Hey Guys! Heres my Chicken cover crop mix. Thoughts?

[SunflowerKing]

1. Red Ripper Cowpea 20% seed protein: 25%
2. Sunflower mix 15% seed protein: 30%
3. South Anna Butternut squash 15% (butternut squash x seminole pumpkin) seed protein: 30%
4. Amaranth mix 10% seed protein: 13-18%
5. Buckwheat 7.5% seed protein: 11-15%
6. Borage 7.5% seed protein: 3%
7. White dwarf sorghum 10% seed protein: 9-13%
8. Daikon Radish 7.5% seed protein:???
9. Millet 7.5% seed protein: 11%


The goal of this mix is to be used as a wild growing field... low maintenance throughout the season. Simply irrigate when needed! The grains are designed to be quickly harvested when finished by cutting of the main seed heads and either drying/storing or fed immediately to family or chickens. The cowpeas are for nitrogen fixation and food crop for humans or chickens. The Butternut squash is also for chicken/human feed. The borage is to attract the bugs/pollinators early. Borage is in the same family as comfrey and helps to improve the soil. Also, borage leaves can be eaten by chickens and used in teas! The daikon radish is a common cover crop plant used for soil tilling.

I believe I have created and extremely low maintenance food source for both humans and chickens. What do you guys think? What would you add or subtract? Thanks for any feedback! GOD BLESS!

 

[Solanacae]

Are you going to let the chickens in to forage on this while everything is growing or just at the end of the year once you’ve harvested your squash or . . . ?

 

[SunflowerKing]

Are you going to let the chickens in to forage on this while everything is growing or just at the end of the year once you’ve harvested your squash or . . . ?

I'm going to harvest most of it first and not allow the chickens to graze it. Once Ive got most everything cleaned up I might let the goats and chickens finish off the remnants and start over next year.

Perhaps down the road Ill have two or three of these plots going at the same time and rotationally graze it. I am still in the brainstorming phase. But the goal is the harvest after everything is done in order to collect seed for next year also.

What do you think of the overall mix?

 

[Solanacae]

I’ll start this by saying that I garden a lot but don’t have experience with cover crops. I mulch in the winter, everything gets covered with snow all winter, and then I till in the spring (except around fall planted things like garlic) because that’s what works best for my situation. So I can’t speak to your ratios or anything like that.

That said, I have no idea what climate you live in so what I have to say may not apply to you. First - I wonder about the competition that your plants will have with each other. Sunflowers are tall, cucurbit (squash/pumpkin) vines have a reputation for repressing other plants because their leaves shade the soil very well, buckwheat is also a good weed suppressor because it grows vigorously and densely. The amaranth and sorghum may be tall enough to grow above that competition, not sure about the radish, cowpeas, or millet. The borage would probably be fine. If you’re just broadcasting a seed mix, then you don’t have any control over staggering germination times to allow slower sprouting plants a fair chance.

Buckwheat, borage, and cucurbits are all very frost sensitive. In my experience, borage is more hardy than cucurbits, though only slightly. I have never grown buckwheat, but I had looked into growing it for my bees. If you live in an area where you get frosts, then there may only be a small window of time for the chickens to forage on those particular plants by the time you harvest your squashes. My chickens have never shown much interest in eating my borage, but perhaps yours will.

If you plan to harvest the grains and keep the individual varieties separate, then you will have to come up with an efficient system to do this. Tossing everything into one tub is the quickest method but not what you’ll want if you’re not wanting the different grain varieties mixed. Do you intend to harvest the buckwheat seeds? If you don’t then (from what I’ve read) they will quickly take over the whole plot.

I will say, from a beekeeping perspective, that you’ve picked out a lot of great pollinator-friendly plants, and not just the borage. You will likely see bees (both native and honey) on the cowpea blossoms, the sunflowers, the buckwheat blossoms, and the squash blossoms. Maybe the amaranth too, depending on the variety and your native bee population.

 

[SunflowerKing]

gate when needed! The grains are designed to be quickly harvested when finished by cutting of the main seed heads and either drying/storing or fed immediately to family or chickens. The cowpeas are for nitrogen fixation and food crop for hu

I’ll start this by saying that I garden a lot but don’t have experience with cover crops. I mulch in the winter, everything gets covered with snow all winter, and then I till in the spring (except around fall planted things like garlic) because that’s what works best for my situation. So I can’t speak to your ratios or anything like that.

That said, I have no idea what climate you live in so what I have to say may not apply to you. First - I wonder about the competition that your plants will have with each other. Sunflowers are tall, cucurbit (squash/pumpkin) vines have a reputation for repressing other plants because their leaves shade the soil very well, buckwheat is also a good weed suppressor because it grows vigorously and densely. The amaranth and sorghum may be tall enough to grow above that competition, not sure about the radish, cowpeas, or millet. The borage would probably be fine. If you’re just broadcasting a seed mix, then you don’t have any control over staggering germination times to allow slower sprouting plants a fair chance.

Buckwheat, borage, and cucurbits are all very frost sensitive. In my experience, borage is more hardy than cucurbits, though only slightly. I have never grown buckwheat, but I had looked into growing it for my bees. If you live in an area where you get frosts, then there may only be a small window of time for the chickens to forage on those particular plants by the time you harvest your squashes. My chickens have never shown much interest in eating my borage, but perhaps yours will.

If you plan to harvest the grains and keep the individual varieties separate, then you will have to come up with an efficient system to do this. Tossing everything into one tub is the quickest method but not what you’ll want if you’re not wanting the different grain varieties mixed. Do you intend to harvest the buckwheat seeds? If you don’t then (from what I’ve read) they will quickly take over the whole plot.

I will say, from a beekeeping perspective, that you’ve picked out a lot of great pollinator-friendly plants, and not just the borage. You will likely see bees (both native and honey) on the cowpea blossoms, the sunflowers, the buckwheat blossoms, and the squash blossoms. Maybe the amaranth too, depending on the variety and your native bee population.

Thanks for the lengthy assessment! This is exactly why I started the thread. I wanted a dialogue with someone to help me work out the possible flaws.

1. Borage is mainly in the mix to attract bugs and accumulate nutrients and leave them on the topsoil once the frost comes. I also use borage leaves in a tea and plan on selling the seeds on Etsy.

2. As for some plants suppressing other plants... I’m absolutely ok with this. I will take notes year after year and if a particular plant seems dominant I may draw back the seed amount in the mix.

I plan to roto till the field every year and start over. This way it’s like pressing the reset button but adding fertility year after year.

3. The goal is to have a no maintenance crop. If one thing does better in a particular season that’s alright... because it’s all edible for my chickens and me.

4. I intend to harvest all the seeds I can... when and if it’s convenient. Again, I’m stressing that this is a wild, no maintenance crop.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

It may be of value to read up on no till agriculture and see if it’s for you. It’s supposedly great for soil health and may work well in your system.

 

[SunflowerKing]

It may be of value to read up on no till agriculture and see if it’s for you. It’s supposedly great for soil health and may work well in your system.

Very true. My main concern would be the field would be more difficult to plant year after year.

In more detail, I’m worried stems and roots might not break down quick enough to broadcast seed over and get good germination rates the next year.

Admittedly, I am ignorant to this style overall.

 

[Solanacae]

It may be of value to read up on no till agriculture and see if it’s for you. It’s supposedly great for soil health and may work well in your system.

I agree. There are many benefits to no-till. My goal is to get there eventually but the soil in my current garden was previously a hill with sparse grass and poor drainage It’s the sunniest spot in the yard and with most of the trees on the neighbors’ side of the property. So it got terraced and we’ve been adding lots of organic matter to it and tilling to improve the drainage. After a few more years of aggressive intervention like that, I figure I can switch over to no-till since the clay layers will have been broken up and there is enough organic matter incorporated that drainage will be vastly improved.

With no-till, you would still clear out dead vegetation, compost it or whatever, and add mulch so you’re continually adding organic matter. Provided your soil drains well, it’s a really fantastic option both in terms of labor saving, more friendly to the environment because most people use a gas powered tiller, and the soil structure is preserved with better aeration than traditional tilling gives. If you have poor drainage, then you’ve got to remediate that first before you can do no-till though.

 

[glib]

It is a great mix for humans and goats. The chickens do not really eat large dead plants (the goats do). You have to pay attention with the sorghum, which will be poisonous when the temperature hovers around freezing. For the chickens and goats you could add some forage collards, and a number of low growth broadleaf plants (clovers and chicory). Though IMHO once the goats get through the patch, there will not be a lot left for the chickens.

 

[SunflowerKing]

gate when needed! The grainsare designed to be quickly harvested when finished by cutting of the main seed heads and either drying/storing or fed immediately to family or chickens. The cowpeas are for nitrogen fixation and food crop for hu

It is a great mix for humans and goats. The chickens do not really eat large dead plants (the goats do). You have to pay attention with the sorghum, which will be poisonous when the temperature hovers around freezing. For the chickens and goats you could add some forage collards, and a number of low growth broadleaf plants (clovers and chicory). Though IMHO once the goats get through the patch, there will not be a lot left for the chickens.

I am mainly harvesting the grains for the chickens once its all finished. The goats will clean up the rest. The cowpeas and the squash will be shared equally among the chickens and my family.

I did not know that sorghum was poisonous near frost. Ill have to do more research. my plan was simply to harvest the heads save some for soups. throw the rest to the chickens periodically... perhaps soak in water for 24 hours before throwing to chickens.