What to Plant in Field for Chickens

[Ellie]

DC that was funny. I have lots and lots of those!!

Ellie

 

[Ellie]

Greyfields,
I can mow all of these?

Gosh, now I have a lot to pick from. It should be something we people can walk on as well. Would that narrow it down?

Ellie

 

[Ellie]

Well, I called one of the local feed stores and he sells a pasture mix of Rye, fescue, orchard grass and white clover. He says it will stay green and something like oats will grow and die.....

It is $3.15 per pound.

The second feed store has this mix: Red, Ladino, and strawberry clovers, ryes, fescue, orchard grass .
This is $2.00 per pound

What do you think?

Thanks,
Ellie

 

[hooligan]

Quote:
Well the following you cang et in 50lb bags at the feed store for less than, say $15:
Wheat
Millet
Oats
They ae all sold separately.

You can buy clover seeds by the pound at the feed store too, and they should have a few different varieties.

Amaranth (Amaranthus) is quite showy and ppl grow it as wild bird food and for decoration so you will probably only find small seed packets of it. But grow one stalk and you will have millions of seeds!

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
No. What you need to do is let them go to seed. That's what the chickens are after. All the dropped seed then is the opportunity crop for the next year.

Chickens don't eat grass. They do ingest grass in their hunt for seeds. But they don't have the digestive system to get anything otu of it. I thought you meant growing forage for them, not what kind of lawn you need.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I've seen mine eat a lot of grass on purpose and it comes out the other end in the same condition as their chicken feed, worms, bugs and seeds do.

Some of the plants mentioned are grown for the seed and any of the grasses will create delicious seeds that the chickens will love, but they will also eat leaves of grasses and other plants.

 

[Ellie]

Greyfields, thank you for the information. I do sound like I want a lawn don't I? This is simply my not knowing much about fields.

I do want something my chickens will love but at the same time not grow too tall (snakes)... something that I can mow and they will still eat. I water and mow these weeds in my field now and they still eat most of the stuff but it is pretty ugly and I thought I could find a happy medium.

I appreciate all the replies and help because all I have ever planted is grass....

Maybe clover is the lowest one....

Ellie

 

[digitS']

White clover is a good choice, I believe. I doubt if you could keep the grass out of it anyway, so buying seed as a pasture mix is probably a good idea.

Clover seed is really tiny so a few pounds can go a long way.

Quote:
Cornell University Animal Science Department has information on plants specifically toxic to chickens.

Steve

 

[Ellie]

Digits, do you think that a mix of the clovers would be good, or just the white?

Edited: it looks like the white clovers are smaller.

This is great, a little more research, and I will have some nice clover for my chickes come winter.

Ellie

 

[digitS']

Ellie, I think white clover is one of the best forage crops, has very little coarseness to it, and is about the right height for chickens. That "pasture mix of Rye, fescue, orchard grass and white clover" looks like a good choice to me.

I once lived far out in the country and planted a very similar "pasture mix" for my lawn. The chickens loved it and I could mow it quite close. It looked wonderful even tho' not quite the same as a suburban lawn.

BTW - caveats are due for the Cornell toxic plant list. For example, they list alfalfa as toxic to "cattle, chickens, humans, sheep." So, how could that be since alfalfa is grown for hay as a Winter feed for cattle and sheep, found in formulas of chicken feed, and enjoyed as a tea by some of us humans? Cornell should probably explain that some of these common forage crops are "toxic under certain situations." Most everything could be toxic under certain growing conditions or when consumed in great quantity. Chickens are awfully good at self-regulating their diet if given a broad enough choice.

Steve