Growing Fodder for Chicken Feed

Fodder is a nutrient-dense, inexpensive food source for livestock throughout the winter months. Growing fodder is incredibly easy in small spaces and it has a great conversion rate of one pound of seed creates four pounds of fodder. 

Feed fodder to your chickens, rabbits, pigs, cows, and goats throughout the winter months where fresh, nutrient rich, green grasses are hard to come by. Let it grow longer for larger animals, or keep in short for your smaller livestock like chickens and rabbits. 

Growing Fodder is Easy

Growing fodder is an incredibly easy way to grow livestock feed. It is done by soaking and sprouting grains. By letting the sprouts mature for a few days, greens will develop. Letting it get a few inches in length will develop a nice, thick layer of vegetation for your livestock. 

Similarly to how growers produce microgreens, growing fodder needs no soil, no fertilizer, and no light. And it only takes seven days!

What You Need

  1. Grab any container with drain holes. This could be an old tupperware containers, a seedling flat, or anything large and shallow that you can poke some holes into. It doesn’t matter what it is! As long as it drains. We use a 20″ x 10″ seedling flat. 
  2. Get some whole seeds, like barley, oats, wheat, or rye. 
  3. A medium bucket or large bowl
  4. An area with access to water
  5. Another tray to catch drainage or an area where trays can drain. 
  6. A grow light or sunny window, optional. Great way to get nice green growth. 

What To Do

To make one tray of fodder…

  1. Scoop out four cups of your seeds, place them in a bucket or large bowl. Cover with water for 24 hours. 
  2. Strain soaked seeds and pour them into one tray. Spread evenly. 
  3. Gently water twice per day. No needs to shake them around or otherwise disturb them. 
  4. Once grains begin to sprout and get about a half inch long, put them in a sunny window or under grow light if you’d like nice green growth. 
  5. Once the greens are a couple inches tall, pull the fodder from the tray and cut it into smaller squares to toss to your flock. 
  6. Sanitize your tray and reuse! 

growing fodder

Check out more chicken keeping tips!