Identifying Weeds

[glib]

they are all quite edible. Clover and stellaria media (chickweed) in the second picture of the first post are among the best chicken forages. Plantain is good too, and sorrel does not really have dangerous levels of oxalic acid. it's like eating spinach. Can' tell what the large shoot and the creepers are.

 

[llombardo]

I thought I had chickweed. I was shooting for chickweed. At least I have enough weeds they can eat.

 

[llombardo]

So do the clover and chickweed go together or is that just how it happened here?

 

[BreanneRN]

Would be cool to create a searchable gallery with common and scientific names plus notes on season, local and suitability for chickens.

Yes, that might be fun! I have researched a lot of weeds, if they are really weird I take them to the county or to the Native Plant Society (though most weeds are non-natives brought from Europe). I have such sandy soil that it would be better called just sand and takes so much water to grow anything nice. Those turkeys like those stinging nettles, though (Yay!).

 

[BreanneRN]

I thought I had chickweed. I was shooting for chickweed. At least I have enough weeds they can eat.

Well, chickweed does sound like the obvious thing to have, but if you can find some Purslane, they will really like that, storksbeak is good, they will eat any kind of grass or clover and there are a million varieties of those... They love common garden veggies, like zucchinis and tomatoes, watermelon is a treat. But they will like the weeds you have there and also eat your rosebushes if you have any...

 

[EggWalrus]

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This one looks a lot like young Poke Salut. Boy am I thankful it grows wild around me. It has got to be the best tasting greens God made. Just remember you HAVE to parboil it 3 times (15 minutes each time and pour off water, then refill) before you cook it to get the excess B12 out or it will give you hot flashes and make you sick to your stomach. It tastes like a cross between spinach and asparagus. And NEVER EVER EAT THE ROOTS, they ARE poisonous.

 

[llombardo]

They got watermelon about 10 minutes ago. The ducks love fresh dandelion greens(got to be there favorite) but they got kale today. The chickens got cilantro and parsley. They all got some tuna and loved it.

 

[glib]

So do the clover and chickweed go together or is that just how it happened here?

not really, at least in Michigan. Chickweed prefers cool temperatures and is more dominant in fall and winter. Clover is strong in spring and early summer. Most if not all broadleaf low weeds are good for chickens.

 

[BreanneRN]

Well, there are some that they don't eat and some they shouldn't, but haven't noticed them wanting to eat any Jimson Weed, or other members of the nightshade family, except for tomatoes... and they don't eat Sage although wild sage hens do (those are actually a grouse). If you are free ranging chickens in a smaller yard, it is nice to know about things they won't eat, too. I have a lot of sage planted. It can look pretty bare out in the backyard after some of that "free-ranging". And sometimes, the ones they don't eat need to be removed... Nothing seems to like to eat Mallow and it goes to seed very young, so best to pull that one out yourself, before it shortly becomes a major problem... I pick good weeds that have gone to seed from the edges of cropland and take them home and plant the seeds.

 

[centrarchid]

Mine will occasionally consume plants that are toxic in small amounts, usually without obvious ill effects. Exception is with nightshade where they affected bird gets sluggish for a day or so.