What seeds to plant?

[dntd]

What seeds could I plant so that my chicken run grows greens. I want fast and cheap. Does regular bird seed grow fast?

 

[MotherJean]

The seeds will never sprout and grow. Chickens scratch 'em out by the roots unless you plant and cover entire run with chicken wire to prevent scratching. That seems almost sacreligous to me. Scratching for their food is an inherent part of the chicken's nature. A better plan would be to plant some greens in a garden space away from them, then go pick a nice armload each day for their special treat. That's what I do. I also allow the chickweed and dandelions around my compost pile to grow. It looks a little unkempt, but my gals really love the chickweed and young dandelion leaves.

 

[JanetSmithery]

Ditto the "they'll never sprout" and the anti "covering the run with chicken wire comments. However, there's another thread floating around here--Girl's Grass Box--it's got some ideas you might want to try.

The original poster seeded a planter box with grass and stapled poultry netting over it to allow her birds to eat the greens but deter the scratching. I intend to adapt the basic idea by seeding several low planters with mesclun and rotate them in and out of the coop. We'll see how that goes. I'm not sure I have enough unused garden space to seed enough planters, but I'm giving it a shot anyway.

 

[MrRushed]

I throw my a arm load of grass clippings in my run everyday, it looks green and my girls love it. Yum Yum.