Sunflowers

[kuntrychick]

My mother-in-law planted some sunflowers this year and was ready to cut them down now. So, we got out there and cut them down and sacked them up and I brought them home with me because I was gonna feed them to the chickens.

But, how do I feed them to them? Can I just put the whole flower in there and they'll pick the seeds out? Or, do I need to take the seeds out and give them to them?

Can they eat the whole seed or do I need to open it and give them the flesh out of it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

You can just throw it to them. And yes, they can eat the seeds whole. Mine do. They eat more than the seeds too

 

[thechickenchick]

I agree! Throw the whole thing in, they will love it!

 

[halo]

I do that all the time. I get a lot of volunteer sunflowers growig under my bird feeders from winter feeding. I let them grow and when they are ready, I cut them off and feed whats left to the chickens. I say whats left because the cardinals, titmice, and house finches feast on them all summer.

 

[melpatel]

Do they need to be dried before giving them to the chickens?

mother her at FCFarm

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

No - no need to dry. I just throw mine the whole flower head and they pick it clean. By the time they're done, there's hardly anything left!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I grow the Black Oil and the Mammoth a couple of acres of them and I just cut the stem about three foot long and throw the whole thing into them...They eat the leaves and part of the stems... but the prefer the smaller seeds of BOSS, over the Mammoth. They'll eat the Mammoth but only after the BOS is gone..

 

[cw]

i thought they had to be dry to a moisure level of a least 15% for winter storage.

 

[kuntrychick]

Well, this is way too many sunflowers for the few chickens I have. What should I do...pick all the seeds out to have until they run out?

Do I need to do anything special to store them or will they be fine just stored in an air-tight container?

 

[Dixiedoodle]

You can just hang them to dry in a place where they can't get wet and that has a good air flow (garage, carport, barn, shed) you could build a box of hardware cloth to store them in--to keep the mice out...