Red-winged Blackbirds Hanging with Chickens in Cover Patch

[Geena]

There's different species of ragweed. I have giant ragweed that's 10-12 feet tall.
Giant ragweed https://g.co/kgs/nGSp5r

Thank you! I had that growing in my pasture and could not identify it. It started as just a handful of plants and the chickens loved it, so I let it be. Then it spread very rapidly and it had to go. It took me three years of pulling, digging and spraying to finally be rid of that stuff.

Edited to add- Just looked it up and found this "A giant ragweed plant can produce more than 60,000 seeds if allowed to fully mature. "
No wonder it spreads so fast!

 

[Molpet]

Thank you! I had that growing in my pasture and could not identify it. It started as just a handful of plants and the chickens loved it, so I let it be. Then it spread very rapidly and it had to go. It took me three years of pulling, digging and spraying to finally be rid of that stuff.

Edited to add- Just looked it up and found this "A giant ragweed plant can produce more than 60,000 seeds if allowed to fully mature. "
No wonder it spreads so fast!

And the seeds last forever. Fortunately everything likes to eat the seeds.

 

[centrarchid]

And the seeds last forever. Fortunately everything likes to eat the seeds.

I had lots of finches and sparrows eating the seeds even before the pods open. Last winter I tried to eliminate seed bank for the giant ragweed by penning game chickens over the ground they could easily dig through. Enough seeds got passed 60 days of chicken pressure in enough numbers to establish a monoculture of the ragweed. Each bird had only about 16 square feet to work over so not a lot of area. Either seed were deep, chickens did not recognize them, or the chickens do not like eating them.

 

[Molpet]

I had lots of finches and sparrows eating the seeds even before the pods open. Last winter I tried to eliminate seed bank for the giant ragweed by penning game chickens over the ground they could easily dig through. Enough seeds got passed 60 days of chicken pressure in enough numbers to establish a monoculture of the ragweed. Each bird had only about 16 square feet to work over so not a lot of area. Either seed were deep, chickens did not recognize them, or the chickens do not like eating them.

My chickens jump up and grab the low seeds. I'll bend the stalks over so they can get to the seeds. Chipmunk, cardinal and my turkey love the seeds

 

[centrarchid]

Then they did not recognize the seeds, or too deep.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

That's my giant ragweed.

wow! never had known about that, even though I'm in n. America (south/eastern Ontario) thank you

 

[ColtHandorf]

Are you sure it was ragweed? Where I live ragweed (12 inches tall) is often confused with goldenrod (which is usually about 6ft tall) as they bloom at the same time. They don't look anything alike though. Just curious as I've never head of tall ragweed like that

My ragweed is super tall like that too. Over my head and I'm over 6 feet. It's in the pasture and I've been trying to get it knocked down and removed. It's awful.

 

[Geena]

My ragweed is super tall like that too. Over my head and I'm over 6 feet. It's in the pasture and I've been trying to get it knocked down and removed. It's awful.

I pulled it all up by the roots every year before it went to seed. It was a pain, but not too bad because it's not very deeply rooted. I tried round up on the small ones, but it wasn't very effective.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I pulled it all up by the roots every year before it went to seed. It was a pain, but not too bad because it's not very deeply rooted. I tried round up on the small ones, but it wasn't very effective.

I've been trying to mow it over before it gets tall enough to go to seed.