What do you grow to feed the chickens??

[1876 Farm]

love the paint job on the coop!! ( in your avatar)

How do you store the fruit and pumpkins until feeding? What varieties do you grow for pears and apples?



Rape just might be a local slang of rapeseed. My kids eat sorghum instead of popcorn.

Arielle,

Thanks!

I have 2 pear trees that came with my farm.. I think they are Bartlett.. they are gritty and stay hard. Great for eating off the tree, but not for canning.

Apples - I have golden delish, red delish, Jonamac, Macintosh, gala, spy, etc... I have around 20 trees.

I pick them off the ground and store them in 5 gallon buckets. I then store everything in a building that is attached to one of the chicken runs. The building is not heated, so they freeze and start rotting.. I just throw them into the coop when I feel like it and give a few to my rabbit. The pumpkins are a little tricky, they will rot and start leaking pumpkin water all over the place.. when I see that starting, I just pick up the pumpkin and smash it against the ground in the run. I have butternut squash stored in my basement.. for eating. The hens will also get them if any start rotting or if I get tired of them.

What can you do with rapeseed?

Tell me more about sorghum and how your children eat it like popcorn? My husband grows it in our field to feed the wildlife in the area.

 

[redrooster99]

i just started feeding it to them but i start it in a flower pot then give it to them when it gets 2 to 3 in. tall as baby plants.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sorghum is not the same as rape seed. I believe rape seed is a cole crop, related to cabbage, broccoli. Often grown for oil, green manure crops. Sorghum is a member of the corn family. If you have a broom made out of natural fiber, it is made out of sorghum. The seeds grow at the top of the plant where you would find the tassels on a corn plant. Broom corn is a common name for it. I've never grown either one, but plan to try a stand of sorghum mixed with sunflowers. I have to try new things every year or so to keep gardening challenging.

 

[Arielle]

Sorghum is not the same as rape seed. I believe rape seed is a cole crop, related to cabbage, broccoli. Often grown for oil, green manure crops. Sorghum is a member of the corn family. If you have a broom made out of natural fiber, it is made out of sorghum. The seeds grow at the top of the plant where you would find the tassels on a corn plant. Broom corn is a common name for it. I've never grown either one, but plan to try a stand of sorghum mixed with sunflowers. I have to try new things every year or so to keep gardening challenging.

Keep us posted!!

I buy sorphum from the store-- bobs red mill brand-- and pop in the microwave ( 1/4 cup in a paper lunch bag, end folded.) Gotta have on movie night!

Well now I am thinking, the point of the sorghm was to have a different genetic exposure than corn. MOst corn is GMO; perhaps the sorghum hasn't been altered yet.

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

Rape and rapeseed are one and the same. Brassica napus - also known as canola, and popularly used for cooking oil. Never grown it myself, for chooks or otherwise, although I've seen it used as a cover crop (much as mustard is).

 

[Arielle]

When I have a few minutes -- I plan to look into growing this. If it grows in this climate.

 

[redrooster99]

around here rapeseed is used in hunting plots but i have fed it to my chickens and they like it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Arielle, it does.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'll have to look into buying some of Bob's Red Mill sorghum. That brand is sold around here, but never seen the Sorghum. should be a fun try! Can you pop corn in the microwave in a paper bag too?

 

[Arielle]

Arielle, it does.

Yeah!!!

I'll have to look into buying some of Bob's Red Mill sorghum. That brand is sold around here, but never seen the Sorghum. should be a fun try! Can you pop corn in the microwave in a paper bag too?

Yes!!! We alternate sorghum and corn. Similar flavors-- grain like but each a bit different.