What to plant in Bama to help with feed bill?

[bigspringshatchery]

I want to plant a small garden for my chickens to help cut down on feed or just to be able to give them fresh treats. The place I'm planning on using is about 200 square feet. What would be some good things to plant for them.

 

[purpletree23]

Any kind of lettuce, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, swiss chard, peas and if you want something to store after the growing season is done you can plant sunflowers. Make sure the package of seeds says that they produce edible seeds. Some sunflowers are just for decoration.

I would think that in your area lettuce would be ideal. When I pull 5 or 6 plants of lettuce for them I pop 5 or 6 seeds right back into the ground. Until you get your chicken garden up and running you can go to any garden center and purchase some plants. After they are planted you should be able to harvest some in a few weeks. I'm in NH and I have lettuce, swiss chard, beets and peas planted right now.

 

[packmomma]

I plant lettuce both leaf and romain, chard, kale. I also give them our extras of zucchini, pumpkin, carrot..just about anything. I stay away from the brassica family like cabbage, brussels sprouts, and broccoli. I do plant brussel sprouts along the one side of their pen for shade. I will even give them some strawberries once I'm done canning jelly. Free ranging is good too for cutting feed bills. I put up fencing that uses the step in the ground t-post and about 4 foot chicken wire. Just kinda make a loop for them to eat on and move it here and there. I have set up mine so that when garden season is over they can roam my garden.

 

[CluckyJay]

Make sure to plant weeds. Chickweed, bittercress, quackgrass, raspberry for their fruit and leaves, wild mustard, violets and dandelions -- etc.. I am planting annual and perennial weeds. They are really good for the chooks and grow like WEEDS. lol

I am also planting redbud trees. The beans and buds are edible. We have a good sized tree already but I want more for a larger harvest.

 

[urbanolive]

Quote:
Wow I didn't know that about the redbuds. I just planted 30 redbud saplings all around the edge of the woods. good to know !

 

[CluckyJay]

I didn't know until this year.

The beans are edible like snow peas and the blossoms people use as garnish and just to eat. Makes you wonder what other weeds are edible. Our redbud is probably blooming now and I am gonna give it a taste, LOL.

Type in "eattheweeds" on YouTube and he has some pretty awesome weed-eating videos.

Don't forget to plant mulberries too!

 

[debid]

Just so you know, lettuce goes bitter after a few 90-degree days and peas will simply stop producing around that same time. I planted them a month ago and I'm a little north of you (TN). Might be better to go with stuff that can take some heat -- chard and beets, for example -- if you have any prep time left to put in before you can plant. You could plant the cool season stuff in late summer and have a fall crop, though. Get a cold frame and you can harvest lettuce and spinach though the winter.

And, wow, we have lots of redbuds in bloom here. I'm definitely trying them. I remember my husband's reaction when I threw pansies in his salad so it should be good entertainment around here.

 

[seabass327]

I've had lots of luck with corn, sunflowers, black eyed peas, butternut squash, and watermelon in the summer. Depending on where you are in Alabama, I would definitely plant a winter garden with collards and turnips. Also fence the garden in and inbetween crops let your chickens do the weeding. My gardens are adjacent to the chicken runs and I just fence the birds out when the plants are growing. After the corn and sunflowers are at least waist high you can let the birds run in and they'll do much of the weeding. You'll loose some plants, but not too bad. Keep the chickens away from the squash, peas and watermelons until you've gotten your crop for yourself. After the corn, squash, and sunflowers were done, let all the birds eat everything and deweed the area. I then planted the whole area in black eyed peas. After a month or two I let the chickens in and the plants kinda lasted until frost. I"ve heard and read some warnings about chickens eating raw peas, but it didn't bother mine and they ate the leaves as well. Try to plant the collards, turnips, and other greens in sept and keep the chickens out. Mine love collards and if you plant enough you should be able to give them something green all winter. The mustard greens did well for me also, but the chickens weren't as fond of them. I don't use weed killers on my lawn, and if it is growing especially well they get the clippings. I also don't live in a manicured neighborhood, so in the winter and spring I let hairy vetch grow in most of my "lawn" I'll pull that out and the chickens love it. I just make sure to let enough go to seed in the spring so that it comes up in the winter on its own. When I do actually weed, they get all of that too. If its organic and we aren't going to eat it, it goes in the chicken run. They know best what to eat and not eat.

rich

 

[CluckyJay]

The redbud blossoms taste peppery and crisp! I ate some yesterday. Yummy.