I use the same Victorio brand sprouters, pictured above, that I use for sprouting alfalfa and mixed seeds for myself during the winter and at other times. I have about 3 sets of the sprouters, which seems to be enough for now.
For the chickens my goal is to have 2 trays of the sprouts getting mature each day. I use recleaned wheat, bought at the feed mill, as my sprouting seed. I have used this wheat for years, both for poultry feed and for myself. Recleaned wheat sprouts very well, right from the bag.
I soak about 1/4 cup of dry seed for each tray I want to sprout. I use 1/2 pint canning jars for the soaking. I put the lids on when soaking so that if the cats knock a jar over it won't ruin the soaking seeds. I have a small plastic shelving unit in my kitchen for my sprouting operation. The top two shelves of the 4-ft. tall unit are left undisturbed by my house cats. Usually.
Wheat seed needs to soak for about 8 hours but can go as long as 12 or 14 hours. But if you forget about the soaking seed for a couple of days, it will ferment and won't sprout. But all is not lost. Fermented feed is also a healthy thing for your poultry.
Wheat is sprouted about 4 days for human use, as in sprouted wheat bread. It goes as long as 10 days for wheatgrass (which is normally sprouted in a tray of soil.) For poultry feed use, it can start being used at 4 days, but I think 5 or 6 days is better.
When feeding day comes, each Victorio tray will produce a disk of sprouts and wheat grains held together by the roots. If you put the whole disk before your chickens, one chicken will grab it and run off to eat it by herself. The rest of the flock will chase her. As entertaining as that is, to get a bit of sprouts into as many birds as possible, pull off small bits, about 1 tablespoon in size, and place them into a feeder. Chickens will still grab them and run, but more will get a chance at it.
Suburban poultry keepers with a flock of 3-5 laying hens or ducks can share out a sprout disk with their tiny flock and really give them a good green dose. If your flock is around 15-20 birds, you may want to sprout in greater quantity.
What about sprouting in 1/2 gallon canning jars with a plastic sprouting lid? It's possible and I may try it when my flock gets more accustomed to their daily green feed, because increasing the number of Victorio trays too much would just get to be too much work. I do like the Victorio trays better when sprout quantity is not an issue.
What makes wheat sprouts better than plain wheat? Sprouting a grain or seed makes it more vitamin and mineral rich, and makes it easier to digest. The water content of sprouts is also helpful, especially in winter when confined birds might be getting less water due to waterers freezing.
I currently have only chickens and one turkey in my flock, but plan to expand to ducks and Pilgrim geese this year--- I already have them ordered. They should benefit from sprouts as well. Since geese supposedly can live on grass alone, without grain, they would probably do very well overwintering with sprouts in their diet.
I keep records on my current sprouting experiments in a farm diary, where I write down interesting facts such as animals' hatchings, births and deaths, and things like how much hay my sheep are using and how many of them there are currently. I will be blogging any information gained, and any success with sprouting other seeds.
