What to plant for free range chickens - Page 3

I have 50+ chickens, 3 subdivision "lots" and I still have to mow...

Must need more chickens.....

But instead of being an overgrown jungle, it's more like tall ugly patches of stuff that they don't like as much, so I guess they do help some. Last year when I had 6 chickens over the summer, the grass got so bad that it would bog down the mower.

And if you happen to have the odd straggler who is reluctant, take the food away for a day. They'll get hungry and follow the lead of the others to find food. Once they get a taste of the good stuff outside, they'll be more than happy to go foraging even with commercial feed available.

If your planning on free ranging regularly I would plant for cover to protect them from hawks. For the most part they will find what they need from your yard to eat such bugs and plants. Just make sure that the bushes or trees are not toxic. I have started planting mulberry bushes. They provide a lot of fruit and a lot of protective cover. I already have a lot of wild persimmon trees that they feast on in the fall. They are also partial to the red fruit from dogwoods, but the fruit is to high for them to reach and I have to shake it off the limbs for them. I have wild holly trees and have on occasion seen them eating the fruit as well as wild birds, apparently it is not poisonous to birds like it is humans. but I would not suggest planting them for the purpose of food. On parts of the property there are also poke weed that they do eat the fruit, again it does not seem to affect them. If  I find the weed I usually cut it down before it bears fruit though. Certain houseplants are deadly to any birds and you should be careful that they do not find their way into your yard. My chickens will also eat the fruit from prickly pear cactus when it is ripe. My chickens also like strawberries and seem to leave the leaves alone and eat only the fruit, if you have good soil strawberry plants will grow like wildfire. Bamboo is a good cover plant also but provides no food, though the will nibble the top of the sprouts in the fall.

Ok well its been 5 days that my birds have been outside. There dropping changed from the gritty beige from feed to black..I assume because they are eating grass and dirt (in addition to their feed).
However, today, one of my cornish crosses has melted chocolate looking diarrhea.

Should I be worried?

No that is the mustard looking droppings and they all do it. There is a thread on here somewhere about droppings, that explains the different droppings.

CLOVER CLOVER CLOVER! I hate to sound pushy, but clover is a great source of protein- grows easily, and reseeds itself. It is a perennial and will grow for about 3-years in a row without needing a major replant.

What I simply do is follow the tractor around after the chickens have scratched to near bare ground and throw seed down. All you need to do with clover is make contact with the soil (rake it in!) and a bit of water.

Ladino clover seems to be a favorite, but white/red/mixes also fine.

MOWING your clover with a high setting on your mower, actually will thicken/encourage growth. Once thick, let your chickens in and take 50-75% of the clover, and move the tractor. That area will re-grow in less than a month, and will eventually reseed itself soon after that.

MY PLAN: is to have my garden setup next year to have 4' paths in between every few rows of garden space. My tractors are usually 4' wide and will be perfect 'run-ways' that I can take the tractors thru. After the tractor is moved, rake the poo into the soil of the garden for its nutrients.

here are some references for the clover discussion:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=167630
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxic1.html
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Trifolium_pratense.html

poultryhelp cite that the sub-species Trifolium hybridum is toxic, but as you will read from the Backyard cite above, everyone agrees that only portions of this sub-species are toxic.

RED CLOVER: Trifolium Pratense, and Ladino Clover (Trifolium Repens) have MANY studies showing a great benefit to your chickens.

HOWEVER, like all animals, you need to offer a buffet to them with a variety of food.