Wintertime greens

[Sally PB]

I buy a bale of alfalfa hay. It's pricy but one bale lasts me an entire winter. I only feed one 3 inch flake every other day or so when the coop stays closed as it's too cold and snowy outside.
PS..I am in Michigan.

I'm in Michigan too. Where do you get a bale of alfalfa, and how much does it cost?

 

[50-45-1]

I have found alfalfa hay at farmers who still bale in small bales, but they are getting scarce. Most have gone to round bales. Now I just buy it from Tractor Supply they sell a compressed bale for I think around 20.00.
Also I buy a couple bags of deer carrots in the fall and throw 3 or 4 of those in for the girls to peck at. They eat the whole. Thing and it keeps my egg yolks nice and orange through the winter.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sprouts! I sprouted barley and the chickens loved it, greens and roots.View attachment 4284988
View attachment 4284989

I need to do this myself. For dinner in a couple days. Reminder to self, get the mung beans out of the pantry for fresh bean sprouts.

@Sally PB has the right of it. This time of year, for those of us not blessed w/ my climate (or warmer), sprouting trays are easy and space efficient. Hard to go wrong, you don't go wrong for long if something does go sideways (unlike a leaf crop you are waiting weeks/months on), and easy to provide variety by rotating what you are sprouting. 10/10 can recommend.

 

[peachRN]

For those of with no pasture for chickens, and snow on the ground, what are you giving your chickens to supplement their green diet? It is so cold the weeds will not even grow.
Yes I know that will change in a coupe of months!

Leftover herbs and vegetables from whatever I cook. I had a bag of shredded lettuce go brownish, they got that yesterday along with an "expired" container of semi-dried parsley in the fridge. It was still fine.

The other day I made sausage potato kale soup, and only used half of the kale. They went crazy over the leftovers! I don't go out of my way to buy them their own vegetables, but I have been trying to buy a lot more fresh vegetables this winter for my own family to eat. My chickens get whatever we don't use.