Growing your own feed

[rmonge00]

Hi everyone.

I am about to get a flock of chickens and am interested in growing my own feed. I will also be letting them pasture and feeding them my kitchen scraps. What should I grow to round off their diet? Sunflower seeds? Corn?

Thanks for the suggestions!

Ryan

 

[Denninmi]

Well, if you have the ability to grow it in enough quantity, some of the easiest and most productive things would be corn, amaranth, potatoes, alfalfa, field peas, millet, sorghum/milo, sugar beets/mangles, carrots, squash/pumpkins, and various leafy greens -- collards and kale and turnip/mustard greens are good because they're so hardy.

 

[flowerchild59]

I plan to do about 1/2 acre of sunflower seeds for wild life, and I will pick alot of the heads to toss to the girls all winter long. Nothing is prettier than a field of sunflowers anyway and I look forward to it this summer.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Agreed, but you forgot Quinoa as well. Very hardy, VERY nutritious.

Some others that are easy are Oats, Tef (actually a good plant to grow for foraging on too) and flax.

 

[greenriver]

I did a germination test on the BOSS seeds you buy for feeding to wild birds and almost all germinated. Will be planting some this year.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Corn and potatoes are not that good for chooks or for us. Too starchy. Some is ok, but not lots. I give mine excess garden produce such as anything that is spotted, etc. I also plant grape tomatoes for them. They put out until around Oct-Nov here in Tenn. I plan to plant 4 in their run this spring. Will keep them protected with chicken wire until they get full, then just remove the chicken wire and let them plunder the plants at will. I know a guy who has two mulberry trees in his run. He says his chooks climb up into the tree and eat the mulberries all of the time. He even has an occasional escapee that will fly out of the top.

I give mine sweet potatoes in the fall. They love them. Sunflowers are an excellent idea. They do attract squirrels tho. I am going to plant a lot this year for a supplement treat for my chooks. They love clover too of every type. If you plant that for a cover crop somewhere, you can pick them a bucket full any time. They will devour it. Mine eat all manner of broadleaf weeds, including dandelions and others. They eat the roots too. I give them all the weeds that I pull from my shrub beds. I grow melons of all types and they get every melon rind including cantaloupe. They devour every bit of it.

I use grass clippings exclusively for litter and nests. They love it and it is free and smells great. I just dump it inside the coop and they root thru it and spread it for me.

gerry

 

[AnaD]

We planted some chicken forage for our new flock consisting of: 20% Common Flax, 5% Ladino Clover, 5% Birdsfoot Broadleaf Trefoil, 10% Non-dormant Alfalfa, 20% Red Cowpeas, and 40% Buckwheat.
from:
http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html