what to grow for feed

[foothillsfiber]

Here it is. I have 21 6 week old chicks. I would like to plant the run with plants they will eat. They won't be in the run til may through summer so there will be time for it to grow. This is the first time I am trying this. What do all you professionals suggest I plant. Th
anks.

 

[foothillsfiber]

anyone

 

[bj taylor]

i hope you get an answer. i would like to grow a 'crop' to harvest for chicken food, but don't really know what to consider.

 

[Den in Penn]

Oats alfalfa, clover any of several differ ant types of grasses. Be aware that unless you have huge run or protect the plantings, the chickens will destroy anything growing in the run long before summer is over. By the way oats won't last the summer any way but will thicken it up giving everything else a chance to get established.

 

[bj taylor]

if i grow oats, or some other grain in about one acre increment, where do i look to learn harvesting/storage techniques in a small sceanario?

 

[bestpractice]

Look at the post I just put up -- Feeding Chicks 100 Years Ago -- for "recipes". The moisture content in grain needs to be perfect or it will mold. On our farm we have grain bins with dryers to store grain for long periods -- moisture content is critical and checked regularly. You would need to dehydrate the feed somehow?? I'm rural, very rural, and we have feed stores/granaries that mix grain into chicken feed for people -- that may be your best bet.

 

[bj taylor]

thanks tbeck; this will be helpful info.

 

[psycoforsilkies]

oats, red & white clover, rye, barley, alfalfa, you can also buy a really great mix this stuff is really good. from groworganic.com they have a Omega-3 chicken forage blend I tried to paste link but it would not let me. the way we are doing for our chickens i some runs is framing a raised bed like 2x8x6 high cover with hardware cloth the food grows up thru the wire the chickens cannot peck it to the gound killing it. so they have continous greens to eat. In some of my other areas I have the grasses growning in one area, then i just lock them out and let it grow. So we can rotate. for my babys in the brooder i am trying and experiment i planted rye and oats in cardboard egg cartons for them then i can just put them in there for them to peck at.

 

[felidaet]

I grow BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower seeds) every year for my birds but I DON'T grow it in the run. For seed I just plant some of the BOSS seeds I buy for them to eat. I grow 3 rows that are about 30' long. The plants are spaced 6 - 8 inches apart in the rows. As soon as seeds start developing I cut 3 or 4 seed heads per day to feed to my 30+ birds. I leave about 2' of stock attached to the seed head. They eat the leaves too. Don't worry if there are still flower petals on them. The birds love the flower petals too. The only problem that I have run into is that near the end of the season the wild birds start eating a lot of the seeds from the plants that have not been harvested.

Another thing that I "grow" for them is common garden weeds. I have a very large garden, more than 1/3 acre. Any weeds that I hand pull go into the run and the birds eat them up. I try to give them a large wheelbarrow load every day or two. It helps cut down on the feed bill a little. And the eggs taste better when they are eating the weeds.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Clover! They love clover.