The "How To's" and Advantages of sprouting oats for your poultry.
Hi,
Hi,
There is a whole thread of more than 25 pages on sprouting seeds for ones chickens here. I can't remember the name. it's either here or under managing your flock. Basically, oats are the best seed to sprout for your chickens. It' easy. You want non-GMO (genetically modified) oats like Plotspike Forage Oats theys ell at Tractor Supply Company. Those are forage oats like they spread in a field for an eating crop. Not seed oats like one feeds horses. Seed oats can be treated with a germicicde to prevent spoling. This causes them to not germinate. Never feed slimy or stinky sprouted seeds to your birds.Those slimy or stinky sprouts are bad and will make the birds sick.
When to feed. Ok, it's not about the length of the sprout. It's about the length of time the sprouts have been growing. From 1 thru 3 days old, the Sprouts are considered "grain feed". They still retain the proteins of the grain and are fed as part of the grain portion of the meal. On the 4th day, the proteins in the seed meet an enzyme which turns them to starches. From the 4th day on, the spouts are considered "green feed". This feed is used as a supplement to the regular chicken ration. At a portion size of one cubic inch per bird per day. Green feed is used to bring hens into lay and condition the cocks for mating season. The oats bring vigor to the cocks reproductive system resulting in more vigorus sperm to create more robust chicks. Sprouted oats have been studied against all other sprouted seeds and been found to bring the best results.
Ok, how to sprout oats. You can look online for pans for a multi-rack seed sprouter for many chickens. I have nine chickens and do just fine with glass jars. It's easy. First save your glass jars daily. Spaghetti jars work great so we will use them as an example. Go to the fabric store or feed store and buy a yard of regular plain old burlap. Then go to Walmart and buy a bag of bigger rubber bands. That's all there is to it.
Wash and rinse the jars well. No need to dry them. Cut circles out of the burlap which allow for a 1 inch overhang all around the top of the Spaghetti jar. Pour 1/2 cup of Forage Oats into each jar. That makes a one inch deep layer. Lay the circle of burlap over the mouth of the jar and afix it with a rubber band. That's all there is to it.
I line mine up on the kitchen counter Each morning and night, I run water thru the burlap and fill the jar. Swish it around a bit and pour the water out thru the burlap. Do that twice to each jar, morning and night. Use water that is the temperature for a baby bottle. Perfect to just test it on your wrist. It's easy and fast. If left for 4 days, the sprouts will completely fill the spaghetti jar. It's amazing how they expand.
The day you want to feed them, rinse them in a colander once more for good measure. This also warms them just a bit which the birds really like. Feed in bowl or on the ground. The chickens will go nuts for them. The cocks get SO excited with goodies to show their girls. If you get too enthsiastic and overfeed the sprouts the chickens get soft stools for a day. Just back off on the next feeding, smile, and it will correct itself.
=========================Steamed oats ======================
Now if you want to feed oats but don't want to wait for the four days, you can feed them steamed oats. This is a one night affair. In the evening, put the amount of oats you want to feed in a pot and cover with room temp water. Let it sit overnight. The next morning, take the pot with oats and the same water and simmer on the stove for one hour. No need to rinse the oats before you simmer them. The one hour of simmering will kill any germs in the water. The oats will double in size just like rice to take that into account when you measure the oats the night before. Feed as the sprouted oats at one cubic inch per bird per day. An extensive bibliography of all the scientific and literary references for this information are quoted multiple times in that BYC thread I mentioned before.
Enjoy sprouting for your birds!
=========================opinion from online article ====================
We always regarded "grain feed" as just that. It was the dry oats fed either alone of mixed in with other grains. It was fed for the nutrition found in the grain. The "green feed" was the germinated oats that were being fed as sprouts. I would have to check with someone who knows more about the nutritional values involved in oats, but I would think that the highest starch concentrate would be from the seed itself.
===========quotes from old poultry lit =====================
I did some checking around and found these 3 quotes from old poultry lit: "each tray of oats is allowed to sprout seven days before the grain is fed. At that
time the sprouts are about 1 1/2 in. long, and much better for green food than oats with sprouts only 1/4 to 1/2 in. long. It may be true that the oats with the long sprouts are not as nourishing as the oats with the short sprouts, but that does not make any material difference when the oats are desired for green. food and not for grain food."
"Besides sprouted oats carry vitamine "E" which is claimed
by government authorities to have a direct influence upon the reproductive organs of* both the male and female. Consequently it not only produces an abundance of eggs right at the time when they are worth the most, but at the same time transmits strength and vigor through the male to the germ of the egg, and the result is bigger hatches and stronger birds, because they have strength and vigor handed down to them from the parent stock."
"Those exhibited at the Harper-Adams' Conference from the Wellinngham House P.F., were the healthiest looking birds in-the tent. This implies no reflection on the others, but the bloom and health of these birds was a general subject of comment.
If any of my readers want to try a little experiment, let them test the following: Give one ounce of sprouted oats, in place of the ordinary grain feed. The oats should only be germinated two or three days, so that they can be fed as grain."
K: and this quote frome some old poultry lit: " "If you feed the sprouted oats on the fourth day of germination you conserve the food value of the kernel. On the fourth day the starches of the kernel have been chtnged to maltose or grain sugar. This is the first stage in the process of digestion and is caused by the presence of Enzyme Diastase in large quantities. This Enzyme Diastase not only changes the starches of the oat kernel to grain sugar, but it performs the same function with other foods that it comes in contact with within the fowl's digestive system. It is the same result that is obtained from feeding yeast, but without the cost. Because of its aid to digestion, agricultural colleges and other authorities on poultry culture advise the feeding of sprouted oats the year "round even where the birds have access to free range."
=======================================from an old poultry magazine====================
Is there as much virtue in sprouted oats as some people seem to think? Are the grain sprouters a success? A. R. S., Redwing, Minn.
Answer: Most certainly there is virtue in sprouted oats. People do not seem to realize the full value of sprouted oats, else every poultry raiser in America would have a sprouter running full capacity thru the winter months and all city poultry raisers the year around. They are inexpensive when taken into consideration the length of time they last and the value of the product. We use the vapor bath sprouter which has the water pan in the bottom directly above the lamp and this vapor creates a rapid growth of sprouts which are ready for feeding in 5 days from the time placed in the sprouter. Other grains than oats can be sprouted equally well and seed corn germinated. In fact, an oat sprouter is as indispensable as an ineubator to the poultryman. Get into the game, poultry friends, and get an oat sprouter and watch the fertility increase and the chix grow faster and stronger.
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