how to sprout bird seed *easy*

Torch404

Songster
11 Years
Jan 15, 2009
218
24
156
Northern Cali
I thought I'd snaps some pics while I made a batch of sprouts for the chickens. May be help some folks out with sprouting.

First go here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Sprouting-your-own-Sprouts/"

This guy shows you how to make a really easy sprouter. It is perfect for mung beans and lentils. I have used it with tiny seed too and it works ok. If you are sprouting bird seed you will loose a little seed down the drain.

I started with finding some cheap bird seed. Made sure it was all seeds and grain. No strange soy clumps or any other non-sprouting filler. This seed is mostly millet I think.

Put about one inch of seeds in bottom of container. I like to rinse them a few times to start but it is not really necessary. Cover by an inch with tap water. Let it sit some where overnight. Next to the sink is a great spot.

Next morning drain water off. Fill it back up, drain it off, a couple more times. Now when ever you remember 2 -3 times a day for the next couple of days simply rinse your sprouts. If they are by the sink just do it when ever you get a glass of water or wash your hands.

When you're done rinsing them leave them upside down to drain excess water out. Like so:

4-05-09019small.jpg


After one day it should look like so. The green circle is good. That little white dot is a sprout you should see some of these. The red circle is bad. I was lazy (and had too much seed in the container) and only rinsed the seeds once that first day. The gray fuzzy is mold. I rinsed extra well to get it out and kept up on the rinsings I had neglected.

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You can feed to the birds at anytime this great snack. Day two should look like this. Keep rinsing.

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Day three keep rinsing

4-05-09029small.jpg


If you still have sprouts at this point let them drain dry as much as possible then store in a sealed contain in the fridge. This may go a little faster or need more rinsing when it's hot, less when cold.

This same method works great with mung beans and lentils for salads or the birds. I like a bowl of lentil sprouts with some honey-mustard or goddess dressing...yum!

Hope this helps someone out!
 
I sprouted a mix of BOSS and wheat all winter for my girls. My mix was 3 cups of wheat and 1 cup of BOSS, and they love it. I kept a rotation of 3 containers, rinsing twice a day. I did an overnite soak of the seeds before beginning the rinsing routine. I probably spent 5 minutes a day on this project and it was very well worth it. Sprouts are highly nutritious for the birds and should be used more by flock owners to maintain healthy birds.

Maybe Torch404's mix of bird seed is even better than what I did, with the greater variety of seeds.
 
The bird seed mix was just for variety so there would be different kinds of sprouts. All sprout have different nutrients and amino acids etc so a variety helps give them a spectrum of health.

My bird also enjoy sprouted wheat, lentils, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and mung beans.
 

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