So I recently bought some scratch grains for the chickens because I was so excited that they were old enough to have them. Then I found out from multiple sources that scratch grains are good for winter because they are warming, not so good for summer. So I tucked them away in an metal storage can to await winter.

Fast forward a couple days, and I had just opened the far run with its lovely sprouted grass and the chickens loved it, but I kept forgetting (squirrel!) to buy more grass seed for the now closed runs. Ah, but I had all this grain stored in the coop, could I sprout it? The internet said I could. So I tried.

I used a small cultivator to break up the soil, spread the scratch mix, worked the seeds lightly into the soil, and watered 2-3 times a day (now we are drying up).

I figured that if the grains didn’t sprout, and got moldy or otherwise yucky, I would scrape the mess out and go back to shade grass. But no! One morning I went out and I had sprouts! Hurray!

The chickens were super excited to get into the “new” run with all those fresh green sprouts! And I closed off the far run and spread more scratch so it will be ready in a few weeks! Yay for rotating runs with fresh greens!