How to Grow Fodder for Chickens and Other Livestock (2024)

Ready to cut your animal feed costs substantially? Learn how to grow fodder for chickens and other livestock! Whole grains like oats, wheat, or barley make for an easy way to provide fresh greens to your flock.

Be sure to check out more ideas on how to feed chickens on the cheap!

If you’re raising chickens or other livestock, you know that animal feed can get quite expensive. Growing fodder to supplement their diet is an easy endeavor and one that will keep your flock happy.

What is fodder?

Fodder is a mat of sprouted seeds that can be used to feed a variety of livestock and small animals, including chickens.

While we think of whole grains as food, they are really seeds formed by a plant to regenerate itself. Untreated whole grains need nothing more than a little moisture to try to do what they’re meant to do: grow.

By giving grains the conditions necessary to sprout, they’ll do what comes naturally with very little effort on your part.

How to Grow Fodder for Chickens

Sprouting grains into fodder requires a little bit of set up, but it’s not difficult. You’ll need some sort of shallow tray to get started. I used an upcycled storage unit with shallow sliding drawers. Check your local thrift store or rubbish bin for options — you won’t need anything fancy. You could also use:

• Styrofoam meat trays
• Baking trays
• Plastic clamshells
• Seed starting trays

The essential thing is that you are able to drill drainage holes in the trays.

Why grow fodder?

One of the best reasons for sprouting grains into fodder is that it helps stretch your animal feed budget. Fifty pounds of whole grain can be transformed into as much as 300 pounds of fodder simply by sprouting it.

Sprouting grains increases their nutritional content and boosts protein content slightly. And while it’s great for chicken feed, this fodder works as feed for other livestock as well.

You’ll need:

• Shallow trays — you can use baking trays, an assortment of recycled containers, or a unit like mine
• Shelving or a rack on which to place the trays
• Drill with a one-eighth-inch bit
• Bulk whole grain – barley, wheat, or oats work well
• Bucket
• Water

Making the fodder system

Drill several drainage holes in the bottom each tray. Test to make sure water drains sufficiently. A bit of residual water is okay, but if it’s really puddling, add a few more holes. Using a stacked storage unit makes for a mostly ready-made system.

If you scavenge an assortment of trays, you’ll need a place to set the trays while the seeds sprout. Remember that the area will get wet.

Where to put your growing fodder trays

My fodder system is set up outside near the chicken run, making it easy to access and maintain. If you have hot summers, a shady spot is a good idea. Growing fodder during winter weather will require an indoor space where it’s a bit warmer, but supplemental lighting is really not necessary.

Growing fodder

1. Soak grain in a bucket of water overnight. Cover the grains by about two inches of water. How much grain to soak depends on the size of your trays and how many you’re filling. Aim for a half-inch depth for each tray. The grains have a tendency to mold if they’re deeper than that.
2. Drain grains and transfer to trays. Spread evenly.
3. Water each tray morning and night. If your region is really dry and the sprouting grains dry out quickly, you might need to water them during the day or experiment with using lids on the trays to help prevent evaporation.
4. You’ll see roots within the first couple of days, followed by greens. The growing fodder is edible at any point, but it usually takes a week or so to have a nice solid block of fodder that you can lift out of each drawer.

Related:How to Keep Your Hens Cool This Summer

Growing Fodder

Prep Time: 1 day

Additional Time: 3 days

Total Time: 4 days

While we think of whole grains as food, they are really seeds formed by a plant to regenerate itself. Untreated whole grains need nothing more than a little moisture to try to do what they're meant to do. By giving grains the conditions necessary to sprout, they'll do what comes naturally with very little effort on your part.

* This post layout has been updated, and the original star ratings lost. This project had 4.6 stars prior to the update!*

Materials

• Shallow trays -- you can use baking trays, an assortment of recycled containers, or a unit like mine
• Shelving or a rack on which to place the trays
• Bulk whole grain - barley, wheat, or oats work well
• Bucket
• Water

Tools

• Drill with a one-eighth-inch bit

Instructions

1. Soak grain in a bucket of water overnight. Cover the grains by about two inches of water. How much grain to soak depends on the size of your trays and how many you’re filling. Aim for a half-inch depth for each tray. The grains have a tendency to mold if they're deeper than that.
2. Drain grains and transfer to trays. Spread evenly.
3. Water each tray morning and night. If your region is really dry and the sprouting grains dry out quickly, you might need to water them during the day or experiment with using lids on the trays to help prevent evaporation.
4. You’ll see roots within the first couple of days, followed by greens. The sprouted grains are edible at any point, but it usually takes a week or so to have a nice solid block of fodder that you can lift out of each drawer.

Notes

Making the fodder system:

Drill several drainage holes in the bottom each tray. Test to make sure water drains sufficiently. A bit of residual water is okay, but if it's really puddling, add a few more holes.

Where to put your growing trays:

My fodder system is set up outside near the chicken run, making it easy to access and maintain. If you have hot summers, a shady spot is a good idea. Sprouting grains into fodder during winter weather will require an indoor space where it's a bit warmer, but supplemental lighting is really not necessary.

Did you make this project?

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Originally published in July 2017; this post has been updated.