic system at the moment. Any words from somebody who has an auto system?

 

[pawtraitart]

OH and I thought you all would get a chuckle out of this. Usually in the morning I open the pop-door and they all come popping out. Not this morning. There are two trays of whey/mash and plenty of scratch and they will NOT come out because SNOW trumps the treats. LOL

Hopefully their bellies will overcome their fear of the new white stuff. Otherwise it will be a LONG winter for my MN chickens.

LOL......they will venture out eventually, I'm sure. Do you have any straw you could toss in your run to encourage them? Maybe they don't want to chill their toes.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Tip your head to the left...this is my current system. I have 6 trays and 1 bucket for soaking. That covers a 7 day cycle. I think it will work well for the chickens, but it's taking me 1/2 hour twice daily to water and rotate. My thought is, I can rig a drain from the bottom drainage catch tote to a large bucket on the floor and just dump a pail of water twice daily on the top tote. That would save me lots of time, but the trays would not get rotated and the seeds/sprouts would not get the sloshing they get now. Does this beg for mold/mildew or would that be okay? They drain pretty well...any advice?

Thank you!!
Carol

Cool setup.

I keep my trays in a bathtubs with those hand-held shower heads. This makes it super simple to water them. I am going to put shelves in the biggest tub so I can consolidate the operation into one bathroom.

 

[pigeonguy]

Tip your head to the left...this is my current system. I have 6 trays and 1 bucket for soaking. That covers a 7 day cycle. I think it will work well for the chickens, but it's taking me 1/2 hour twice daily to water and rotate. My thought is, I can rig a drain from the bottom drainage catch tote to a large bucket on the floor and just dump a pail of water twice daily on the top tote. That would save me lots of time, but the trays would not get rotated and the seeds/sprouts would not get the sloshing they get now. Does this beg for mold/mildew or would that be okay? They drain pretty well...any advice?

Thank you!!
Carol

Turned it for you. Looked like it was going to spill out on it's side.

 

[groverlvchx]

Cool setup.

I keep my trays in a bathtubs with those hand-held shower heads. This makes it super simple to water them. I am going to put shelves in the biggest tub so I can consolidate the operation into one bathroom.

I would LOVE that. If I can come up with a way to easily transfer in/out, I can do that. Right now everything that produces water is in use several times a day.

Turned it for you. Looked like it was going to spill out on it's side.

HAHAHAHA you are so very kind! Thank you!!

LOL......they will venture out eventually, I'm sure. Do you have any straw you could toss in your run to encourage them? Maybe they don't want to chill their toes.

That's a great idea! I'll keep that in mind. They were so funny--pacing and squawking at the snow. I probably should have sang "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas" to them.

Looks good to me! You could try watering only 1x a day if you are taking each tray out. It works perfectly for me. If you put it on an automated system, I think you have to water more often because there isn't as much agitation to prevent mold. I could be wrong. I don't have an automatic system at the moment. Any words from somebody who has an auto system?

Once daily would be much easier--my mornings are too hectic. Or maybe I just dump a bucket on in the morning and then in the evening haul it to the laundry tub for the whole shebang. Thank you!

 

[Oakieridge]

Okieridge, next time you take out some of your fodder, could you please post pictures of the bottom of the tray so we can see the holes? Also, would you ask your husband what size drill he used?

Sure i am out of town at a basketball game but will get pics Sunday for you.

 

[Mskayladog]

Summer wheat I sprouted for the girls, i used dirt and those furit and veggie trays you get from the market. Oh I drilled holes in the bottoms to drain the water. I have more going. It smells so good I actually have a pretty planter on the kitchen table with some growing just for me. I did let grandson MOW the wheat because it was so long so the grils would not get impacted crops, They loved it after they got over being frightened of it.

 

[Smithyard Farm]

wow!! thats awesome. where are you getting your seeds? My wheat does not grow like that!!