I just ordered this and thought maybe someone else might want to know about it. I garden and I have chickens and I've been either giving them from our garden or giving them food scraps. So why not plant a variety just for them so we're not using what we have. Nichols Garden has a seed called Nichols Chicken Feed. It has Tyfon, Oakleaf Lettuce, Collards, Red Russian, Kale, Salad Bowl. You can either cut it to feed them or let them scratch in it. It's a new product and I think its a great ideal so I ordered it and will be planting it as soon as it comes. Here's a link: http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/Files/Newvarieties2008.pdf You order it from www.nicholsgardennursery.com and use the catalog number: VMX635
We have an allotment and grow a lot of our own food there. I grew maize last year and the hens loved it. Much better than the dried grain. I am growing some more this year and also pumpkins and sunflowers. I think that they will love the pumpkin seeds.
Quote:You should read Charles Weeks. One of his hallmarks was to grow green feed for chickens, as is done for other livestock. He recommend the same items you have there- beets, kale, cabbage, lettuce and alfalfa/grass. He also fed a very particular sort of mash feed, which he ground himself. Now green feed cannot be an end all food source for chickens; dont make that assumption. Rice and Botsford in "Practical Poultry Management," 6th edition, quoted the results of studies at Cornell: "Results at Cornell Universtiy showed only a moderate saving in feed cost. Pasture(green feed) ...permitted slightly reduced feeding and a feed saving of 3-8% with no unfavorable influence to weight, sexual maturity or mortaltiy." The point is clear - green feed is only one part of a proper poultry diet. Footnote - Rice and Botsford are long out of print. But if you wish to read Mr. Weeks book, go here: http://www.archive.org/details/eggfarmingincali00weekrich