how best to feed cut grass and alfalfa?

[Renthorin]

I have a lot of long grass and alfalfa around the house. I cut some up and tossed it into the run. They seemed to really enjoy it but some of the blades of grass are 8 inches long. They eat those like spaghetti and I wonder if that's good? I would think it might ball up in their crop and cause problems.

I tried cutting them up the food processor, but that just made a mess.

Thinking about laying it out on cutting board and using a knife to dice it into inch-long pieces.

Am I being overly concerned?

I don't want to use the grass from the yard as I spray chemicals to control the skeeters.


Will

 

[Erica]

Long blades can be a problem. I snip mine up with scissors but that's going a bit overboard.

You can tie them firmly in bunches and hang them in the pen so the grass blades all point down. As long as they're tied very tightly the birds can snip off sections using their beaks. It's more-or-less the way they eat grass naturally. Doing it this way also means they could take the leaves off the alfalfa stalks.

Definitely don't give them anything that's been sprayed.

best wishes
Erica

 

[peepblessed]

I feed my flock a flake of alfalfa about once every two weeks. The eat the leaves off in a couple of days but evenually manage to eat the stems also. They are brittle and break off in pieces. Never had a problem.

 

[Renthorin]

I tried snipping them up with scissors but it takes a lot more effort than I wanted to put into fresh grass

Maybe I'll try the hanging bunch method.

Is a 'flake' one of the smaller 'chunks' that you get when you pull the twine of a bale? There are like 8 of them or something right???

I was worried that the long pieces in one of those would be bad for them too. But you say it's ok so maybe I'll try that too

Trying to find ways to get them fresh grass, especially for the winter.

 

[M.sue]

We have a small alfalfa field and the girls love it. I have grabbed a bunch and thrown it into the run at times. They seem to eat every thing but the stems. I like the idea of hanging it!!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I spread whole bales of grass/afalfa in the hen house in the winter and they eat them all up. Never had a problem either.

It is dried hay though and not fresh cuttings. They readily bust it up as they are scratching around in it.

 

[cooprunbuilder]

I pick some long grass and other bits from my garden squeeze it together and wedge it thorugh the holes in the hardware cloth put it up just a bit taller than your birds to make them stretch and give them a bit of exercise I do this with my ducks and chickens works really well!