Search results for query: *

I have 11 leghorns in my flock, and I am impressed with their foraging skills. I wouldn't have expected that from a production breed, but there you go. I have a couple of polish hens too, and those goofy looking little things have a lot of "chicken" in them too...very good foragers.

Good questions, @AccidentalFarm - I fear I’m still in the early Googling phases myself, so not real clear on advantages of the varieties. Please share any tidbits you uncover, and I’ll do the same. My chicken area backs up to woods, with a fence keeping the flock out of the woods. I was...

I've read a lot that comfrey grows really quickly and is fairly nutrient dense. It's one to consider. I may plant some myself next spring.

Ha ha...you'll want to reconsider that...under those leaves are plenty of manure, rotting food waste, old bedding, etc. :lau Doesn't stop by 4-year old daughter, though...

They did...not enough to help carry barrels, but they sure jumped right in and start scratching!

The temps up here in RI warmed up into the mid-40's today, so my flock got a delivery of about 12-15 barrels of leaves raked up from the neighbors yard. There's enough little bits of grass, weeds, and who-knows-what in there to keep them busy scratching and snacking for hours!

Wow, those are some DARK yokes! Clearly, foraging agrees with them!

I’d think it’d depend on what kind and how many other animals, and how many chickens.

The “other livestock in outbuildings” part is probably key to increasing winter forage in cold weather. The chickens will pick and scratch through bedding/manure, clean up any spilled seed, etc.

Yes, up here it’s really more about “supplement” than full-on “independent living”. In the warm weather I see a 50% reduction in commercial feed reduction, maybe more. But winter is tough. Warmed up here today so the snow melted, allowing for a bit more snacking on compost pile.

I’d expect in northern climates, you’d need to supplement in winter...either with some combination of fodder, grown grains (corn, wheat, etc), finely cut hay, long-storage veggies like pumpkin and squash, compost piles, food waste, or chicken feed.

Interesting thread and great to see some experimentation to question the “general consensus”! I’d assume egg production is lower?