Does anyone grow anything in thier garden strictkly for their Chickens

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Just remember corn is like candy to them and has very little nutritional value. Eating of cracked corn is best in the winter because it requires alot of energy to digest and produces alot of body heat which helps keep them warm. During the heat of spring and summer I hold off on the corn completely except what they might get in their mixed grains and commercial feed.

 

[Dawn419]

Chickweed is actually good for your flock.

I grew extra tomatoes for our birds this year. Next years garden will include more greens and squash for us as well as our flock of 21.

Dawn

 

[tpantali]

This is so fun. We give them many of our weeds after weeding. They like ragweed and burdoch especially. They also like a couple that have little white flowers but I am not sure what they are called.

Ours really love swiss chard. We also give them tomatos, lettuce, various tpes of squash, peppers, strawberries (a favorite) , apples, brussel sprouts (but I think the eggs did not taste as good on them as well as on onions), basil, cilantro, beet greens (another favorite), kale and other types of flowers.

We also have let them wander the garden so not exactly sure what they are eating then.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
...yes it is...only now I leave it instead of pulling it up!

 

[amcclaran]

am new to forums, so am not sure i'm doing this right. but regarding growing veggies for chickens: i've had free range chickens for 10 years or so. i always have a garden with a small fence (12 -14 inches of deer fencing) to keep chickens out. but always plant leftover squash and cuke plants in my compost pile just for the chickens. also use those that get away from me and get too big. they are more apt to eat them if i slice them in two, long wise and expose the innards. they also get tomatoes, and have free access to the bottom 2 feet (or as high as they can jump) of my raspberry, blackberry and blueberry patches. i've read in more than one chicken book not to feed them potatos, but there never is an explanation about why not. i wonder if it has to do more with the green skin (on potatos that have been exposed to sunlite) that people arent supposed to eat either? my chickens love lettuce and other greens in the winter when they are locked up, but arent interested in the summer when they are free ranging. - i wouldnt feed my chickens soy since i wont eat soy myself and dont want residue in my eggs. personal qwuirk.