Help Me Plant a Chicken Garden!

[menageriemama]

Just a small note- my chickens ignore my tomatoes and go straight for the peppers. Jalapeno, bell etc... Makes me

 

[CluckyJay]

I'll remember to plant peppers for them. I planted some black pearl peppers, maybe they'll like those!

What about planting a bag of cheap wild birdseed in a sunny area?

 

[debid]

Quote:
Hang on... let me absorb this for a moment. You want to plant dandelions?! Do you not already have them in abundance? At any rate, I've seen them growing just about on top of each other so I wouldn't worry too much about spacing. And, unless you pick off the flowers, the seed heads tend to turn the neat and tidy patch into, well, something like my yard.

 

[debid]

Quote:
Sure! Or just hang up a bird feeder over the area you're planting and you'll have all sorts of fun going on underneath. As a bonus, fallen seed also attracts insects like crickets!

 

[CluckyJay]

lol Debid!

Yea, I am planting them. Its good for the chickens and us. We have tons growing in the lawn but DH mows them to the ground. I wanna take care of them so we can have really nice greens, blossoms and seeds. I wanted to try that dandelion root coffee too. I think I will throw seeds in the pen and cover them with a milk crate. It should keep the hens at bay until the seeds grow up a bit. Maybe I can just let them grow through the milk crates so they don't kill the plants. Hmmm.

Here they are planted. Bitter cress, dandelion and either leaf lettuce or some other lettuce-like weed. lol

When I am done the bed will contain over several hundred edible weed plants all dug from our lawn and in the about-to-be-tilled veggie garden.

Did I mention the BEES? The honey bees love these early bloomers!

 

[bluema]

CluckyJay,

Did you end up figuring out what your lettuce looking weeds are?
I'm not sure if you've let yours flower or not, but they look like one of the Erigeron genus, or Daisy Fleabane.
They're not toxic, and you may be able to tell exactly what they are if you look around your property for the mother/flowering plants' leaves.
http://www.friendsofeloisebutler.org/pages/photosubpages/daisyfleabanedetail.html

 

[flockanuts]

The funniest jumping chickens I have seen is when mine are chasing grasshoppers!! They all go CRAZY!!!!!

 

[write2caroline]

I tried to plant a regular garden and the clucks cleaned it out in about a week. It was okay but I don't give them access to the actual garden anymore but I still toss them carrot tops and the stuff I trim off of veggies. They do love to forage.

Caroline