The Homesteader's Way of Feeding Chickens

[Beekissed]

Using a bucket with holes drilled and rinsing once or twice a day is soooo much easier. You don't need to use a tray unless you are going for green sprouts, which you won't get in three days.

Now I'm curious....why wouldn't someone want green sprouts? Aren't most sprouts mildly green? And rinsing once a twice a day is easier than dampening a sack and letting the tray sit for three days?

I don't know about you all but I don't really have once, let alone twice a day's time to rinse a bucket of seeds. I leave the house after doing chores of a morning and mostly don't get home until after dark. Do you do this in your bathtub? How often do you do this and how much feed does this yield, for how many chickens?

And....has anyone tried this method and didn't get sprouts? Why wouldn't they sprout in three days? I've seen beans sprout in three days with a smaller, similar method.

So many questions.......

 

[lwheelr]

The tray method is fine if you have just a few animals. But if you have a lot, where are you going to put all those trays? If you put a "thin layer of seeds" on the tray, then you get a single layer of sprouts, and like Free said, you get only some white shoots because they won't have time to green up in just three days.

In the same space, you can have two buckets, which will hold a couple of gallons of dry seeds, which expands to 3-4 gallons of soaked sprouting seeds (depending on type).

So for the same amount of sprouts, you'd have to prepare and plant probably 20 or more trays, find the space for them, and do that every day. Hmmm... in three days you're gonna have a bit of a problem of where to put them!

So buckets are easier in volume.

If you have three or four chickens, and that is all, then a tray a day is going to be fine (unless you grow them longer, in which case, half a tray a day, and a seven to ten day sprouting period and space to put 4-5 trays).

Yeah, green sprouts ARE better - but again, they take more space, and give probably 50% more nutrition, but take 10 times the space. For volume sprouting, you just have to keep it simple and manageable, and watering once or twice a day is much simpler, and at this point, takes far less time.

 

[BarredBuff]

Im going to try it in buckets, I may order some seeds tommorow.

 

[Beekissed]

So...you are feeding a whole bucket of sprouts to how many chickens? Do they eat a whole bucket? If so, how much seed went into making a whole bucket of sprouts? Half?

I don't feed half a bucket of whole grains to my flock of 30 chickens each day. If I did, wouldn't the sprouts be more nutrition, meaning you should be able to feed much less?

How many chickens will a whole bucket of sprouts feed? How many days do you rinse and repeat? If you wanted to feed sprouts each day, how many buckets would you have to keep in rotation with this method?

ETA: What size bucket?

 

[BarredBuff]

So...you are feeding a whole bucket of sprouts to how many chickens? Do they eat a whole bucket? If so, how much seed went into making a whole bucket of sprouts? Half?

I don't feed half a bucket of whole grains to my flock of 30 chickens each day. If I did, wouldn't the sprouts be more nutrition, meaning you should be able to feed much less?

How many chickens will a whole bucket of sprouts feed? How many days do you rinse and repeat? If you wanted to feed sprouts each day, how many buckets would you have to keep in rotation with this method?

ETA: What size bucket?

x2

 

[Kassaundra]

I am just starting so I don't have a "proper" answer, but I have started out w/ just less then 2 lbs of oat seed (the size of container I had) for 23 chickens. Mine get their first sprouts tomorrow, mine are not "green" sprouts, only 4 day old sprouts. I plan on adjusting as needed, until I get it right.

My sprouts are not their only food, mine are still on comercial feed, I am at the beginning stages of both chicken husbandry and figuring out alternative foods for them.

 

[Wannabefree]

Got me thinking I'm going to have to try some of this if it helps stretch the feed! I can do sprouts in buckets ad trays. I hope to have a coldframe to do some in as well within the next week, and maybe a small greenhouse soon. I have the materials, just need to get on it. I could probably completely feed my birds with sprouts and such this winter for minimal costs. Sweet deal Thanks for all the ideas folks!

 

[BarredBuff]

I would like to start feeding the poultry a BOSS, cracked corn and rolled oat mix. Plus some sprouts and range. Whadya think?

 

[freemotion]

That mix is very low on protein. That is why I feed whole oats/barley and sprout it. Wheat would work, too, if I could get it at a reasonable price.

You can get away with that mix in the summer when there are plenty of grubs and bugs for free-ranging birds, but in a snowy climate, they will need something for protein, even if it is milk and meat scraps.

 

[BarredBuff]

That mix is very low on protein. That is why I feed whole oats/barley and sprout it. Wheat would work, too, if I could get it at a reasonable price.

You can get away with that mix in the summer when there are plenty of grubs and bugs for free-ranging birds, but in a snowy climate, they will need something for protein, even if it is milk and meat scraps.

Thats true we have been in the arctic for a week now. Im expecting to see Sarah Palin soon . Im gonna try and order some seeds tommorow so I can supplement them. Roughly how much protein would a mix like that have?