Most every one that has a back yard flock likes to give their chickens treats. As much as I like to spoil the feather kids, I also want a proper diet so the birds stay healthy and strong. Though I enjoy candy, a daily diet of it is not good for me any more than daily treats, that do not add much nutritional value, are good for the chickens. For our treats we are feeding a combination of sprouts and fermented oats.
For a while we did fodder. That is sprouting the seeds up until the first leaves grew and were green. But watching the chickens eat the fodder, I found the chickens went more for the seed than the sprout. I considered just feeding the seeds themselves, but sprouted seeds have more nutritional value for the chickens. So my compromise was to give them sprouts.
DAY ONE
To get started doing what I do, you will need two stainless steel bowls and two wire mesh colanders. Both of these you can get at a Wal-Mart. The colander should fit inside the bowl with some space under it. You will be draining the seeds into the bowl, so you want some space under the wire. You will also need something to measure with. I use empty small sour cream containers. These plastic containers seem to be the unit of measure around my house.
The first day I put two cups of sunflower seeds and about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of millet seeds into the bowl and cover with water. With my hands I stir the seeds down into the water so everything is coated in water. Then I set it aside. Since it is only me at the house and I don't like chicken stuff to dominate my life, my seed sprouting goes into the oven. When I cook it is on weekends and I can set the seeds aside until I am done with the oven
DAY TWO
On the second day I do the same as day one with a second bowl and put it aside. Then the first bowl is emptied into the strainer and rinsed. The colander is then set in the bowl to drain. Neither is ready to feed at this point and I have a fermented oats in the rotation that I will write about shortly.
DAY THREE
On the third day you will drain and rinse the seeds set in water the day before. On the seeds you have set up on the first day you will empty the seeds into the bowl and then fill it with water and let the seeds soak a bit. I let mine soak while I feed the chickens. When I come back in from feeding, the seeds are put back in the strainer, rinsed and set in the bowl to drain. Everything goes into the oven until the next morning.
DAY FOUR
The fourth day is day three of the first bow set up and the seeds should be sprouted and have pretty good tails on them. This is the day you will feed them to the chickens. The sprouts will be a thick mat that is kinda grown together in the colander. The seed tails will be growing through the wire mesh and will not empty into the bowl once over turned. To get them out I turn the colander upside down over the bowl and then gently bang it on the bowl to dump the clumped seeds into the bowl.
You do not rinse these seeds this day. From the clumped mass I will pull the seeds gently apart and put them into a plastic bucket that I take out to feed the chickens. You will feel there is heat in the mass from the sprouting seeds. This heat I think helps with the seed germination. Once the seeds are a bit separated from each other you will find there are quite a bit of them. I started with just the black oil sunflower seeds, but the millet are small and the chickens really like them. I often will sprout just the millet for my younger chicks to give them a healthy treat too. You can use wheat, millet, oats, sunflower and probably milo for sprouts. If you have access to other seeds I am sure they can be adapted to use this method for sprouting as well.
On day four the other colander is over turned into the bowl, the seeds covered with water for a bit then drained and set up overnight. These seeds have begun to sprout and they will be ready to feed the next day.
Once the first bowl is empty, it is cleaned and once again set up with the two cups sunflower and 1/2 cup or so of the millet and covered with water to start the process all over again. In time the mesh colander will get a film on it. I have found the best way to clean it is to fill the stainless steel bowl with water, add some hydrogen peroxide and set the colander into it for a while to soak. Then, pull the colander out, and scrub with a nail brush or a brush used to scrub dirt off baking potatoes. A quick rinse of the colander and bowl and you are back in business.
If you want the benefits that fodder gives your flock and find it is too messy and time consuming, try this method. Morning routines can get a bit hectic, especially with my having a full time job and a long commute. However, doing this every morning does not add much time as all to my morning chores. It only takes few minutes to do and I like the fact I am giving the chickens treats that are healthy and good for them.
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