Chickens and Fodder status

I've stopped using fodder the grass is once again growing since the rains have come and the chickens ignore the fodder to go eat the new grass. Once the drier weather comes back I'll re-start the fodder.

The chickens are not laying eggs right now, they are moulting. I dont want to force them to lay over the winter so we'll see how this goes and if they start laying again come spring.  And 3 of the birds are approaching their 3rd year which means egg production drops off. So we might be slaughtering 3 of them in spring and get new layers and meat birds at the same time.

Fodder end results

Well, the barley just quite a good job of growing in 6 days. I might even need to back it off 1 day since the chickens seem to prefer less green and more seed. Here is a picture of the fodder after 6 days (12 hrs in water, then 5 more days).

I'll keep growing fodder since they like the seeds and will eat some of the greens and it's cheap to grow.

Fodder update

Well, finally got a decent small crop of wheat fodder, so in heavy anticipation I gave it to the chickens this am. And once again, it shows that the Internet is not always right. The chickiens ate the seeds that were not sprouted, but ignored the sprouted ones. I am out of wheat seeds, but I have barley in the process. I'll see how they like barley.

Weekend chores/projects

It was a busy weekend and a troublesome one also.
First off, L was stung 4 times Saturday by yellow jackets. I am now at war with them. The 3 traps I've setup have killed dozens, I may put out more since that is a safer way to kill them, sprays can hurt the bees. L is doing ok. but the stings are to the incessant itching stage.

But things that went well:

• L and Q helped me clean out the left hand side of the pump-house, from there I swept it (lots of mouse poop), then put up 1.5" rigid foam insulation. Over that I put up what drywall I have. Once I get the rest drywalled I'll be putting up shelves for storing canned products and alcohol.
• L and I started another batch of beer Saturday night.  See this post, we did the same kit/extract combination.
• I bought more food from Patriot Farm and Feed. They also gave me 20 lbs of raw barley oats to try as fodder. The store bought seeds are not doing well. About half of the mung bean sprouted, and 1/3 of the wheat, but the rest did not sprout and it was given to the chickens. The chickens ate some of it, they did not like the mung bean sprouts much. I'e started a new batch of the PF&F barley.
• I added a new box to the 'clueless' hive. The queen has been releases, but the #"s are dwindling since eggs are not hatching yet. I need to time-line this so I can see when to expect a new batch of bees to come out. I did not check for eggs/brood since the damn yellow jacket were so bad. NOTE to self: Do not give extracted frames back to the bees anywhere near the hives. The damn yellow jackets take over and are royal pains.
• We have some chicken pecking going on. Once of the older Delewares is showing signs of being pecked at. I need to clean out the coop, put down some DE, and see if I can isolate the one doing the pecking. I dont see this happening, so I'm not sure who it is yet.

Fodder update

So far the fodder system has been a disappointment, but that might be:

• the heat, been 85-95 for the last week
• the seeds not being viable. they are from winco after all and who knows how old they are

I am going to get some fresh seeds from Patriot Farm and Feed and try those.

Fodder system

Started a 'Dead Simply' Fodder systems last night. I am working off of the video/post that Jack Spirko made at Brink of Freedom web site. The chickens like having fresh veggies/leafy greens and fodder is a cheap way to get them that

Link to Jack's system:

'Dead Simple' Fodder system

I went to the local Winco and bought 6 2 gallon buckets. I also picked up a lb or so of: mung bean, black sunflower, oats, and wheat seeds. I soaked the mung bean seeds last night and will start wheat seeds tonight. I want to see which sprouts best and which the chickens like the best since I am having issues with them and store bought feeds.

I bought a poultry grain mix  from Patriot Farm and Feed, they don’t seem to like it much. Or they are to set in their ways to try something different. Next I bought some layer pellets from the local store, they eat that a little, maybe I should have bought crumble.

They also do not want to use the chicken nipple waterers I set up, so I put a pan with water in it for them. Darn birds..

But I finished the chicken coop. Might have to modify it as needed.