Winter Feed Cost and Growing Fodder

[PioneerChicks]

I've just started growing fodder, too, and have had a problem with white furry looking growths, possibly mold or mildew? Do you have any suggestions? This is happening after the grain starts to look like "grass".
I've really had good luck with fermenting grain and so far this has worked the best and been the easiest. I use it for a supplemental treat about 2 hours before they go to roost at night.

P.S. my flock eats "grass" like a herd of cows!

What do your white growths look like? Are they in the roosts or grass? I'm no expert but I'll help if I can. @WannaBeHillBilly is really knowledgeable with fodder

 

[Robeenop]

I can't help you out with advice on the feed but I see some good suggestions here. Are you aware that they need a certain amount of daylight to lay? We gave ours a night light, 75w bulb, to keep an owl away & so far this month they beat their record number of eggs for 3 months last year during the Summer. By the end of this month they could exceed their monthly average of last year. I was late turning the light on one evening & that's when I noticed the owl & got the light turned on just in time. We convert table scraps into eggs as much as possible. I read somewhere to boil potato peelings before feeding them to the chickens because they're toxic to them.

I just let my flock rest over the winter. Actually have a couple ISA brown's that are molting. I get some eggs, but my ducks make up the difference. Spring will come pretty soon in Arkansas.

 

[MaryW2K]

What are the odds

Oh wow. I love the eggers. One of mine will cuddle and the other jumps up on my shoulder unexpectedly sometimes. I think I might try the fodder. Have not decided yet.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I'm interested in what you noticed about fermented feed. I don't want to hijack the thread, though. I'll start another one or if you would message me (not email), I would appreciate it

Following

 

[saysfaa]

Following

They didn't say anything on tbe other thread or send a message. I've lost access to the email account connected to byc. I don't know if an email was sent. So I still don't know what the problem nay have been.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

They didn't say anything on tbe other thread or send a message. I've lost access to the email account connected to byc. I don't know if an email was sent. So I still don't know what the problem nay have

Much appreciated!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I've just started growing fodder, too, and have had a problem with white furry looking growths, possibly mold or mildew? Do you have any suggestions? This is happening after the grain starts to look like "grass".
I've really had good luck with fermenting grain and so far this has worked the best and been the easiest. I use it for a supplemental treat about 2 hours before they go to roost at night.

P.S. my flock eats "grass" like a herd of cows!

If those white furry looking spots grow in between the green leaves, yes that is mold. This white mold is not as dangerous as blue, green or black mold but you should not feed it to your birds. But it isn't a total loss, as you can generously cut those white patches out and feed the rest.
I am growing fodder in my garage for the last three years in a fodder tower, build after @gtaus great article:

»My $10 Inexpensive DIY Fodder Tower with Dollar Tree Dish Bins«

The two things that i do to avoid the growth of mold are:

1. Keep it cold! - During the winter the temperatures in my garage hover around 6° (43F) it never freezes but it never gets warm. Mold likes it warm and grows only very slow in cold temperatures. - That's why we have refrigerators in our kitchens…
2. Use bleach! - There is a »spritz« of ordinary bleach in every pot of water that i pour into my fodder tower and there is another »spritz« of bleach in the water in which the wheat kernels soak overnight.

I have been scorched for "feeding bleach" to my poor ducks several times, but as a matter of fact by the time i feed the fodder to my gluttons all the chlorine has been evaporated or used up to destroy mold-spores. There is no bleach left in that fodder. - And what's worse? Feeding moldy fodder or tiny amounts of bleach?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I've since given up on raising fodder because of this issue. This is a pan at least 1 1/2 weeks past using. The fuzz started between the stems at seed level about the time I was going to use it. I wasn't sure whether it would hurt the chickens, so I didn't serve it.
I did read something about soaking grain with a mild bleach or hydrogen peroxide solution, then rinsing well, before sprouting it to remove any mold etc, on the grain, idk.

Definitely mold!

• Wash your grains in a tall jar with luke-warm water and discard everything that floats.
• Add a little bleach to the soaking water.
• Add a little bleach to the water used for the daily flooding.
• Don't let the grains sit in water, your pan must allow the water to flow out.
• Keep the whole thing cold. Your living-rook or kitchen is the wrong place to grow fodder.

 

[Windywoo]

If it's cold enough that fermented feed is freezing, you either need to offer it in a container that can keep it warm (i.e. a heated dog bowl) or you'll need to hold off on it until weather heats up enough so it doesn't freeze.

Sorry I have no experience with growing fodder.

I take the fermented feed out to the run about 2 hrs before the chickens go in to roost and they finish it off pretty quick. I use two trays and feed 20 chickens. It's been as low as 9 degrees.

 

[raingarden]

I mix seed with some well-composted and screened potting soil and moisten it almost to the point that water can be squeezed out of a handfull. This is pressed into a saucer or pie plate like a mud pie. When the sprouts are about an inch high a little more water is usually needed. It depends on the humidity. No bleach is used and there is never any visible mold/fungus

When the sprouts are 2-3 inches high with a thick root mat the pie plate is given to the birds. They don't bite off the sprouts but pull them out and eat the sprout with some attached root material and probably a little compost. By the end of the day everything has disappeared; the sprouts, unsprouted seed, soil, everything. Any renants are stomped into the ground or bedding so it is difficult to say what they did not eat.

I use wild bird seed mix (proso millet, milo and a little sunflower) from the feed store or the Audobon brand bird seed from the grocery store. Sometimes I use hard red wheat or japanese millet instead Oats and buckwheat also work but the seed are expensive.

The fodder is a good source of vitamins, especially the vitamin C that quickly degrades in their formulated feed.

It's a lot of trouble so sprouts is not something they get on regular basis. I routinely mix some alfalfa pellets (or rabbit pellets) in with their formulated feed because it too is a good source of vitamins even though it adds fiber and dilutes the protein content. If they do not need it then they will pick out everything else and not eat it.