I need help with my sprouts

[sunflowerdreams]

I am having so much trouble growing my barley sprouts. The last batch I did they dried out too often too forever to grow. I'm trying to get about 3 inches of green before feeding to my gals. I finally fed it to them after about 1.5 weeks because I was worried waiting too long would make it moldy.

This time I changed the container to a thicker material that stacks but I drilled holes in the bottom and I cover them with a lid (I noticed the last ones grew faster where the other containers sat on to of them). Unfortunately it is not working well. My barley has been about 4 day, wet twice a day, and it starting to ferment.

I know fermented food is good but I just started fermenting food for them in a pickl-it jar and I wanted to be able to offer both ferments and sprouts.

Sorry this is so long! Does anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong?

 

[3riverschick]

Yep you are growing them too long.
if it was me I would switch to forage oats. I think they're little more nutritious than the barley . I use
Plotspike Forage Oats that I get from Tractor Supply . Http://www.plotspike.com
they were created in 2002 by the Louisiana State University people. they are non-GMO. specially line bred forage oats used for deer plots.
Some seeds are still made with a chemical coating to prevent molding. plot Spike are not . if the seeds have this coating ,then they don't Sprout they just mold.
When you are sprouting your seeds you want to feed them to your birds as "green feed ". "Green Feed" is used to bring the Hens into lay and to help the roosters produce more robust sperm, hopefully resulting in more robust chicks . "Grain Feed "is a sprout one thru three days old .it is fed as
*part of* the daily ration .Green Feed is a sprout 4 days old and older. Green Feed is fed * in addition to* the Daily ration at the rate of 1 cubic inch per adult bird per day. Or to bowel tolerance. If the bowels become a bit soft, just back off the amount of sprouts a bit till they firm up.
on the fourth day of growing, a nutritional change takes place in the Sprout that turns it from Grain Feed to Green Feed .there is no nutritional advantage to having your Sprouts be older than 7-days. the only thing that may happen is that they may go bad. the longer you sprout your Sprouts after 7 days, the greater the risk of them going foul. Sprouts should always feel crisp and smell fresh. if they feel slimy or smell foul do not feed them to your birds. they have gone bad and are not good for your birds .
Best,
Karen

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[3riverschick]

If you are sticking with the barley, you need to make sure you're feeding "forage barley "not " feed barley ".there's a difference." forage seeds" are planted by the farmer or the animal raiser for their animals to eat out in the pasture. for their animals to eat or for the wild animals to eat outside. " feed seeds " are what they feed to the animals in the barns . the forage seeds is always a much better choice .you might want to check what's on your bag.
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Hi there is a byc thread located in this "feeding and watering Forum" titled
"Anyone raise Sprouts to feed the chickens?". On pages 24 through 29 is a history of feeding Sprouts to chickens . all kinds of good techniques, easy techniques and types of seeds to use. Plus the historical importance of Oats as a sprout for chickens, Etc .
Best,
Karen

 

[lazy gardener]

If you are sticking with the barley, you need to make sure you're feeding "forage barley "not " feed barley ".there's a difference." forage seeds" are planted by the farmer or the animal raiser for their animals to eat out in the pasture. for their animals to eat or for the wild animals to eat outside. " feed seeds " are what they feed to the animals in the barns . the forage seeds is always a much better choice .you might want to check what's on your bag.
Karen

Can you explain why you would not choose to sprout feed barley? I've used it in the past and had excellent results with it. Can we always be guaranteed that forage barley is not treated with any fungicide/insecticide? I was under the belief that any seed that is intended to be planted as a crop could be treated, therefore was not as safe as any seed that was intended to be used as feed. Of course the purchaser also needs to be sure that any feed seed has not been heat treated.

 

[sunflowerdreams]

I am not certain if the grain I buy is feed barley or forage barley but it is Non-gmo and organic. I have to drive almost 2 hours to get it and there is nothing similar where I live, of either variety, feed or forage. I purchase my layer feed from them as well though so it's worth the trip for me.

Thanks for the advice Karen, though what I was really wondering was why my first batch grew and my second batch didn't. Same grains but I used different containers and both were kept outside in the heat of summer, watered twice a day.

Right now I am using plastic containers (though eventually I'll probably switch to a healthier option since I dislike plastic) the first batch was a thinner plastic container and the last was a thicker container. Do you think maybe the second batch was getting to hot? Or staying to moist? First batch dried out completely between watering since it didn't have a lid (but still took a long time to grow but never fermented).