Plants that are good for poultry forage and green manure.

[DianeB]

Oh, I am also planning on growing some amaranth. I love spinach, but it always bolts too soon. So, I usually grow amaranth as a close substitute. Amaranth seeds are really expensive in the stores. I think that my chickens will probably like the seed heads at the end of the season.

Can chickens eat fava beans? I though they had anti-protein substances that has to be cooked out. Or is that just the common bean?

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
I don't know about the beans, but the greens are fair game. Typically, people who are using them for cover crops are going to till them into the soil before they actually make beans.

 

[digitS']

I have had millet in the garden for quite a few years. The kind I grow is foxtail millet - it is what you find as "spray millet" in the pet stores.

Any plant that is grown to maturity and for seed will become pretty coarse. The chickens will probably no longer interested in eating the leaves. After the seed is harvested, the plant will break down very slowly if it is turned into the ground or thrown in the compost.

You can allow your chickens to forage only a few weeks on just about any cereal grain if you are growing it for a seed crop. Alfalfa takes at least a year to become established around here. My backyard has plenty of Dutch clover but I notice the chickens first interest is always the bluegrass, anyway.

Root vegetables are often biennials so flowering and seeds show up the second year. That gives you a chance to harvest things like beets and carrots for storage and the tops can go in the compost. However, roots may be high in carbohydrates but they usually don't have much protein. A cooked carrot is very popular with my chickens and they like beets, too.

Steve

 

[DianeB]

DigitS' thanks for the link to Johnny Select. While I was cleaning out their home this morning, I was thinking about using some of the crops as bedding first then composting them. If they are chopped up prior to laying down as bedding then it should speed up the decomposition process. Especially, if it has their high nitrogen poop is added to it. This will also save me money on bedding. It is getting rather expensive.

I thinking of leaving the root crops in the ground and letting the chickens eat the tops. (There should be more protein and nutrients in the greens.) This way the minerals the roots pull up will go right back into the soil.

My chickens absolutely love millet. They steal it from our finch when they get the chance. The little scamps.

 

[jennh]

I have yellow clover. It's VERY deep rooted, fixes nitrogen in the soil. It's also a perennial. My girls absolutely LOVE it. They love any kind of clover. Makes their yolks almost orange. Another plus is that the butterflies love the flowers, also.

Jen

 

[digitS']

That was Chris with the link to Johnny's Seeds, DianeB.

Quote:
Yeah, I've wondered if it would be a good idea to just use compost for bedding . . . I don't know, seems like it's all part of the process

. . . gardening . . . chicken keeping.

Steve

 

[elmo]

I just ordered some cereal rye seed and some brown millet see donline the other day. While browsing around, I also found this company, and here's what they suggest to grow for chickens:

http://www.sustainableseedco.com/poultry-package.html

 

[Organics North]

digitS' :

Yeah, I've wondered if it would be a good idea to just use compost for bedding . . . I don't know, seems like it's all part of the process

. . . gardening . . . chicken keeping.

Steve

Yep..with innovative thinking one finds chickens to be an integral part of the "process".

I am not sure I would use actual compost as bedding. (But what the heck if it is dry.)

Definitely the brown ingredients to make compost can be used as bedding! Wood shavings and ground bark are part of my soil making process. (I live in the woods and those are what I have not grasses. If I had grasses then I would use those. Leaves seem to mat and are not very absorbent in my opinion.)
ON​

 

[DianeB]

digitS' :

That was Chris with the link to Johnny's Seeds, DianeB.

Quote:
Yeah, I've wondered if it would be a good idea to just use compost for bedding . . . I don't know, seems like it's all part of the process

. . . gardening . . . chicken keeping.

Steve

Not compost as bedding. I meant harvesting the green manure/compost crop, drying it and using it as bedding THEN composting it.​

 

[MareeZoCool]

I was so glad to read all the replies to this post! I always wonder if I'm planting beneficial greenery for my birds, or if they are just pecking any and everything!