What to grow in garden to supplement/replace feed?

[ABlueRose]

Hi! I'm hoping to save money on feed this year, and was wondering what plants I should grow in my garden to replace/supplement chicken feed? I'm already planning to raise mealworms for them for protein, but when I try to look up what to plant online I get a lot of lists, without actually explaining what exactly they need and how much to keep them healthy.

 

[nuthatched]

If you use the search bar up top, you can look up threads like this.
Generally, there's not much you can grow that will work long term. Meal worms are also full of fat so they aren't a good option for long term protein.
Usually, no waste feeders and higher protein feed helps feed more efficiently. :]

 

[Beer can]

Look up red mangel beets.

 

[Sally PB]

@ABlueRose, a lot of people are asking this question.

There are things you can do to supplement your feed, but replacing commercial feed is much harder. Here are some things to keep in mind:

There are a lot of nutrients chickens need in minute quantities. There are certain amino acids that are difficult, if not impossible, to get in plants. They are critical to chicks developing properly. Get it wrong, and they may not thrive.

If you were to source ALL the nutrients needed, the cost would be prohibitive, unless you could get them in large quantities.

Commercial feed companies have the means to do all of this, at commercial scale. Read the ingredient list on a bag of feed. Read the nutrient analysis too. If they found that leaving out X or Y or Z saved them money and didn't hurt the chickens, you better believe they'd do it.

Where are you located? What is your growing climate like? Can you grow some crops to help stretch your feed, but not short the chickens on nutrients? This will take a lot of study.

Good luck. Ask questions here; there are a lot of knowledgeable people on BYC.

 

[centrarchid]

Just turn over some of the soil every couple days with a shovel to enable birds access to what is within. Also make so they have a compost head that is a relatively shallow so you can turn it over too.

 

[Perris]

Grass is nutritious; if you don't overstock and let them free range they won't eat it to destruction. Weeds are nutritious, and will grow without any help from you, if you can live with an un-immaculate garden. Insects and small animals that chickens find and eat when foraging in the undergrowth contain amino acids that plants lack. All the minerals that a chicken needs in the quantities that it needs can usually be obtained from those sources. Obviously, if the ground is frozen or baked half the year where you live, it won't be the case, but whatever wildlife grows there is nourished from local resources, so look around, especially for pheasants, grouse, partridge and that sort of thing, and if they can thrive, so can your birds. Also, if you give as feed whole grains plus peas, they make a complete protein (ie together they contain all the amino acids that a chicken needs).

Most people who use this website do not live in an environment suitable for chickens to gather or scavenge their entire food needs for themselves, and/or they would not be happy with the reduced number of eggs or increased mortality that such a system usually produces, and you do not say where you live or what your intentions are other than saving money on feed. But in other parts of the world that's exactly how many chickens are kept; see e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2022.102062
which is about the diversity of smallholder chicken farming in Tanzania, and the pros and cons of the different systems, from entirely self-supplying to intensive commercial. It will give you plenty of food for thought.

 

[centrarchid]

Grass is nutritious; if you don't overstock and let them free range they won't eat it to destruction. Weeds are nutritious, and will grow without any help from you, if you can live with an un-immaculate garden. Insects and small animals that chickens find and eat when foraging in the undergrowth contain amino acids that plants lack. All the minerals that a chicken needs in the quantities that it needs can usually be obtained from those sources. Obviously, if the ground is frozen or baked half the year where you live, it won't be the case, but whatever wildlife grows there is nourished from local resources, so look around, especially for pheasants, grouse, partridge and that sort of thing, and if they can thrive, so can your birds. Also, if you give as feed whole grains plus peas, they make a complete protein (ie together they contain all the amino acids that a chicken needs).

Most people who use this website do not live in an environment suitable for chickens to gather or scavenge their entire food needs for themselves, and/or they would not be happy with the reduced number of eggs or increased mortality that such a system usually produces, and you do not say where you live or what your intentions are other than saving money on feed. But in other parts of the world that's exactly how many chickens are kept; see e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2022.102062
which is about the diversity of smallholder chicken farming in Tanzania, and the pros and cons of the different systems, from entirely self-supplying to intensive commercial. It will give you plenty of food for thought.

Following this same line of thought, look into trap crops like used in integrated pest management approaches. This a planting that is highly attractive to pest insects. Another version has plants that attract pollinators so they can also be around to pollinate the crop to be harvested. Legumes such as clovers as well as buckwheat can do both of these jobs. In my setting clover has been quite effective during spring and buckwheat is good for both seasons. Buckwheat also does well during summer if conditions not too dry.

Creating linear compost patches in or along garden can also help. The part that has the most eats has direct contact with the ground so deep compost beds not always best for this. Having beds to shallow makes so the dry out too quickly and then blow away.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Agree with what others have said…and really you don’t have to plant something special for the chickens…just plant a little more of what you already grow and/or like to eat.

Just about any extra or imperfect produce can go to the flock, plus weeds, grubs, etc.

If you’re looking at things the chickens like that are winter storage friendly, grain corn, pumpkins, and winter squash are great choices.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Oh, also sunflowers are great for the seeds…plus pollinator support (and they’re pretty).

 

[Happy hen lover]

Sunflowers to supplement. Love love tomatoes a d greens too. Nothing replaces feed. Imo