Fresh Grass

[OldChurchEggery1]

It's true for most lettuces. You can confirm this at the store because packaged vegetables are required to have nutritional content posted. A serving of romaine lettuce, which was 2 cups per the last bagged lettuce I bought, contained only 47 calories. For two whole cups. That means your chickens are filling their crops with something that likely provides less caloric energy than it takes to digest.

 

[Lund Poultry]

Grass is GREAT for chickens, but when feeding grass to chickens you have to be careful because when you are feeding chickens grass it is usually way to long and will (sometimes) cause impacted crops. I usually pull buckets full of grass then use a scissors and cut it up into little tiny pieces. I had a friend feeding lettuce to her swans all winter thinking she was doing them a good thing because all summer they eat stuff out of there ponds. Well half way through winter when the swans were near death because of malnutrition she figured it out (thank gosh)

 

[BlazeJester]

You can use alfalfa cubes or pellets (they will eat the whole hay too) soaked in water - alfalfa is one of the more nutrient-rich grasses available. You can get a 50lb bag of pellets or cubes for about $8 at TSC - that's just my local price. It'll vary around $10.

Not actually edited. Durrrrrr.

 

[allpeepedout]

Quote:
While this may be true of lettuce, many other types of greens provide an incredible source of nutrients with those low calories, such as vit a, vit K, and all sorts of powerful phytonutrients that can reduce cancer and inflammation. I raised a fall crop of cauliflower to feed the huge leaves to my small flock. They go crazy for it, it's a super healthy supplement for them. Also kale, mustard, chard. I believe it's the greens that boost the omega-3 fatty acids in yolk. Not sure. I think my vet told me grass itself is high in vit e. I also feed alfalfa as last poster mentioned for same benefits.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Chickens are not grazers. They are seed and bug eaters. Grass is good for them because it has lots of nice vitamins and some grass has a decent protein level. Fresh food is always good.

However, chickens need more variety than just grass in their diet. The only domestic poultry who has grass as their primary diet is the goose.

 

[peepblessed]

Quote:
I also feed alfalfa as a supplement. You can't beat it for vitamin content and it is high in protein.