Do you plant anything especially for your chickens?

BarredBuff

Chillin' In The Garden
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
27
Location
Mountains of Eastern KY
seedcorn said:
How much silage are you talking about making?
Depends on how much they eat this winter. It d be for the rabbits, ducks and chickens. Itd be grass, clover silage to from the yard. Just some winter greens.
 

bid

Deeply Rooted
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
548
Reaction score
2
Points
151
Just an idea, but I wonder how plastic 55 gallon drums, cut in half and buried, would work for making small amounts of silage?
 

seedcorn

Garden Master
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
9,651
Reaction score
9,979
Points
397
Location
NE IN
BarredBuff said:
seedcorn said:
How much silage are you talking about making?
Depends on how much they eat this winter. It d be for the rabbits, ducks and chickens. Itd be grass, clover silage to from the yard. Just some winter greens.
You wouldn't be making silage but drying it for hay. If you tried to ensile that you would have big pile of mush.
 

BarredBuff

Chillin' In The Garden
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
27
Location
Mountains of Eastern KY
seedcorn said:
BarredBuff said:
seedcorn said:
How much silage are you talking about making?
Depends on how much they eat this winter. It d be for the rabbits, ducks and chickens. Itd be grass, clover silage to from the yard. Just some winter greens.
You wouldn't be making silage but drying it for hay. If you tried to ensile that you would have big pile of mush.
I read it off of mother earth news, thats where I got my idea. Im still gonna try it.
 

Collector

Garden Master
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
3,026
Reaction score
3,852
Points
337
Location
Eastern Wa. Zone 5/6 ?
we grow weeds for our chickens mostly volunteer though, and always a bumper crop LOL. next year we will try something else.
 

hoodat

Garden Addicted
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Messages
3,758
Reaction score
509
Points
260
Location
Palm Desert CA
BarredBuff said:
seedcorn said:
BarredBuff said:
Depends on how much they eat this winter. It d be for the rabbits, ducks and chickens. Itd be grass, clover silage to from the yard. Just some winter greens.
You wouldn't be making silage but drying it for hay. If you tried to ensile that you would have big pile of mush.
I read it off of mother earth news, thats where I got my idea. Im still gonna try it.
If we don't try anything new we don't learn anything new. ;)
 

vfem

Garden Addicted
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
7,516
Reaction score
43
Points
242
Location
Fuquay, NC
hoodat said:
BarredBuff said:
seedcorn said:
You wouldn't be making silage but drying it for hay. If you tried to ensile that you would have big pile of mush.
I read it off of mother earth news, thats where I got my idea. Im still gonna try it.
If we don't try anything new we don't learn anything new. ;)
Exactly.... ;)
 

journey11

Garden Master
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
Messages
8,470
Reaction score
4,228
Points
397
Location
WV, Zone 6B
I'd read something about small scale silage too, although now I can't remember where.... Just more proof that I spend too much time online. Ha.
 

digitS'

Garden Master
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
26,877
Reaction score
33,094
Points
457
Location
border, ID/WA(!)
Usually, the outer layer of silage darkens and spoils as feed.

This is only a couple of inches but in a small container, it could be a significant loss. I suspect that temperature has something to do with this and the interior cures better because the temperature is more consistent.

I'm not sure if you would want to bring a crock of fermenting grass and clover indoors but . . . fermented foods are sometimes buried in the ground . . .

A farm near my home used to pile ensilage between concrete and earth berms. That may be more common elsewhere. There still seemed to be a lot of waste under the tarp they used to cover it.

Steve
 

seedcorn

Garden Master
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
9,651
Reaction score
9,979
Points
397
Location
NE IN
The way to ensile a small portion is simple.

5 gal. bucket w/lid. Place a black plastic bag inside. Pack material you want to ensile inside as tight as you can. Twist the bag closed so that it is sealed from air, put the lid on the bucket, in 2 weeks (weather dependent) it will have ensiled. Corn silage needs to be about 65% going in. Not sure on pure grass. Most people dry grasses, alfalfa, etc instead of ensiling them.

If you take out what you want, then pack and reseal, you should lose very little to none. Now if you leave it uncovered, be prepared to lose it all.
 
Top