What do you grow to feed the chickens??

[Arielle]

As a wooded area the ferns are filling in fast and have creatd a lush green lawn under the trees. I had a long ago faint memory of the ferns being poisonous. Mostly based on a memory of the slices on my hands from pulling mature fern before putting sheep out. ( Wear gloves.) Buthonestly I had forgotten this because I was focuson the baby ferns ( aka fiddleheads) available in the markets in the spring. SO a good feed postential was what was foremost in my mind. I did look it up-- bracken fern is poisonous. COuldn't find info on any other fern.

I had the kids work on a plot to clear off the ferns before the sheep go in. Hated to toss the ferns over the fence!!

 

[Arielle]

Planted turnips to feed the birds, but we are eating the roots an greens ourselves!! Yum.

 

[Angelicisi]

Lol! Sometimes certain veggies I grow for them do better than mine! I eat their harvests as well lol

Planted turnips to feed the birds, but we are eating the roots an greens ourselves!! Yum. 

 

[Arielle]

Kids harvest several stlks of the bolted spinach. Trimmed the leaves for us and put the remainder in the freezer. An hour later the fed the cold pops to the birds-- no takers. lol Guess it is not hot enough yet.

 

[mylittlechicken]

I planted Pumpkins and different kinds of fruits (just started out)for the family and my birds.Also have different sorts of mint plants, today I gave my birds some, the Silkies not seem to care, but my Polishs went crazy.

 

[Arielle]

Like feeding kids!

 

[mylittlechicken]

Oh yes, and also spoiled like kids

 

[Arielle]

With the amt of zuccini around, the birds have been eating a lot of it. Peck-peck peck. Yummy food. I like to give them the seeds of the overly large ones that I cube up for canning. I think the larger ones hold up better for canning-- at least I"m testing this theory.

 

[Noobiechickluv]

I know I'm replying to an old post but..... I also planted some winter rye in the one huge bed we have for the chickens. I've never grown it before. I understand that it will survive the winter and start growing in the spring. Do you let it go to seed and feed that to the chickens, or do you feed grass and all to them?
Thanks

 

[TXchickmum]

-not certain about the winter rye, but we sow Elbon rye seed in the back lawn late in the fall. When the shoots emerge, the chickens begin to forage. They love the green shoots in the winter when not much else grows. (I keep the hens off of the seeds for a few days to allow them time to root.)