what types of plants to grow for my chickens?

[bmiss]

im wanting to have a small garden strictly for my chickens to eat on....

what types of plants should i grow? i was thinking of growing cayene peppers, tomatos, muscadine grapes...but id love to grow a few more for them...

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Greens, that's what I plan to do. Mine love the leaves of broccoli, cauliflower, kale & parsley. Oh, and carrot tops too.

 

[bmiss]

i have all types of herb seeds.... do they eat basil? thyme? any that u guys can think of?

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Mine LOVE parsley, triple curl and flat leaf, and cilantro. They also love spinach and I spoil them by chopping it up (the stems at least) so they can eat it more easily.

 

[StupidBird]

Mine won't touch basil, thyme, rosemary. But love collards!

DONT let them loose in their 'patch'. I did, and they trampled and ate and scratched it to death in two days. The current patch is the winter cover mix in the main garden, of which I pick or cut servings daily (for us people too). Mix: collards, mustards, kales, turnips, radish, and whatever else the guy at Buckles hardware thought would do well this winter.

 

[wood&feathers]

Our lawn catches all kinds of leftover seeds - lettuce, kale, arugula, and lots of clover. Right now the girls are chowing on a hay bale that fell apart as I unloaded it and grew 6" sprouts all over.

My inlaws are old fans of the wild foraging thing, I have to remind them to WASH before grazing! We only have 8 chickens, it isn't that obvious.

 

[Clay Mudd]

As other have said, greens are great. Somebody once said that the three food groups for chickens are "greens, grains, and grubs". Field peas are great, too. Not only are the peas themselves good, but I've found that the chickens will graze the leaves, but not enough to kill the plant.


I planted kale, turnips, mustard, collards, and Austrian winter peas last month. I'm already feeding mustard thinnings to my flock. Nothing else is big enough, but now and them I buy them a bunch of kale and they go crazy for it.

 

[bmiss]

i meant to ask..... i have apple trees and pecan trees.... will chickens eat these also?

 

[D3invertebrates]

Quote:
I have basil all over and they never touch it, I have alot of little yellow cherry tomatos that pretty much grows wild in my yard as well as gooseberrys and okra to but I got to pull the seeds out for them to eat it, all of those survived the drought without me having to water them or anything. I also this year started doing something a little different with my scratch grains I buy from the feedstore, I find a spot in the yard where the lawnmower doesnt quite reach and I turn the earth over with a shovel and break up any big chunks then any scratch grains I would give to my birds that week or so I put on the ground that I turned, the chickens eat most of it but they always leave enough so that in that spot millet comes up really densely and then when it goes to seed you got bonus scratch grains! Lettuce, beets, and melons are all easy to grow and pothos ivy, purple heart, and spider plants are also things they like to eat in my yard though I dont really like it when they eat my potted plants lol.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Chard, spinach and sprouted wheat tops too.