TOP FIVE, growing extra food for your flock

[Aunt Angus]

I currently grow clover and alfalfa for the chickens and ducks. I'll be adding kale and sunflowers. And blackberries are EVERYWHERE here (they're invasive and won't die no matter what we do), so I grab berries when they're ripe and overripe. The leaves go to the goaties.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

We just took a hard freeze, spring will be "interesting".

My top five are:

Clover (multiple varieties)
Fenugreek
Buckwheat (my chickens ate most of the seeds this year)
Sorghum/Sudangrass Hybrid (my chickens ate most of the seeds this year)
and "melons" (Water, Canta, Summer Squash, Zucc, Cuke) - whatever is in season.

/edit to add, I'd love to do alfalfa or timothy, but we are too hot and too bright, when we aren't too wet. Its just not good climate for it. I do grow a number of grasses, but no significant quantity of either. Mostly Prarie grasses - little bluestem, scribner's panic grass primarily.

 

[ManueB]

I'd love to do alfalfa or timothy, but we are too hot and too bright, when we aren't too wet. Its just not good climate for

We planted a field of alfalfa this year for the chickens and it was an epic fail. Normally it grows well in our climate but there was a drought. It did grow once it began raining at the end of August, but the chickens didn't like it. Only one actually ate it if given by hand, the others wouldn't touch it. It ended up feeding the neighbors rabbits.

 

[SourRoses]

/edit to add, I'd love to do alfalfa or timothy, but we are too hot and too bright, when we aren't too wet. Its just not good climate for it. I do grow a number of grasses, but no significant quantity of either. Mostly Prarie grasses - little bluestem, scribner's panic grass primarily.

Have you tried it in winter?
We have a little bit that's naturalized from some seedy alfalfa hay, it does okay among the grass during cool months but gets gobbled before it can spread. I've wanted for a while to do alfalfa more seriously, but we don't have a lot of yard that isn't under oak trees.
Thought about sprouting it instead but I'm not sure where that falls on the nutrition profile comparatively.

Katuk is supposed to do really well in Florida, and the leaves are high protein.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Normal garden of whatever you like to grow. All culls go to the birds. I grow extra tomatoes and if I skip picking them for a week there is a bucket full of ground drops.

 

[Chickeeaholic]

Pumpkins-chickens loved hiding in them and eating the fruit.
Buckwheat-it was easy to grow and they ate leaves and seeds.
Grapes-they are their favorite.
Corn
Melon

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Have you tried it in winter?
We have a little bit that's naturalized from some seedy alfalfa hay, it does okay among the grass during cool months but gets gobbled before it can spread. I've wanted for a while to do alfalfa more seriously, but we don't have a lot of yard that isn't under oak trees.
Thought about sprouting it instead but I'm not sure where that falls on the nutrition profile comparatively.

Katuk is supposed to do really well in Florida, and the leaves are high protein.

I would argue that FL doesn't really have winter - our cool season is days to weeks, as you know. That's not enough time to establish a competing grass w/i my acres of weeds.

 

[NanaK]

I don't grow anything specifically for the chickens but grow extra in the veggie garden for them. I plant more than I need so they get the benefit of various things seasonally. They also have grazing frames with grass inside their run.

Summer- tomatoes, different squashes and melons, cabbage, peppers

Fall/Winter- Cabbage (again), Collards, Mustard, Broccoli, Pumpkins

They also get a few strawberries, blueberries and scuppernongs.

After that hard freeze we just had their fresh greens will be slim pickings this winter.

 

[Birds of paradise]

This is not a thread to talk about replacing store bought feed with home grown...
This is about supplementing the feed.
Give me your top five plants that you would or do grow to give to your flock to supplement their feed.
Either as treats, to boost health or to mix in with your regular feed.
TOP FIVE... GO!

Spinach, squash, carrot tops, beetroot, grass

 

[wkelly10103]

Fresh corn, lettuce, or collards and turnips, tomatoes, watermelon, grapes and apples. I give my girls breakfast made of the above, sometimes mixed with oatmeal. Warm oatmeal was nice during the cold weather. I have a small garden in the spring/summer and grow most of the food myself, including the apples and grapes.