I've read with interest about growing fodder from grain for rabbits. The thread that Grumpy posted was incredible, and I greatly appreciate his willingness to try new ideas and share the wisdom he has gained from them. Since I will be keeping only a few buns for my own meat source, most of the setups which I have seen are overkill for what I intend to have. So, I have come up with an idea for a smaller edition of what Grumpy built. I'd like some feedback from y'all on it. What I am envisioning is to use a number of plastic ice cube trays with small drain holes drilled in each compartment. It would provide neatly portioned pieces of fodder for feeding. I am a woodworker by profession, and have access to all the scraps I would need to build a rack system to hold a number of trays, one above the other. With a large dishpan under the entire setup to catch the final drainage, I should be able to grow fairly efficiently. I have a couple of spare rooms in the house which I could set it up in. With the addition of a couple of grow lights off to the side, it should do pretty well, I think. Thoughts?
Love some feedback on my idea.
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I think it's brilliant! 
I think the only thing you'll really have to work on is the odd ways water might drain from ice cube trays. Just with trying to make sure that trays underneath actually get watered, and that water doesn't end up on the floor. But you can figure all that out with a little trial and error.
I think the only thing you'll really have to work on is the odd ways water might drain from ice cube trays. Just with trying to make sure that trays underneath actually get watered, and that water doesn't end up on the floor. But you can figure all that out with a little trial and error.
imajpm
Well-known member
I feed about a 4in x 4in (8 to 10 oz) square of fodder each day to each adult bunny, just to give you an idea of size. I feed an 8x4in slice to litters that are growing out, plus free feed pellets. They are all large, 8 lbs and up. They get a small scoop of pellets in the evening in addition to the morning fodder and hay. Right now my fodder is refusing to grow since it's so hot Bunnies are not happy, they miss their fodder!
Bunnies are not happy, they miss their fodder!
We grew wheat out into 7 day fodder for our rabbits last year--much smaller scale than Grumpy's set-up. When I read the fodder thread with different people's attempts, it seemed that a lot of them had mold trouble. Hoping to avoid that, I didn't have the water cycle down through all the trays, but watered each one. Also only watered twice a day, about 12 hours apart. Used 10"x20" nursery flats with drainage holes on one end and set them at an angle so I could "flood" them and then have them drain fairly quickly. I wonder if the ice cube compartments would be hard to water enough and still have them drain out well. And between batches you'll need to clean them well which will be harder than with a bigger tray. So I just wonder if the convenience of having them in the serving size portions is worth the extra hassle. It's pretty easy to cut the mat up once it's grown to the desired length.
Hope you'll let us all know how it works--it's such a help to be able to read what others have tried and how it went.
Hope you'll let us all know how it works--it's such a help to be able to read what others have tried and how it went.
imajpm
Well-known member
Rainey":1vogc154 said:
When I first started growing fodder I went by the guidelines that I read in various blogs and instructional sites/articles. 12 hours soaks, water 3x a day etc. What I found and what was not really mentioned anywhere, is that everyone's house, or barn, or wherever you grow it, is a unique micro climate. I had all sorts of trouble with the advertised methods and nearly gave up. Finally after tweaking nearly everything, I got it growing well. One example, is that fodder needs to be grown between 65-70 degrees. Mine grows perfectly up to 80, but now that we are 95-105 :lol: it flat out refuses to do anything but turn into a mold brick. Anyway plan to experiment!
Rainey":nhejxu6v said:
Cleaning should be simple. Stick 'em in the dishwasher.
Deer Heart
Well-known member
I've actually done fodder using those regular stackable sterilite drawer bins. Drilled a ton of holes, kept it outside, and changed the species of fodder with the weather. It went very well! I just got lazy manually watering it all the time so until I find a cheap solution for that; fixing the rabbits automatic watering system is higher on my list right now. :'D
Still, the results were great! Just spray her down with a hose and then peroxide between uses.
Still, the results were great!
Just spray her down with a hose and then peroxide between uses.Attachments
when I grew fodder, I used regular heavy duty nursery flats, I drilled some holes at the bottom, in one end and put a paper towel in the bottom, they were all laid side by side on sloped shelves [drain holes on the low end] I had 1 gph drip emitters set above each top level tray , the water soaked up the paper towel, and then drained into the flat just below it [sloped the other way, ] I had 4 tiers of them one above the other, the bottom trays drained into a rain gutter and then ran to a floor drain.-- but-- when I did this I lived "out west" the climate was very dry, -- so-- that effects mold, and is probly one reason I had no mold problems in my system. - I did various experiments to be rid of the towel,. but-- in reality, the paper towel was not that much of a problem.
