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

[gtaus]

I too am experiencing issues with the fodder this year: It doesn't really grow into the same lush greenery than last year. The germination rate of the wheat is high, >80%, but it grows extremely slow and i barely get some green leaves,

I tried growing some wheat fodder this winter, a few months back, but I ended up getting mostly mold and not enough greens. So that had to stop. My new barley seed is only getting about 20% germination, but at least that much is growing good and mold free, so far. But, it has been a disappointing winter for fodder for me, too.

My egg production is down dramatically from last year. Last year I was getting 6-8 eggs per day for my first winter chickens. This year, I am averaging under 3 eggs per day for my second winter chickens. Many days I only get 1 egg for the 10 chickens. I don't know if the lack of barley fodder is the reason, or not, but my egg production is way down this winter. I was expecting a slight decline in egg production for their second year, but I am getting less than half the eggs from last year.

I am trying to find signs of any egg eaters, but so far I have yet to see any broken shells or wet spots in the nest boxes. I collect the eggs, if there are any, about 3X per day. I have to do that in the winter or the eggs will freeze and crack.

Well, 2020 has been a tough year and I hope spring turns things around. I am considering refreshing my laying stock this spring with new chicks, or just letting the current batch go for the summer and not carry any over the next winter. I cannot justify going outside 3X per day in the dead of winter to collect 1 egg.

 

[Sally PB]

My new barley seed is only getting about 20% germination

Something seems off. I would think any farmer who got 20% germination rate on a crop seed would be letting their supplier know. That is extremely low. I think most grains would be expected to sprout at 70-80%.

I know a lot of garden vegetable seeds vary; the expected rate can be 50% on some things and 90% on others.

 

[gtaus]

Something seems off. I would think any farmer who got 20% germination rate on a crop seed would be letting their supplier know. That is extremely low. I think most grains would be expected to sprout at 70-80%.

Our local grain mill sells "feed" quality grain seeds, which may or may not have a good germination rate. Last year I got about 95% germination, this year, maybe 20% germination rate at best. However, they only guarantee that the barley seed is feed quality. They buy their grain seed from local farmers' bins, and you just don't know how long it has been in storage.

The local mill gave me the telephone number of a grain mill that sells "seed" quality barley, which should have germination rate guaranteed in the high 90%. Unfortunately, nobody answers the phone and they don't have an answering machine either. Go figure in 2021. Anyway, it's past the time of the winter that I will be buying any more seed for fodder. So I'll just use what I have and let it go at that.

But yes, it has been very disappointing this winter for my fodder.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

And my ducks knew by the end of September what kind of Winter we would get!
do-my-ducks-know-something-about-the-upcoming-winter-that-i-dont-know?
And they are still keeping their thick winter-jackets on! Spring is a long time away it seems.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I tried growing some wheat fodder this winter, a few months back, but I ended up getting mostly mold and not enough greens. So that had to stop. My new barley seed is only getting about 20% germination, but at least that much is growing good and mold free, so far. But, it has been a disappointing winter for fodder for me, too.

My egg production is down dramatically from last year. Last year I was getting 6-8 eggs per day for my first winter chickens. This year, I am averaging under 3 eggs per day for my second winter chickens. Many days I only get 1 egg for the 10 chickens. I don't know if the lack of barley fodder is the reason, or not, but my egg production is way down this winter. I was expecting a slight decline in egg production for their second year, but I am getting less than half the eggs from last year.

I am trying to find signs of any egg eaters, but so far I have yet to see any broken shells or wet spots in the nest boxes. I collect the eggs, if there are any, about 3X per day. I have to do that in the winter or the eggs will freeze and crack.

Well, 2020 has been a tough year and I hope spring turns things around. I am considering refreshing my laying stock this spring with new chicks, or just letting the current batch go for the summer and not carry any over the next winter. I cannot justify going outside 3X per day in the dead of winter to collect 1 egg.

Maybe you should switch from chickens to dux? I got eleven eggs from 28 ducks today, calculated that rate to 10 ducks would mean ~4 eggs a day. And ducks start to lay eggs when they are just three months old…

 

[Sally PB]

Ah, feed quality vs seed quality. Yes, that's probably what's going on. I'm sorry. Your fodder tower was quite an inspiration!

 

[gtaus]

Maybe you should switch from chickens to dux? I got eleven eggs from 28 ducks today, calculated that rate to 10 ducks would mean ~4 eggs a day. And ducks start to lay eggs when they are just three months old…

I have raised ducks and geese before. They are great. Even better, I live on a lake and I was able to let them out of their pen and into the lake for a good swim and foraging for food. My dad would call them in at night and they would fly over the lake where ever they were back home to the pen for the night. Good memories.

My wife did not like the taste of duck (too oily) and was not a big fan of the geese (I let them free range in the yard and they dropped poo all over the sidewalks). I liked raising ducks and geese, but did not like butchering them. So I ended up getting just store bought mallard ducks and in the fall I let them fly south for the winter. For the next 3 years, every spring, I had at least one pair of mallards nesting in the area where I had my duck pen. Don't know if it was my home raised mallards, or not, but like to think it was.

Anyways, I got 4 eggs today from the chickens. So today was better than most in that respect. I am hoping that the egg production will increase as the daylight hours get longer. Also, my chickens will not leave their coop in the winter due to the snow on the ground in the chicken run. As much as I like my coop, I think it's just too dark for good egg production if the chickens do not go outside during the day. I have chosen not to use artificial lights in the winter, but I think if I keep chickens next winter I will try it.

 

[gtaus]

Ah, feed quality vs seed quality. Yes, that's probably what's going on. I'm sorry. Your fodder tower was quite an inspiration!

Yes, I found out that difference this winter when my barley seeds did not germinate. That's when the local mill told me that they only guarantee "feed" quality barley. I must have gotten a good batch of barley seed last year. My germination rate was about 95% with seed bought from the same mill that this year I am only getting 20% germination. But nothing goes to waste and the chickens eat the non-germinated barley seed just fine. Also, I mix my own chicken scratch and the wheat and barley seed that did not grow good for fodder will go into the scratch mix.

I am glad so many people have found my article on the fodder tower an inspiration. I just mixed up a bunch of ideas I saw on YouTube and made my own tower system with cheap scrap lumber and dollar tree bins. Besides being so cheap to make, what I really like is that I can grow fodder on the tower with less than 5 minutes of work per day. Provided that the seeds actually germinate, I think the fodder tower is probably the best bang for the buck and time saving design I have seen. With good germinating seeds, last year I had beautiful green grass barley every day for my chickens.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I have raised ducks and geese before. They are great. Even better, I live on a lake and I was able to let them out of their pen and into the lake for a good swim and foraging for food. My dad would call them in at night and they would fly over the lake where ever they were back home to the pen for the night. Good memories.

My wife did not like the taste of duck (too oily) and was not a big fan of the geese (I let them free range in the yard and they dropped poo all over the sidewalks). I liked raising ducks and geese, but did not like butchering them. So I ended up getting just store bought mallard ducks and in the fall I let them fly south for the winter. For the next 3 years, every spring, I had at least one pair of mallards nesting in the area where I had my duck pen. Don't know if it was my home raised mallards, or not, but like to think it was.

Anyways, I got 4 eggs today from the chickens. So today was better than most in that respect. I am hoping that the egg production will increase as the daylight hours get longer. Also, my chickens will not leave their coop in the winter due to the snow on the ground in the chicken run. As much as I like my coop, I think it's just too dark for good egg production if the chickens do not go outside during the day. I have chosen not to use artificial lights in the winter, but I think if I keep chickens next winter I will try it.

Yes, i heart about the nasty goose poop! They are strict vegetarians and must therefore eat a lot of grass. And if a lot enters the front end of the bird, a lot will come out of the back-end… But Goose eggs are delicious!
Your wife doesn't like the taste of the eggs or the duck-meat? In my opinion the taste of the duck's eggs are very difficult to distinguish from chicken eggs. And for the meat, it depends on the age of the bird and the season. A young duck, less than six months old is not oily at all and in spring they are all lean (and mean!), but in fall they have all fattened up for the winter. And plucking a duck or a goose - you need a god set of pliers!
We don't eat our ducks, we have them just for the eggs and they outlay every neighbors chickens, so we haven't bought any eggs for the last two years. - Except the one time the wife sent me on the walk of shame. because she wanted to make French crêpes…

 

[gtaus]

Your wife doesn't like the taste of the eggs or the duck-meat?

At that time, I was only raising ducks with the thought of having duck meat at the end. We never had any duck eggs that I can remember. I am surprised to hear that they start laying eggs at about 3 months, but then again, we only had ducks for the summer and maybe they were not yet mature when we butchered them. The next year, I just let the mallards fly off south and can't remember any eggs from them either.