Growing own chicken feed?

[700cct]

In the interest of self sufficiency, whats a good type of grain or food source thats easy to grow to feed chickens through the winter, besides corn. Corn doesnt grow very well in my part of the woods. This is just a curiousity question, as we're always looking for new ways to be self sufficient.

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

I grow barley...it does well here

 

[jsr5]

I grow barley...it does well here

How do you harvest your barley? I too would like to grow my own feed in the intrest of being self sustaining. But I have mostly hand tools only for harvesting and planting. I can till with the tractor (sub compact) But I don't even have a sickle bar for it yet so now way to mow hay. or to harvest a bunch of wheat or barley. So I'm looking for somthing easy to harvest as well as plant. I do have a hand mill to crack or grind it.