ChickenShepherd_6116
Songster
On April 22nd, I decided I was going to give my hens a little more to do in their run, since they could no longer free range. So I made a mixture of whole oats, black oil sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and sesame seeds, to start a sort of wild forage area in their run. I sectioned off maybe 1/4 of their run using portable fencing and put fresh dirt made from our compost. This is how it looked after I planted and watered the seeds for the first time...
After weeks and weeks of watering and watching the wild birds and ants eat my seeds, they finally sprouted and grew into a green, lush, forage area for my hens. I could let it grow even taller and denser, but I got impatient and let my hens in today.
I could not recommend doing something like this enough! The seeds were super easy to grow... all I did was water them a couple times a week! The hens have LOVED eating and scratching around in it, not only eating the leaves and greens, but also eating all the bugs and worms that it attracted. I will definitely be replanting this when the chickens destroy it!
And after they were done foraging (and my Brahma was done playing with the phone screen), the whole flock took an afternoon nap
After weeks and weeks of watering and watching the wild birds and ants eat my seeds, they finally sprouted and grew into a green, lush, forage area for my hens. I could let it grow even taller and denser, but I got impatient and let my hens in today.
I could not recommend doing something like this enough! The seeds were super easy to grow... all I did was water them a couple times a week! The hens have LOVED eating and scratching around in it, not only eating the leaves and greens, but also eating all the bugs and worms that it attracted. I will definitely be replanting this when the chickens destroy it!
And after they were done foraging (and my Brahma was done playing with the phone screen), the whole flock took an afternoon nap
