Guess what season it is in the Northern Hemisphere?! - Its FODDER Season! 🍀

[WannaBeHillBilly]

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Would i show these pictures of lush greens to my ducks, they'd likely gobble down my phone! That looks sooooo nice and green, even i feel a bit hungry now! (There's nothing green left here! )

 

[ZephyrCoveFarms]

@ZephyrCoveFarms , very nice grazing frame. Great pics. What seed did you plant?

Rye is in the pics and the other box has this:

 

[Newyorkrita]

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This is a fabulous idea. I never would have thought of it!! Never.

 

[ZephyrCoveFarms]

Would i show these pictures of lush greens to my ducks, they'd likely gobble down my phone! That looks sooooo nice and green, even i feel a bit hungry now! (There's nothing green left here! )

Bring some ranch and bacon bits...

 

[ZephyrCoveFarms]

This is a fabulous idea. I never would have thought of it!! Never.

I got the idea from a thread on here!

 

[gtaus]

This is a fabulous idea. I never would have thought of it!! Never.

The grazing frames are a great idea for adding greens to your bare chicken run. I tried to grow a grazing frame last year in my chicken run. But, I have a thick covering of in-place compost in the chicken run. Unfortunately, the chickens just scratched too much debris into and on top of the grazing frame and blocked off any sunlight to the seeds below. I spent more time cleaning off my grazing frame than I ever got in growing grass. So I had to give up on that project.

I think @ZephyrCoveFarms was more successful than me because the litter in his run looks like it might be almost down to the ground. In my chicken run, the compost litter is ~18 inches deep and the chickens just scratched too much compost into and on top of the grazing frame.

Also, here in northern Minnesota, we have very long winters where nothing grows. By the time I could take advantage of a grazing frame for my chickens, the lawn grass is already growing and needs to be mowed. So that time of year I mow the lawn with a grass catching bag and feed the clippings to the chickens.

 

[Sally PB]

The barley I have is sprouting very well! It's day 3 or 4. I want to get the nice heavy root mat that you guys have gotten. More info in a couple days.

 

[Sally PB]

Report on my barley fodder! (This is what I posted as a review on themadhatchery.com, with a few additions pertinent to this thread.)

Wow! My barley arrived in three days. It sprouted VERY well. I'm on day 7, and it's growing very quickly now. I snipped some tops off to take to the chickens yesterday, and it's probably grown another half inch. The chickens loved it.

I made the mistake of starting too much at one time. I spread the seeds out one seed deep, but they almost doubled in size as they soaked and began growing. Next time, I'll use about half as many seeds.

I soaked them for 12 hours, which seemed to be long enough; thank you @gtaus for the information! I spread them out and have them about a foot away from a fluorescent light in my kitchen, as I don't have a sunny window. I dribble water on them 3-4 times a day to keep them moist; it's very dry in my house right now. I'll be giving a beautiful fodder cake to my chickens in a couple days.

I don't have a fodder tower built, and probably won't be building one, as that would mean setting up growlights. My southern exposure has a porch overhang blocking direct sunlight, and the other windows all face north. (WHY??? did he build it this way when the river is to the west??) I spread the seeds out in a piepan. There is no drainage, so I have to monitor how wet it is, but as I said, my house is dry, and I'm more concerned with them drying out.

At $10 for a pound, it's not cost effective for someone with 40 birds, but I only have four. It's going to keep them in greens a few times a week until spring, so I figure it is money well spent.

Two thumbs up from me and four beaks up from the birds!

 

[thelittlegraybarn]

Report on my barley fodder! (This is what I posted as a review on themadhatchery.com, with a few additions pertinent to this thread.)

Wow! My barley arrived in three days. It sprouted VERY well. I'm on day 7, and it's growing very quickly now. I snipped some tops off to take to the chickens yesterday, and it's probably grown another half inch. The chickens loved it.

I made the mistake of starting too much at one time. I spread the seeds out one seed deep, but they almost doubled in size as they soaked and began growing. Next time, I'll use about half as many seeds.

I soaked them for 12 hours, which seemed to be long enough; thank you @gtaus for the information! I spread them out and have them about a foot away from a fluorescent light in my kitchen, as I don't have a sunny window. I dribble water on them 3-4 times a day to keep them moist; it's very dry in my house right now. I'll be giving a beautiful fodder cake to my chickens in a couple days.

I don't have a fodder tower built, and probably won't be building one, as that would mean setting up growlights. My southern exposure has a porch overhang blocking direct sunlight, and the other windows all face north. (WHY??? did he build it this way when the river is to the west??) I spread the seeds out in a piepan. There is no drainage, so I have to monitor how wet it is, but as I said, my house is dry, and I'm more concerned with them drying out.

At $10 for a pound, it's not cost effective for someone with 40 birds, but I only have four. It's going to keep them in greens a few times a week until spring, so I figure it is money well spent.

Two thumbs up from me and four beaks up from the birds!

Do you have any photos?

 

[Sally PB]

No... I might get some later. I don't "tech" very well. It took a loooong time to figure out how to transfer pics from my phone to my computer. Yeah, I'm one of those old fogeys. If I do, though, I will share.