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

[Sally PB]

I want to show the pictures I took today of my latest batch of barley fodder. This time I grew it in terra cotta saucers, and the root mat was awesome! That's what I'll grow it in from now on.

Voted four beaks up, way up, by the discerning chickens in my back yard!

 

[gtaus]

I want to show the pictures I took today of my latest batch of barley fodder. This time I grew it in terra cotta saucers, and the root mat was awesome! That's what I'll grow it in from now on.

Voted four beaks up, way up, by the discerning chickens in my back yard!

Very nice root mat there. I have some chickens that seem to prefer the root mat over the green grass. But, it's hard to tell because they all dive in and tear it to pieces in no time.

 

[gtaus]

Update: It's been a tough winter with poor fodder seed quality I got this year. I have managed to work up some fodder with moderate success and will share my pictures.

Here is what the poor quality barley seed looks like after my normal 7 days in the fodder tower. Notice how little seed has actually germinated and grown.

I estimate maybe 20% germination rate with this year's seeds. Last winter I was getting about 95% germination rate. Big difference.

Anyway, after sitting on the fodder tower for the first 7 days, I transfer the bin(s) to a smaller tower that sits in front of my south facing sliding door. I let it sit there for another 6 days soaking up the sun and drying out. Here is what the fodder bin looks like on Day 13.

The barley grass has filled out and is about 7 inches tall at this point. There is a root mat but not very thick. It does look a lot better than my previous batch of seeds which grew lots of mold but little else. At least this batch is something the girls like to eat and they are getting some greens in our cold white winter. Not as good as last year, but it's the best I can do this year.

 

[Sally PB]

Sorry it's not as nice as last year. Do you have any other vendors to try?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I wanted to update this thread for the last two weeks and didn't found the time to do so!
Temperature does play a big role! I grew some wheat-fodder in the Mini-Tower in the bathroom where the temperatures are more comfortable than in the garage and that's the result:

That amount of green first scared my ducks! - Then they duck in and enjoyed.

 

[gtaus]

Sorry it's not as nice as last year. Do you have any other vendors to try?

No other vendors locally. I'll just use what I have left this winter and hope for better seed next winter. We are only about 7 weeks from having green grass if we have an early spring. I have more barley than 7 weeks left in the bins, so I'm just going to use what I have and switch over to grass clippings when I can.

 

[gtaus]

I wanted to update this thread for the last two weeks and didn't found the time to do so!
Temperature does play a big role! I grew some wheat-fodder in the Mini-Tower in the bathroom where the temperatures are more comfortable than in the garage and that's the result:

That amount of green first scared my ducks! - Then they duck in and enjoyed.

Looks like you have some very nice fodder growing there. That is what I got last year with some good seed. Nice to see all that green.

 

[Sally PB]

I have noticed one thing with my barley. It'll look like a lot of seeds have not sprouted about the time the green is long enough to trim to give to the chickens. (I usually trim off some green 3 times before I give them the whole mat.) By the time I'm doing the third trimming, the reluctant seeds are sprouting, so my germination rate is very good. They're just kind of staggered.

 

[gtaus]

I have noticed one thing with my barley. It'll look like a lot of seeds have not sprouted about the time the green is long enough to trim to give to the chickens. (I usually trim off some green 3 times before I give them the whole mat.) By the time I'm doing the third trimming, the reluctant seeds are sprouting, so my germination rate is very good. They're just kind of staggered.

I suppose giving the seeds longer to germinate would help. I am only comparing the seed I got last year which had about 95% germination rate and was ready to feed to the chickens in about 7-8 days. This year, the seed has only about 20% germination rate and I am holding off until about day 13 to feed it to the chickens.

I have not tried trimming the grass a few times before I send out the root mat. That might be an option to consider.

This year has taught me that not all seed quality is the same. I am very glad I got good seed last year and was excited about growing fodder, because my results this year have been very disappointing and I don't think I would have continued growing fodder with such poor results. After buying a new batch of barley seed, and extending the growing time, my results are now acceptable.

I still think that growing some fresh green barley grass is good for my chickens. It is all the greens they can get in our white Minnesota winters. I just hope the seed I get for next winter is better.

 

[Sally PB]

Yeah, greens for the winter is why I'm doing this too. Once the weeds come up, I'll put the jar of barley seed away till next winter. I really enjoyed holding two bouquets of weeds out to the chickens and having them eat them.