Best greens for chickens in the winter?

[lazy gardener]

I tried to find accurate definitions, this is the best I could come up with:

Sprouting is the practice of germinating seeds to be eaten raw or cooked. Sprouts can be germinated at home or produced industrially. They are a prominent ingredient of the raw food diet and common in Eastern Asian cuisine. Sprouting, like cooking, reduces anti-nutritional compounds in raw legumes.
Sprouting - Wikipedia

In my understanding, a sprout is a seed which has germinated. It can be barely germinated, with little more showing than the growing tip, and a first root, or it can be quite a bit larger. IMO, sprouts are best before any real leaves have appeared. In the case of a grain, you will see the growing sheath from one end, and a single root from the other. If the sheath has broken open, and a grass blade appears, or there are leaves appearing (in the case of a dicotyledon plant) the sprout is now at the "fodder" stage.

In the below pics (barley) Sprouts are shown in pics 2 and 3. Day 4 could also be considered a sprout, as the majority of the blades have not exited the sheaths. Days 5 - 7 are considered fodder. IMO, sprouts are at their best for my poultry at the day 3 - 4 stage. Beyond that, I will still feed them, but consider them to be less than optimal. When sprouting for myself (I like to sprout lentils, brassicas, and alfalfa) I harvest them at the very young sprout stage. A common practice is using sprouted grains (day 2) to make flour and in cooking. Nutrient values are greatly enhanced by sprouting.

Note: sprout stage is variable, and not at all dependent on "what day it is" but more dependent on how much growth there has been. Some grains may take longer to sprout than others, and temperature plays a big role in how quickly they grow.

Even soaking grains will make the nutrients in them more bioavailable. But sprouting, b/c of the enzyme action in the living grain makes a sprout MUCH more nutritious.

Photos from this article: https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/growing-sprouted-fodder/72618

 

[jthornton]

@lazy gardener,

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, I learned a lot from reading it. I'm setting up to make a batch every day now that I found a way to water them in the basement bathtub.

JT

 

[lazy gardener]

YVW. How big is your flock? Last year, with 17 birds, I used 1 qt mason jars, and fed out 1 jar/day. this year with 30 birds, I will need to go bigger, and will be doing it in the laundry room.

 

[centrarchid]

I tried to find accurate definitions, this is the best I could come up with:

Sprouting is the practice of germinating seeds to be eaten raw or cooked. Sprouts can be germinated at home or produced industrially. They are a prominent ingredient of the raw food diet and common in Eastern Asian cuisine. Sprouting, like cooking, reduces anti-nutritional compounds in raw legumes.
Sprouting - Wikipedia

In my understanding, a sprout is a seed which has germinated. It can be barely germinated, with little more showing than the growing tip, and a first root, or it can be quite a bit larger. IMO, sprouts are best before any real leaves have appeared. In the case of a grain, you will see the growing sheath from one end, and a single root from the other. If the sheath has broken open, and a grass blade appears, or there are leaves appearing (in the case of a dicotyledon plant) the sprout is now at the "fodder" stage.

In the below pics (barley) Sprouts are shown in pics 2 and 3. Day 4 could also be considered a sprout, as the majority of the blades have not exited the sheaths. Days 5 - 7 are considered fodder. IMO, sprouts are at their best for my poultry at the day 3 - 4 stage. Beyond that, I will still feed them, but consider them to be less than optimal. When sprouting for myself (I like to sprout lentils, brassicas, and alfalfa) I harvest them at the very young sprout stage. A common practice is using sprouted grains (day 2) to make flour and in cooking. Nutrient values are greatly enhanced by sprouting.

Note: sprout stage is variable, and not at all dependent on "what day it is" but more dependent on how much growth there has been. Some grains may take longer to sprout than others, and temperature plays a big role in how quickly they grow.

Even soaking grains will make the nutrients in them more bioavailable. But sprouting, b/c of the enzyme action in the living grain makes a sprout MUCH more nutritious.

Photos from this article: https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/growing-sprouted-fodder/72618

Made my point for me, despite telling me I am wrong.

 

[lazy gardener]

I was not aware that I told you you were wrong. I thought i was agreeing with you. Sometimes your posts are very hard to understand.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Whatever you choose to give them, it should only be a small percentage of their diet. If you are using a good feed it should provide all of the daily needs.

I save my kitchen scraps (never mold or slimy) and purchased. Things they seem to like are cabbage, broccoli, green onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce not so much, sweet potato, acorn squash, mashed hard boiled eggs, cucumber, peppers of any kind including seeds.

I have a bunch of mini pumpkins that I used for fall decorations. I quartered some and baked them in the oven (drizzled with water and covered with foil to prevent drying out). They love those and the seeds too.

Great idea with the decorative pumpkins!!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I can't wait for the miner's lettuce to come up in the spring. It's absolutely everywhere around the chicken coop and across the property. It's native I think to this area.

And after months of ridiculous heat and crunchy dry land, it's green!!

 

[jthornton]

Density of carbohydrates lower in fodder relative to sprouts and certainly seeds.

I ideal world all three would be used to approximate what acquired through foraging.

This had me confused as fodder is feed, for cattle and other livestock, which is the opposite of forage and doesn't seem to be any relation to a plants growth cycle.

The cotyledon is the primary leaf in the embryo of the higher plants (Phanerogams) also know as the seed-leaf. Wikipedia page. I assume by sprout you mean the primary leaf of a plant.

JT

 

[centrarchid]

This had me confused as fodder is feed, for cattle and other livestock, which is the opposite of forage and doesn't seem to be any relation to a plants growth cycle.

The cotyledon is the primary leaf in the embryo of the higher plants (Phanerogams) also know as the seed-leaf. Wikipedia page. I assume by sprout you mean the primary leaf of a plant.

JT

Terms are not consistent as in a gray area here. Forage I normally associate with that which animals consume by collecting directly from the area / ground like a herbivore typically does or volume like a planktivourous / predatory fish does. Normally such eats considered to be living and dispersed, and with exception of animals are expected to survive being partially consumed. The fodder / sprouts are plants not dispersed that are also eaten in their entirety.

 

[lazy gardener]

That being what it may, and I agree with you regarding the wider, most commonly accepted definition of fodder, the more mature sprouts which form a root mat with shoots or leaves above the root mat are also called fodder.

I can't wait for the miner's lettuce to come up in the spring. It's absolutely everywhere around the chicken coop and across the property. It's native I think to this area.

It's not native here, but I've grown it, and enjoy the flavor of it. Unfortunately, it takes a LOT to make a salad!