planting pasture

[realsis]

Hi all I'm planting a pasture for my girls in their run and was wondering if you can recommend any grasses, clovers, or legumes that would be good for chickens to eat. So far I have planted a white clover, a red clover, buckwheat, and trefoil. Can you recommend any thing else that might be good for chickens to graze on? Thanks so much

 

[Morninglory709]

I have been looking into this for a while. I am limited where I live. I am at 7000 feet elevation and zone 5. So I tried quinoa last year. Not very sucessful. This year I am trying camelina. It is up already. Seems to do well in cold climates and is drought tolerant. We will see. Check out camelina, it is high on oil and chickens like it. It also contains omega 3.

 

[realsis]

Thank you so much I will. I'm not sure of my planting zone. I live in california about 1 and a half hours away from Los Angeles. In a small valley town. I'm thinking I'm zone 9. It gets extremely hot here. 115 to 118 degrees is not unusual in the summers but the run I'm planting is shaded so I'm hoping the clover will do well. I've grown the buckwheat before and it does well. I had a chicken forage mix I went off of for ideas on planting. But I need more ideas as I don't want only buckwheat and clover. I will definitely look into camelina. I wonder if it would do well in such heat? Do you know? When it's in the 118 degree range I won't let my birds outside. It's just too hot. They stay inside in a room I've made for them. I have silkies and that's just too hot.in fact the room I have for them inside has a fan above them for the inside.so if you know of any heat tolerant plants let me know. I'll let them out in the cooler evenings to graze. Thanks for your help

 

[TheEggCollecter]

I have been planting oats for pasture. Throw oat seed down in the run. The chickens will eat some and whatever they don't will turn into grass.

 

[Morninglory709]

It might be too hot for you to grow camelina. Maybe in the winter time. Quinoa might work better for you in California. I haven't researched growing food for chickies in warm weather. Surely there is information out there for you. Good luck!

 

[bustedchicks]

maybe some legumes. might not do well with the quinoa, maybe too hot. what about prickly pears? I heard they are high in vitamins.

 

[realsis]

I'll look into that. Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[realsis]

I just went out to water my clover and it's sprouting!! It only took about four days! As I said I mixed the pasture blend from peaceful Vally and added white, red, and strawberry clover. Today it is sprouting! The clover is fairly easy to grow it just takes seed to soil contact and you can't let the seeds dry out in between watering. I was wondering how long it would take to sprout but I guess it only takes about four days. I also planted buckwheat but do not see any sprouts yet. I hope it grows in fast. Can't wait to let them graze!

 

[TheEggCollecter]

Sweet!

 

[bustedchicks]

Just planted a row of buckwheat in my garden . I feel it will be more successful if I soak it overnight then planted in the ground