Chicken Garden info plz..

[Tara]

my 1st chicken garden I planted cherry tomato's and squash.the ladie's loved it.. what else would be good in my chick garden?? what are some more healthy and yummy plants my flock can have?? what are some plant's that don't need to be around my chickens? Spring is coming up and i want them to have the best garden i can grow for them..thanxs for all the great info im sure ya all will share with me?

 

[canesisters]

I can't think of any veggies that you can't give to the chickens. I figure that if it's ok for me to eat, it's ok for them - all things in moderation, of course.
They are wonderful for cleaning up the left over vines when things are done - tomatoes, beans, poatatoes, peas, squash, etc. I just yank up the whole plant and drag it in the coop. I figure that any bugs that have been infesting it are a bonus for the girls.

They love corn and sunflower seeds. These are things you can grow and dry to feed later.
I have a strip along the back of my coop that is nearly impossible to keep mowed and tidy. I'm thinking about just tossing handfulls of millet, sunflower seeds, quinoa, oats, etc back there and letting it grow this summer. Then next fall I can cut down armloads and toss them (stems and all) in to give the girls somethign to do.

Be careful about giving them too many treats. You don't want them filling up on treats and not eating their balanced pellets or crumbles.

 

[journey11]

In addition to tomatoes (which they are DRIVEN to peck), mine love kale, bok choy, swiss chard, leftover broccoli plants (after the head is picked--of course, they'd eat that too!), marigolds (stems and flowers) and the seeds out of overgrown cucumbers. They'll eat old pumpkins in the winter when there isn't much else to pick from. I also toss them the weeds I pull from the garden. They really like dandelions.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

about the only garden item i don't give to my chickens is onions. be careful giving them peaches with the pits. i try to hand feed those to my chickens so they don't get the pit.

 

[digitS']

If you put a scale right beside the bag of feed, it's easy to keep track of how much your chickens are eating.

This poultry specialist at OSU always made sense to me with his 15% advice (link). I have had dual-purpose breeds and went with the idea that each hen should eat about 1/4 pound of their balanced ration, each day. They may eat twice that in cold weather!

They don't need those extra nutrients for eggs; they need the calories to stay warm. I figure the best time to supplement their ration is during the winter.

They like cucumbers and summer squash but those don't have a lot of food value/calories. They can have some. Pumpkin become available about the right time. A chicken must think a Jack o'lantern pumpkin is a feast, if it's cooked!

Steve

 

[bobm]

The BEST way to supplement with no more thn 15% of grains and scraps during late fall and winter is to increase light so that the hens think it is spring and continue to lay. Those that do not produce an egg a day should be CULLED so that the producing hens get more access to good quality feed. Also, CULL the cockerals as well as any extra roosters as they are a drain of feed at the feed through.

 

[Tara]

I can't think of any veggies that you can't give to the chickens. I figure that if it's ok for me to eat, it's ok for them - all things in moderation, of course.
They are wonderful for cleaning up the left over vines when things are done - tomatoes, beans, poatatoes, peas, squash, etc. I just yank up the whole plant and drag it in the coop. I figure that any bugs that have been infesting it are a bonus for the girls.

They love corn and sunflower seeds. These are things you can grow and dry to feed later.
I have a strip along the back of my coop that is nearly impossible to keep mowed and tidy. I'm thinking about just tossing handfulls of millet, sunflower seeds, quinoa, oats, etc back there and letting it grow this summer. Then next fall I can cut down armloads and toss them (stems and all) in to give the girls somethign to do.

Be careful about giving them too many treats. You don't want them filling up on treats and not eating their balanced pellets or crumbles.

thanxs great info.. my chickens already mow down the weed around here.. i read that potato's are bad for chickens tho.. but my ladies don't like them any ways.. they got into my garden last yr and didnt touch them..

 

[Tara]

The BEST way to supplement with no more thn 15% of grains and scraps during late fall and winter is to increase light so that the hens think it is spring and continue to lay. Those that do not produce an egg a day should be CULLED so that the producing hens get more access to good quality feed. Also, CULL the cockerals as well as any extra roosters as they are a drain of feed at the feed through.

I have red sexlinks.. they are good steady layers everyday.we only have a red heat lamp in their coop.It woks really good when the temp drop below 0 and as it got darker earlier.. they still laid every day. I only 15 now tho after dog attack.i did have 30. but i do have 31 babies too now.. and we will be doing our 1st culling in the spring...gotta see how many roosters we have for sure..

 

[catjac1975]

I read that they should not have sweet potato vines after I gave it to them-they did not die Read the sam about brussels sprouts-they picked the flowered sprouts clean-did not doe. Weeds are just delicious for chickens. I would not grow them a special garden-just feed them your nightly peelings and leftovers. I give mine a ton of over grown squash. They eat it all and really love the seeds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@catjac1975 where did you read that about sweet potato vines an what was the problem? You can eat sweet potato leaves. In certain places they are grown more for the leaves than the tubers. Cattle, horses, deer, hogs, and many things love sweet potato leaves.

Was it maybe not to feed an excess or maybe not feed after a frost? I'm having trouble with understanding why you don't feed sweet potato vines.