Growing chickenfeed?

[hooligan]

I love the fact you want to grow more stuff. I WAS doing that but the chickens ate everything!

So this year I am going back at it but with only a few select things.

I think Victory gardens should be encouraged again. I am only 30 and I remember my grandparents taking about them so when I got ready to garden myself, I had to check the idea out, if you haven't heard of them, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

 

[nightshade]

I do plan on growing a nice patch of sunspot sunflowers just for my chickens. I hope to save some of the seed heads for over the winter. They get up to 10ich heads but only grow two ft tall. I think they will be easier to maintain then the mamoths that always seem to fall over or bust off even when staked. Hubby susposedly is building me a root celer this summer

so I will have some place to store them and the corn for my animals as well as a bunch of goodies for me

 

[CarlaRiggs]

I've a Magic Mill Grinder; it's electric with two stones to grind my wheat for bread. It was expensive, but it's lasted over 30 years.

Is wheat a good food for the hens? Or should it be considered a treat? And can I scatter it whole grain, or would cracked grain be better?

Thanks.

Carla

 

[carolinacooper]

I found that cracked grains are better.I feed mine wheat as a treat.

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Thank you, Carolina.

Carla

 

[CHICKENHEAD]

Has anyone ever grown milo? I think its like a smaller shorter version of stalks like corn. I think you could just cut the fruit off when its time to harvest.

 

[Katy]

We grow milo. It's a completely different grain than corn. It is shorter than a corn stalk. It's the round reddish grain that is in a lot of scratch mixes.

 

[CHICKENHEAD]

does anyone know where I could order naked oat seeds for planting, online?

 

[Meesh]

You should be able to go to a feed mill and buy nekkid oats. They are also called racehorse oats, and you should be able to just plant some out of a fresh bag - assuming they are whole oats. Feed the rest of the bag to your chickens. Or if you like to ride crazy racehorses, feed some to your horse.

I know the Purina store here carries them.

Amaranthus = pigweed (all gussied up)? Will chickens eat up the pigweed? I would love that. There's so much pigweed in the backyard. Yuck. Is amaranthus as invasive as pigweed?

Cheers,
Michelle

 

[hooligan]

Yeah amaranthus is pigweed, but its been forever since I heard anyone call it that

It can spread (though nothing like the wild varieties) but if your chickens get out where it is growing they will probably eat up all the seeds, so forget about it self sowing! Its high in protein so if you need to boost your chickens protein for any reason its a healthy addition to their diet.
They can also eat the leaves/stems as greens too since it is used as stirfry.