Gardening for chickens

[GrayDragon]

I'd like to supplement the chicken feed with homegrown items, and was wondering what some of the best stuff to plant would be? I'm assuming field corn, some grains, any opinions?

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

cow-pea's

 

[LarryPQ]

Yeah, but one you plant the cow peas, they take over

 

[cap1717]

My girls are eating everything except the herbs (and they do munch on the basil, they just don't totally destroy it)! Marigolds are "safe", it appears they don't like the smell, but the squash, peppers, tomatos are long gone, along with a lot of purely ornamental stuff. . . I planted some grass for the chooks, but apparently not enough, as it will now take months to recover! Planning to put another section of the yard in grass, and fence off the veggies and cutting flowers! Ah, the trials and tribulations of a backyard chicken farmer!

 

[jrleader99]

My garden is finally winding down and my chicks love tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, yellow squash, corn, string beans, and sunflowers.

Last night, I actually took the string bean vines and tossed them into the run. They went crazy scratching, pecking, eating and jumping over the vines until dark. It was fun to watch. I also took a pumpkin that I cut in half and put it in there with them. It is pretty much just rind now.

 

[cnj-tx50]

We have just started planting our fall/winter garden here in Texas and we planted extra row just for our girls. Lots of stuff grows in the winter here like lettuce, carrots, turnips, cabbage and spinich. So they now have a say in what grows along with our granddaugther. We grew too many watermellows so they have been having a great time with those!!