pasture planting suggestions?

[gladahmae]

We are considering raising FRs next spring/early summer, and I'm wondering if there would be any value in planting some specific greens to pasture/tractor them on. I know a few places online sell a mix of clovers, rye grasses, and what appear to be legumes, marketed specifically for chickens. Has anyone done this? Worth it? Save my money for feed? (I would probably just get a similar mixture locally instead of buying online if we went this direction.)

 

[Life is Good!]

Perhaps I didn't introduce green grass to ours soon enough - but they preferred bugs/insects over greens. Which was very very helpful, as they helped keep the fly population down (horse manure next door and their own)...not to say they didn't 'graze' a bit. But it truly was a bit.
That was my experience just last month. Again, they went outdoors at 2 1/2wks old for daytime only - and stayed permanently on grass from 3wks to 11wks old.

Now, our Black Java layers - well, they can clear land faster than any weed eater! And it truly doesn't matter what kind of green it is - they like 'em all!

 

[Buster52]

Definitely worth it. Joel Salatin goes into in some of his books, but basically, chickens prefer legumes like alfalfa, clovers, and other broad leaf plants over grasses. They will eat grass, but it isn't their favorite forage. Maybe that is why some people don't see their birds eating greens, because they don't have the right kind.

 

[bigredfeather]

I have white clover on my pasture and my birds love it. They especially like the flowers. They will pick those off first, then move to the greens. I would avoid any type of grass hay. Grass hay seems to grow in clumps, and it creates "speed bumps" for the tractors as they get moved.

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

I second BRF. I raised mine in a pure alfalfa stand this year after watching them race to pick the clover clean year after year. They did very well. In fact, they were the healthiest birds I have ever raised.

 

[lynn1961]

Last fall we planted two different areas 2 weeks apart with the deer food plot seed mix that you can buy at the box stores like Atwoods, Orshlens, tracor supply. There are differnt kinds of seed mixes, fall and spring. The fall mix went in in september, after about 6 weeks the birds were turned out on the first area and allowed to graze it for two weeks, then blocked out of area one and turned into ara two to graze, after a couple of weeks area one was back up and ready to graze again, you get the idea on the rotation of the areas. This rotation worked well over the late fall and winter into the spring time , cut down a lot on the feed bill during the winter, gave the birds some much needed greens to graze. This spring a lot of the 2nd plot was still going strong, the birds and calf have been grazing it the past month and have gotten most of it eaten down, there is still wheat and rye out in it, our dry, hot weather has realy put an end to any new growth. The 1st plot was planted in the garden area after the garden finished up last fall, it helped keep the weeds down, so tilling this spring and getting ready for this years garden was easier. The only draw back I could see in using the garden area was having wheat growing in the garden, pulled it up and tossed it over the fence for the birds though. All in all spent about $30.00 on seeds for it, watered it for a couple of weeks until it got up and going well, it lasted all winter and into this spring. My goal this year is to get an earlier start on the food plots for the birds and calf.Added bonus was there were turnips in the seed mix, if you like turnips that is !