Growing Nutritious Treats for Very Reasonable Prices

Wheat fodder is easily grown as a treat for chickens and significantly increases both the weight and nutritional value of the wheat from its grain form. Fiona and Hugh Osborne show you how

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WHY GROW WHEAT FODDER?
As Spring begins, many of us are planning on getting our flocks back out into new fresh grass and free ranging. Unfortunately, that's not possible for many people for a number of reasons. Here on the East coast, we've been experiencing a regional avian influenza housing order that has meant keeping our flock in a fully enclosed run. For others it may be that free ranging is not safe due to a prevalence of foxes. There are many reasons why access to grazing many not be an option.

The reason why grazing is a good idea for chickens is that it improves the content and consistency of their eggs. Yolks are darker and of a creamier consistency. They benefit from higher omega 3 fatty acids and tend to be richer in both vitamins A and E.

Grazing, is of course not the primary food source for our flock when they are free ranging and we do provide a quality pellet. However, grass does provide additional fibre which enhances their digestion as well as contributing to a more "natural" life for our flock. In the absence of grass, wheat fodder is great alternative.

Wheat fodder is not only a nutritional enhancement over wheat grains, the weight of grains can be increased by 3 or 4 times, giving you more treats for the same price. We currently purchase 20kg of wheat grains for just £8.50 but by taking the time to sprout it, we could (if we sprouted it all) produce over 70kg of wheat fodder in just 8 days.

WHAT IS WHEAT FODDER?
Wheat Fodder is simply sprouted grains of wheat. We use wheat grains with our flock a method that we've been using to sprout chickpeas as we love these in salads in summer.