Developing the grass in your yard for increasing free ranging nutrition

[LeslieDJoyce]

It got down to 39 this morning.
It must be nice to have a fresh seed bed. Especially with someone else doing the work.
I don't bother, I just broadcast seed 2 or 3 times in spring before rains. Then again each time I move chickens out of a pen.
I seed heavily in the fall too. Alfalfa, winter peas, turnips, radish, grain rye, barley, oats.


All things in moderation. Growing it into fodder may cut down on the fat content.

Now that things are finally greening up, the FF is going a lot farther. I was up to five - 5 gallon buckets fermenting. I cut back to 4 yesterday. Once I'm able to rotate pastures better, I may be able to cut back to 3.

I occasionally lose a meatie to hawks but never lost a hen with a Pene rooster with each flock. I do have a lot of cover nearby in each pen and in the free range. The roosters make the call, hens head for cover, roosters stand their ground.

Yes ... Dad said the crew "did a lot of walking today" when they were seeding the field! The evil me thinks that's great! It was such a pretty day for a nice walk. The mountains were out, there are some wonderful blossoms in the air ...

We had to start from scratch with that field because it was so rutted from the harvest this winter ... nursery stock, which we dig with a heavy trencher. In subsequent years we won't need to be so aggressive I don't think.

I am also using less FF at the moment. We had to cut it way back for a while, but now they're eating a bit more again, which is fine with me.

We also keep roosters around as hawk alarms. The current pastures are well covered, but once the roosters sound the alarm, all the hens run for shade.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Lot's of hides...this can be in the form of piles of brush, small hoops with tarps, strategically placed pallets up on blocks or just letting the pasture get really high and mowing it in strips so the birds are never really far from some cover. This will also give good cover for bugs and such.

If I can't get a burrow ... and believe me I'll be working on that! ... I think I'm going to do single-panel cattle panel hoop coops around the fields ... just bow up a panel, put stakes at the corners, and leave the ends open. I can put a tarp over it for some shade. Costco has excellent double-sided tarps at a great price, three to a pack.

And I intend to plant some fruit trees all over the new poultry areas. The current poultry pasture is in the family orchard, and the birds adore playing in the trees and enjoy the fruit, too. I have a whole list of things I am trying to get, and of course we grow lots of fruit trees on the farm, too.

 

[Arielle]

We have tried. Acreage required is too high to support our needs and we do not have proper shelling equipment. Another problem is goldfinches start harvesting before seed ripe.

If sunflowers don't work, have you found another plant that does??

 

[centrarchid]

MIllet / sorghum. Problem for both is edge effect where if field is too small songbirds really put a dent in your harvest. I have same problem with small ponds that are much impacted by predators that work from edge only.

 

[Arielle]

The mist is coming down already-- husstled to get another pound of seed bbroadcasted and covered with a thin layer of rotted compost.

The traveled a bit further into the wood where DH had been cutting afew years ago and we dump horse manure in the winter--- clover is sprouting!!!!!! tossed on the grass seed to balance the mix!!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

7 weeks is too young to start layer feed. 13 weeks on 4% calcium without producing eggs shells is a problem.

Last paragraph
http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/chicken_gout.html
Last paragraph
http://www.agbiosecurity.ca/healthy...m and Vitamin D3 problems in laying birds.pdf

http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract

Graphic photos of urolithiasis.
http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/02/calcium-mixed-flocks-vs-mixed-feeds.html

This is why my new, all-purpose custom poultry feed recipe is low in calcium (but high in a few other things) and I offer calcium on the side for the layers.

We did not have a lot of success trying to juggle different kinds of feed around here. Dad and I both prefer to have the guys cary and dump the bags of feed, and between us we never managed to get the help to care which kind of feed they put in which feed bin, or which feed bin they scooped out of if they were helping distribute feed. So we decided to go "all-purpose" with the feed.

Interestingly, the guys who help are GREAT at understanding supplements and mixing feed with scratch (which we do for the ducks), but to them "feed is feed."

 

[LindaB220]

7 weeks is too young to start layer feed. 13 weeks on 4% calcium without producing eggs shells is a problem.

Last paragraph
http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/chicken_gout.html
Last paragraph
http://www.agbiosecurity.ca/healthy...m and Vitamin D3 problems in laying birds.pdf

http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract

Graphic photos of urolithiasis.
http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/UrolithiasisChina.pdf

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/02/calcium-mixed-flocks-vs-mixed-feeds.html

Thank you so much for your help and concern. I will definitely bump it back to about 10% of my feeding mix. I also will use wheat, rolled oats, rice bran and scratch. I'll be keeping it at 16% . I just have to do the calculations.

 

[LindaB220]

If I can't get a burrow ... and believe me I'll be working on that! ... I think I'm going to do single-panel cattle panel hoop coops around the fields ... just bow up a panel, put stakes at the corners, and leave the ends open. I can put a tarp over it for some shade. Costco has excellent double-sided tarps at a great price, three to a pack.

And I intend to plant some fruit trees all over the new poultry areas. The current poultry pasture is in the family orchard, and the birds adore playing in the trees and enjoy the fruit, too. I have a whole list of things I am trying to get, and of course we grow lots of fruit trees on the farm, too.

Cattle panels have to be the greatest thing ever.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:

YES. And zip ties. Right on up there with duct tape in my book!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Anyone grow sunflowers for the chickens?? THis morning I heard sunflower was on sale-- 50# for 25$, still not sure I heard it right! lol

Right now our 50 lb bags of UNTREATED sunflower seed is $19.50 for a 50 lb. bag at the feed mill.