garden help! growing food for chickens

[Debbie292d]

Have you tried those hanging upside down tomato planters before? I wonder if that would help with your blight issue, you essentially grow the tomato plant upside down from any hook that you would hang like a hanging flower basket on the porch etc. you get a lot of air flow that way and they're off the ground I wonder if that would help it all!

Yes. One year I tried upside down. Like I said somewhere else, we tried everything. Blight is just thick in this area I guess.

 

[Echelontheory101]

Yes. One year I tried upside down. Like I said somewhere else, we tried everything. Blight is just thick in this area I guess.

What a bummer! Thats got to be so frustrating!

 

[Echelontheory101]

Besides all the great suggestions already posted, I'll throw out some barley, wheat, mustard, clover, chamomile, and alfalfa seeds in a protected area. Then when the sprouts are 3-4" tall and nicely leafed, I'll let the ladies in to munch on the greens. I do this a few times a year.

I'm trying some chamomile this year! Currently putting the seeds through a month of cold stratification before I start them. Any tips for it?

 

[fldiver97]

I'm trying some chamomile this year! Currently putting the seeds through a month of cold stratification before I start them. Any tips for it?

Spreads very easily…. Like mint. May want to contain it in grow bags or big pots

 

[Echelontheory101]

Spreads very easily…. Like mint. May want to contain it in grow bags or big pots

Good to know! I was gonna put it in a container with other herbs but maybe I'll give it its own container. Thanks!

 

[Rillowen]

Hi all!
I'm a persistently failing gardener lol. I've tried on/off for years with minimal success, but I'm determined! We've got 3 acres and the majority of it is cleared, usable land. Seems silly not to produce more than eggs with that space! Last year we fenced in a 20' x 50' garden. (We live in the woods of Pennsylvania with very high activity of deer, racoons, rabbits, etc) I planted a few things but it was mostly left empty and filled up with weeds. This year I'm determined to grow more food!
However... I'm 85% carnivore. Meaning, I eat very little plant foods. I will still grow the basic tomatoes and peppers for cooking, and I'll do pumpkins for fall. I planted some new elderberry shrubs last year and I hope to expand those.
What would you grow specifically for feeding chickens? We have a flock of 10 hens right now and I would like to use the garden to supplement their feed.
(I'm zone 6B and because our property is a clearing in old tall woods, our direct sunlight hours are kinda short.)

Greens greens greens! Most any type of greens for chickens is great, and variety is best. I usually grow kale, lettuce, beet turnips radish and carrot (the root vegetables never get very big because the chickens are eating the leaves all year, but the bit of root that survives helps it to keep regrowing.
The other main one i would do is beans/peas, excellent supplementation for the chickens. As a bonus, all of those are good in partial sun!
You can also pick and dry the leaves then store them for winter, then toss them into warm water for a bit and bring out when they cant forage. My chickens loved that this winter when they couldnt free range.
I also grow butternut squash, it's more prolific and vitamin rich than pumpkin. And the chickens LOVE it, they eat it right off the vine while they grow, and if any survive to ripeness they can last a full 8mo on a dark shelf! The seeds make excellent chicken treats middle winter (same nutrients as pumpkin seeds) while you can make yummy pumpkin pie.

 

[VaDutch]

Sunflowers, Sorghum, Cherry Tomatoes

 

[Rillowen]

The number one thing we grow every year JUST for chickens, is kale.

It's very nutritious and they love it. We either pick a bunch, hold it by the stalks and they pick from it, hang it in the coop so they have to jump up to get some, or lay it in the yard with a brick on the stalks.

We put down stakes and used chicken wire around our garden. That does keep the chickens out of it and usually the rabbits too.

We too don't like to plant much and yup, most goes to weeds anyway, but corn, sunflowers, squash, pumpkins, kale, always, and sometimes radishes, carrots, and beets. The tomatoes get blight so bad here so I bought a grow light and going to try those from inside the house this year, never putting them out.

Have you tried yogurt whey? A shot of half water and half whey once a week, or sprayed on the leaves takes care of about every tomato disease you can think of, as well as giving calcium to prevent blossom end rot. Soaking the soil in straight whey then drying it in the sun before you plant can also help if you arent using potting soil so its in the dirt. (Blight lives in the soil, but can be carried by bugs)
I offer these because it would pain me to not have sun ripened tomatoes!!