Plants that are good for poultry forage and green manure.

[DianeB]

Sevenchicks, on a gardening forum I frequent someone replied stating that it is not a GMO. Instead, it is produced through hybrid breeding techniques. She was also a bit uppidity due to my ignorance in plant breeding. Hate it when people talk down to me in person or on the computer.

 

[sevenchickens]

I had my magazines confused. It was not Organic Gardner it was a different gardening publication. I'm sorry someone got uppity with you. Perhaps she felt she had something to defend.

 

[DianeB]

Its okay! Just had to grip a bit. I've decided not to plant durana but stick with New Zealand and Red Clover. Old standards that I know how were bred.

 

[sevenchickens]

do you think that clover would grow well in compressed soil?

 

[JacksFlock]

Thought I'd bump this thread from the past. It's getting to be planting time and was wondering if anyone is going to plant stuff for their chickens, and if anyone has had good or bad experiences in the past with some of the post above..

 

[DawnCols]

Ok, I'll go.


Experiment one: Late last summer. Unsuccessful.
I picked out a bag of cheap birdseed made up mostly of millet and milo and canary grass seed. I had a patch of dirt in the back yard where I had cleared ivy from, so I broke up the soil and scattered the seed and raked it in.
Results: The chickens took them about an hour to find it and start digging up the seed and eating it. I put up some fencing to keep them out. The squirrels, chipmunks and sparrows finished off the rest of it.

Experiment two: Late summer/early fall. Mildly successful.
In my fenced in garden, I planted a sort of cover crop among the tomatoes. In one area I mixed winter rye with crimson clover. In another area I mixed oats with white clover. In another area I mixed some of the leftover birdseed from experiment one with white clover.
Results: I got a lot of seedlings throughout all areas. It was very popular with the local wildlife. Once it was clear nothing was going to make it to full growth, I started letting the chickens in for supervised foraging time. They seemed to enjoy picking through the remaining growth almost as much as digging for worms in the mulched paths. The birdseed and clover area was the only area with green left when frost hit. Patches of clover (and a little bit of mystery plant) survived through the occassional foraging over the winter. There is a tiny bit of clover that is still growing there.

Experiment three: Early spring. Still ongoing.
I built a 4 four foot square frame from decking material that was on sale. I stretched chicken wire over the top. I covered that with bird netting. I planted the bare patch from experiment one with a mixture of naked oats, crimson clover, and a couple rows of field peas. I covered the patch with my frame (chicken wire side up.) My plan was that the chickens could graze off the tops of the plants without digging them out of the ground.
Results so far: As the seedlings started coming up, the chickens started studying. After a while, they figured out that they could stand on the wire and make it sink to the ground in the middle so they could pick the seedlings out. Ok, fine. Let them have the middle. Then as the oats started growing taller, I noticed the chickens would get hold of the end of a blade of oats, give it a yank, and pull the whole plant out of the ground and eat it. I fenced the chickens out. So far, the growth is about 4 inches tall and poking through the netting, and the local wildlife is leaving it mostly alone.

Meanwhile, I know this isn't forage, but I got out my sprouting jar and sprouted the birdseed from experiment one in small batches over the winter. The girls go NUTS over it. They like it better than BOSS.

 

[RedStarLady1207]

I overplanted existing grass from my lawn which was getting chicken sparse. I bought a permanent pasture mix from Shumway which has clover, fawn fescue, orchid grass, Kentucky bluegrass and others, plus I planted Ladino and Dutch white clover. I don't poison for insects or weeds in the backyard so I have plenty of natural weeds my chickens love: dandelion, plantain, sorrell, chickweed, bloody dock,wild strawberries clovers, red creeping fescue, annual rye, some type of pea that gets tiny purple flowers (bees like it also), and other weeds I don't know what they are. the tall fescues in the Shumway mix I will mow over when it gets too tall. Only the back 1/3 of the yard was planted with the permanent pasture mix. I wish my prevailing winds went the other way so the other part of the backyard (with all the naturally occuring weeds for this area) would blow seed into the back 1/3! I now have to transport dandelion seeds on purpose but the chickens love it. I think their favorites is grass of any kind, followed by clover, chickweed, young plantain leaves. They also eat Virginia creeper and American bittersweet leaves off the low part of the vines they can reach.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

We actually do 2 raised beds, fodder, and hydropononicly grown greens. for our birds. The beds overflow with purslane,alfalfa, mache, mizuna, strawberry spinach,camelina, crimson clover, chuffa, and an edible flower mix. The fodder trays are filled with wheatgrass, a grain mix, and a bean mix. For the freezing winter we grow whatever greens, spinach, chard, or other leafy plants hydroponicly inside of our kitchen. We do offer feed. We do our best to feed organic and non-gmo plants and feed to our family and animals. Feed is goven mostly in the winter to help keep them warm. Does anyone else do anything similar? People look at us strangely when we tell them what our birds eat. They want to know how we keep them healthy, laying, and so big.

 

[Bine]

I have a mix flock mostly d'Anvers, so they are no big diggers, but I have from time to time problems with birds of prey and a very dense clay soil. I plant horse reddish for cover and nasturtium for feed. The horse reddish with its deep roots and big leaves is very "chicken restistent" and they love to hide in it. The nasturtium has always a little protection like a big plastic bottle, so the chickens can not destroy it and only pick on the longer twines and of course the green flys. Green fly seem to like nasturtium. Both plants produce a natural antibiotic and don't need much attation from the gardener.

 

[Jim Phelps]

I have grown (am growing) clover and other crops in 2 X 4 frames made of 2 X 6's and covered with 1 X 2 welded wire. Works well. The hens walk on the wire without weighing it down which protects the greens. As the green crops grow through the wire, the hens eat the tips which are quickly replaced. Haven't tried the field peas. Thanks for the idea. That is this week's project. Time to replace some spent clover. I have four frames which I place in pairs side by side about the run. Easier to move to new areas as they are planted. Any other ideas for warm weather green crops in the south? I have read cautions about using buckwheat.