Help Me Plant a Chicken Garden!

[new chick 203]

Quote:
Super invasive depending where you are. Around here they spend thousands of dollars to remove it from lakes and control it.

 

[debid]

Quote:
Baker Creek

They have mangels, too.

 

[Nostalchic]

I'm sure you could find a comfrey plant or root if you google it - various gardening/seed catalogs carry it. But if you know anyone who has some in their garden, they could just dig up and give you a chunk of root to start it - grows super fast, very large, and it's pretty, with slender stalks of purple flowers. It's nearly indestructable, you can just yank out a bunch of leaves from time to time, and my chickens (and my horses, too) just love it. Actually, my chickens eat about everything I grow, but I've noticed they are particularly fond of kale and chard, and these will give you a nice long growing season, providing good green stuff through most of the fall.

 

[TheyThinkI'mTheirMom]

Is this for a garden just for the chickens to both eat and spend time in, or one you are cultivating for "human" use and sharing the bounty with the chickens?

 

[CluckyJay]

TheyThinkI'mTheirMom: Its mainly for the chickens and my other animals. I'm trying to keep our feed bills as low and organic as possible. The catnip and other herbs will be shared with us though. Catnip tea is just too good not to drink! We have a large garden for our family/friends.

This is a way for me to grow and document for my blog and book how to do square foot gardening with various species too.

Nostalchic: I'll check the Internet out for the rootstock. I wonder if (Cynoglossum virginianum) is as edible for livestock as European comfrey? I'm gonna Google that now.

new chick 203: I have native duckweed so I doubt it will be much of a problem. Birds will not have access to my pools so it won't spread.

Thanks guys!

 

[CluckyJay]

Here are the greens I planted. I have to get the violets moved next!

Here's some bittercress. The more I think about all these yummy weeds, the more I think the chickens will have to SHARE with us! lol

I stumbled across shepherd's purse on the Internet and realized that is a common weed here! Such luck! Spring and summer cannot get here soon enough.

 

[ray2310]

Our chickens love Kale and Swiss Chard and The stuff just keeps growing.

 

[rolffamily]

Just plant what you don't want them to eat - something you want for yourself. Walla - chicken garden.

 

[Cass]

How deep do you plant chickens?

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

My chickens loved strawberries, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and watermelon. Occasionally they would eat the mint and parsley, but I think they have a sweet tooth, nobody was interested in the veggies like cucumber or zucchini.