Sprouting? Help...

[mixedbreeds]

I haven’t tried the bleach. As soon as April rolls around all of a sudden mold same temperature in the house and everything. I don’t know if the mold spores are just floating around in the air or what. My trays are 10”x20” i use 4 cups. 2 of wheat and 2 of black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) I can grow it about 12 days in the winter and no more than 7 starting around February when it starts to warm up.

 

[Redhead Rae]

If you want to try a mold retardant, I would use vinegar instead of bleach. Vinegar is edible.

 

[mixedbreeds]

Yes lentils do sprout good. When I’m feeding a lot of fodder in the winter I do a half cup of lentils a half cup of mung beans 1 1/2 cups hard red wheat and 1 1/2 cups BOSS soak over night rinse it a lot put in tray and water it twice a day in the sink with the sink sprayer. I use two trays the one with the grain has holes then the bottom one of corse doesn’t I put canner lids in between them for some lift so it drains well.

 

[snow5164]

Look at what I just bought to sprout, I’ve been doing it in a jar now I’m getting serious

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

The mat forms from the seed roots knitting together in the tray (I soak then spread seeds 1/4" to 3/8" thick for sprouting. My trays have small holes in them for draining excess water away. It takes about 3 days before the seeds are growing then two more days to get up ready for feeding. I use 2 bulb grow lights 4 fee long for light once the seeds have sprouted so they get light for 72 hours before they are fed to the chickens. I also set up so the four trays are started one at a time, one series of trays feeds four days, each tray gets ready right when it goes to the chickens. The seed has millet, sorghum, sunflower and amaranth, comes from either our feed store or Walmart if the feed store is out.

 

[Kzdnae]

Don't over think it. Just do it. soak the seeds for a few hours in room temp water. Rinse, drain, put them in your sprouting container, and rinse and drain several times/day. standing water is the enemy of sprouting after the initial soak. Just do a small batch at first. What have you got to loose?

Does the Scratch & Peck have cracked corn in it? If it does, I think that might encourage mold, b/c that would only soak up water but not sprout.

I usually sprout in mason jars with the commercially available sprouting lids. I just find this method to be quite easy. I'm sprouting for up to 25 birds in the winter. I like that the mason jars take up so little real estate on my kitchen counters. But last winter, I had up to 7 jars going at a time, so bought a dish pan with a dish strainer that fits inside it at the dollar store. That holds 5 jars, which can be carried from kitchen to a plant table in my living room. I picked up a multi tier sprouter at the recycle station at my town dump. I usually use that for my own sprouts.

The feed I buy from Scratch and Peck is Corn and Soy free and is all whole grain. I’ll have to see if I can get sprouting lids off Amazon. I watched a tutorial that made it look really easy! I have plenty of old mason jars laying around!

 

[lazy gardener]

My egg count out paced my customers, so I removed 8, simply to make more room for replacements, and better match supply and demand. Wouldn't you know it, I picked up about 50% more egg customers within 2 weeks of that well thought out plan. Now, people are beating a path to my door, and tackling my egg bag when I take it with me. (I set it down, and folks help themselves... first come, first serve.) Hubby is under strict orders to never sell the last dozen! I keep it in the back of my mind that a predator could easily wipe out my flock, or take my roo, then... I'd be starting out from scratch. So... gotta keep extra eggs "just in case".

 

[newchickenmom33]

View attachment 1473564 View attachment 1473564 I’m sure there are others that have figured it out but I have had no luck sprouting in the summer it always molds on me. I do it in the house and sprout all winter with no mold it’s great then and it makes the feed bill go down and the eggs delicious.

Oh my. That is beautiful!!! Okay maybe I was doing it wrong... I was only sprouting a cup at a time in a small 8 inch square pan. I only did so for 6-7 days and then feed them. That looks amazing!!!!

 

[mixedbreeds]

I agree lazy gardener but boy does it make nice looking and tasting eggs in the winter and I get a lot more eggs in the winter feeding fodder. I went to feeding the fodder with the lentils and mung beans to up the protein with the wheat and the boss seemed to work pretty well lots of quality eggs and healthy chickies along with my feed bill going down a little as long as I don’t go overboard on the lentils and mung beans really need to buy all in bulk or they are way to expensive

 

[mixedbreeds]

5 chickens would be pretty easy to deal with I’m feeding 75 chickens the picture I showed is just one spot I normally have around 16 to 20, 10”x 20” trays going, it takes a while to water/rinse them twice a day.