Chicken Coop grass and decorations.

[fluffyxx]

Still need some help with this stuff.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Here is a list of plants that BYCers have successfully grown in their chicken runs. Just about anything will require some protection to either get started or to endure for any period of time. Given that you're thinking ahead before the chickens come, it might be a bit easier. Good luck!

 

[Kikiriki]

In regard to keeping worms, many people raise earthworms or mealworms. I have two species of earthworms and have not run into any problems so far. I have only given a couple to the chickens two times because I do not want to cut into population growth as my worms are intended for a business and I need them all to making lots and lots of babies! Worms are over 85% protein and high in omega 3, so they are quite good for the chickens as well as producing those wonderful castings!

If you want to have worms as a sustainable feed supplement you need quite a large population. The red worms double their population in about three months if all conditions are perfect. One hen eats up to 2.2 lbs of food per week (took forever to find that info!) so you can see how hard it would be to cut that ration with worms. There are about 1000 worms per pound, and a lb costs $25 and up from what Ive seen. Initial investment is kind of high, but it pays off in the long run.

If you have ten hens then your feed requirement is about 20 lbs a week. If you wanted their store bought feed cut by 5% you would need enough worms to able to give up 1 lb of worms a week, or 12 lbs in three months. So you would have to have a minimum of 12 lbs of worms always maintained as production stock to sustain them as a reliable food product and reduce your feed use by four lbs a month.

You would have to feed your worms. They eat up to their weight in food daily. You have to plan how will feed them. Twelve pounds of feed is actually a low estimate because you will also be feeding the hatchling worms that take 3 months to reach breeding age and eat more than mature worms.

If that is too much work and bother, you can just keep a couple of worm bins and use them as snacks for the chickens, but still get the benefit of the castings for your plants.

I started my worms in two bins, with one lb of each type of worm in each bin. I used what I had on hand. A large styrofoam cooler for one, and a clear plastic covered tote for the others. It was very managable, and both containers worked fine, except the clear tote needed to be protected from cold more than the styrofoam. (some people keep the worms in the house, but mine are on the porch).

I started 3 months ago and am just about ready to harvest my first batch of castings. I have already used the leachate (excess liquid you have drain off) which is also very beneficial for plants. And if I was not concerned about letting my worms reproduce as fast as possible, I could have easily been giving each of my three hens a couple of worms a day.

Hope that helped! Let me know if you other questions.