What do you grow to feed the chickens??

[Arielle]

We have a terrible squash bug problem here, so we aren't getting the squash and zucchini like we used to....
Here's a shot of that rye bed (See that beautiful broccoli to the left?)

the greens are sooooo greeen. A rich green. Can you feed that to the chooks??? Guess not, if you want seed heads. Looks very lush! AN the broccali is huge!

 

[Noobiechickluv]

In our climate we can do broccoli in the spring and again in the fall. I seem to be doing much better with the fall crop....less bugs. I put in 2 beds and I have a ton of the stuff. My neighbors are gonna find some on their doorstep

 

[Arielle]

My BIL invited the neighbors chickens over a few times during the growing season for a bug picking festival-- I thnk the hens were shoo'ed out when the vegies bacame of interest, and returned to their coop.

I will do more kale next year, skip the brocali, rabi, and brussle sprouts. Is there anouther cole crop like kale? Collards??

IT just occurred to me that maybe the lettuce would bolt sloer if put on the north side of a tall plant creating a cooler microclimate with less sun. . . . . just a theory.

How early can you get the broccali planted in the spring-- you are a few zones ahead of me,but even here we have gain 1 whole planting zone.

THe parsnips are still in the ground. THe leaves are not interesting to the chooks or the sheep!

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Yes Collards grew in the snow all last winter. Here in the south, Thanksgiving is not complete without them. It's our favorite green, so I don't know if the chicks like them, cause we eat all of them.

Lettuce is kind of hard here because they bolt like crazy. I did better this year with the lettuce, cilantro and basil by planting them shaded by taller stuff. Cabbage does well in fairly cold weather. Especially the fast growing asian stuff like bok choi and joi choi. I didn't do any this fall because they didn't have the seedlings available at the nursery and I waited too long to start them from seed.

How early to start broccoli? We start ours in March or April depending on the weather.

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Our fall garden


Collards


Broccoli

 

[Arielle]

I definitely need a good recipe for collards. It is not a food I grew up with so I don't know how to use it other than like a salad: oil and vinegar.

Your garden still looks good -- the advantage of the cole crops.

ONe of the aspects I learned from a book called THe ROot Celler, is to use the ground to hold crops into the winter. We humans get some fresh food and the chooks get the leftovers.

Next year more winter squash for sure.thee weeds took over and prevented the sun from reaching them. Not enough weed management!! lol

 

[Noobiechickluv]

Collards are easy. They are not like spinach, a little too tough for a salad, you gotta cook them. Old folks boil them to death with fatback, not my thing. I just heat a little olive oil and stir-fry them. Use your imagination. I sometimes add feta for a Greek flavor or Curry powder for a more Indian kinda thing. My husband likes them with onions and bacon crumbled on top.

Don't forget those big ole stems. Separate the leaf from the stem and put those in the pan first. If you have a lot of stem, hold them out and save them to put in soups or stir-fry. The stems are similar to broccoli stems.

Yeah, weeds. Always an issue. Unfortunately, I have more pest issues than weeds. The squash bugs are just devastating

 

[Arielle]

Can you let the hens in to deal with the squash bugs?? OR are they too hard to find?? OR the girls too rough on the plants??

Tough greens are ok with me. I have learned to stretch my expectations of what food is. My son picked some long forgotten beets,a dn well to say the roots were woody is the best description. Still tasted good though-- just a bit of a chew!! lol The higher in fiber a food is the more likely I can eat it as I eat the low carb way. ANd most roots are NOT low carb-- just the radishes.

I was looking to grow amaranth next year-- for the seeds and the leaves. Not sure how much space they take up though. FIgured if I didn't like the leaves either the sheep or the chickens will eat it.

 

[Noobiechickluv]

The problem with the squash bugs are that they wait until the plants are large and producing. I guess I was afraid that the hens would trample them. It's a real issue facing a large part of the country. I've tried a few things., but I want to stay organic. I'm gonna try DE next year.

Know what I do with all my woody stuff? I take beet stems, carrot tops etc. and put them in my food processor. Then I cook them up with lots of spices and make pot stickers. SO good. But now that I have chickens, I will probably just let them have most of it.

Amaranth? I've heard it mentioned..... maybe I should look into it. Hmmmm

 

[Arielle]

Sand HIll has several varieties of the amaranthe.

Goota give on the postickers recipe-- never tried eating carrot tops.

My girsl are feasting on the lat of the summer squash. Hmm, I wonder if I put a clear cover over a plant it it will keep growing out those little squash.