chicken greens

[wormwood scrubs]

i have got the green light to acquire some chicken helpers - i have about 3 months before we can realistically get some hens in and was wondering if there was something i could grow in their main run, or at least hanging into it, to supplement their food. i read somewhere that they will only eat the green of silverbeet and that it can regrow after a chickeny feast - is this right, is there anything else that might work.

i will have 3 or 4 hens in an area of 5x3 most of the time with access to the garden as often as i can

[Michaelangelica]

i have got the green light to acquire some chicken helpers - i have about 3 months before we can realistically get some hens in and was wondering if there was something i could grow in their main run, or at least hanging into it, to supplement their food. i read somewhere that they will only eat the green of silverbeet and that it can regrow after a chickeny feast - is this right, is there anything else that might work.

i will have 3 or 4 hens in an area of 5x3 most of the time with access to the garden as often as i can
After reading Juliette de Bairacli Levy's book on herbs for livestock, I got inspired and I planted a great range and number of her suggested herbs around their pen
When I let them out for their daily run the herbs lasted about 5 minutes.
I think they enjoyed their feast; but Chook food is cheaper.
Amazon.com: The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable ...
www.amazon.com/Complete-Herbal-Handbook-Farm.../0571161162

[pippimac]

While the chooks I have known are particularly partial to silverbeet, I'd consider pretty much EVERYTHING to be chicken greens.
The only way I can imagine anything might survive the onslaught in a run is by placing strong wire mesh cages over plants so the hens can get at the mature leaves, but new shoots are out of reach.
If your chooks are penned, I'd say the best way to get greens to them is grow loads of siverbeet etc in the garden and chuck it into the run.
Just checking that you're under no illusions about chooks in the garden...

[wormwood scrubs]

i know chickens and vegetables don't mix unless its on a plate! My plan is to grow something to supplement their regular feed, they will alsp get kitchen left overs if appropriate (no onions, egg shells or citrus?)


i have lots of possums around, i have a secure night shelter, but do i need to keep them out of the daytime area?

[pebble]

It is possible to have the chooks and the greens together, but only if you have enough space and can rotate them around different areas. Check out Paul Wheaton's very excellent article on this (it's long, but the bits about chickens foraging is down the bottom I think):

http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

[eco4560]

I'd toss in either seeds from your chooks grain feed, or a green manure mix and let it grow ready for the chooks - knowing that they will decimate it in a few days - but they'll love you for it.
Around the run - so they can peck through the wire - plant some herbs that they might access medicinally like wormwood and comfery. And close by you might have a stand of arrowroot that you could chop and toss in to them regularly.

[Michaelangelica]

Russian Comfrey might survive if you protected young plants and grew a big patch of it and had lots of water
An organic vegi gardening mate had about a 5 acre semi-commercial veggie garden and she had comfrey everywhere.
She used to mainly feed it too her chooks.
(She was totally organic after her child was born disabled and died young. As she had had her house heavily sprayed with DDT while she was pregnant she blamed the chemical and was obsessive about not using anything)
Anyway one day she had a visit from the chook board/ Ag. Department/men in suits, whatever (She sold eggs and her vegies) They asked her not to use so much yellow dye in her chook food as the egg yokes where far too seriously yellow! She was obviously overdoing the chemicals!
Of course they did not believe she didn't use any of that crap.

[mischief]

Not sure how her eggs wound up Yellow.
Mine only get yellow yolks when they were on grain with little greens.
I found when they got lots of greens the yolks turn very orange.
Ours love comfrey, mustard lettuce, Puha(sow thistle),spinach,rocket,beetroot leaves,cabbages of all sorts,sugar beet, rhubarb leaves, although Im not sure thats too good for them in large amounts,they demolished all the aloe vera plants we had potted up when they escaped to the point where none of them ever grew back.(that was supposed to be pressies),lettuces altough they didnt seem to recognise the red ones.
They didnt like fennel, dill, nz spinach.

[eco4560]

Aloe Vera? I would have thought that to be chook proof!

[mischief]

No they completely ate it down to the potting mix GONE for good.
I finally got around to replacing it afew months ago and I make sure its kept in the porch where they cant see it or get it.
When it gets bigger I'll dole it out.
They ate 2 dozen plants in one day

[pebble]

Did you notice anything different about their poo that day 8-)

[mischief]

Not noticibly no

[floot]

Hello all,

Chickens can consume/destroy most plants and herbs if left unattended.

I would recommend amaranth as an easy to grow plant that chooks adore and can withstand the occasional ravaging and spring back. Rocket, I have found, is some sorta super chook food often bringing chooks back to lay that were way past their use-by laying date. At present I don't have any rocket growing [I should follow my own advice] but will get some in very soon. I always have amaranth around their pen and even though the chooks are out daily it is hanging in there. This is the wild type of amaranth but next time I see the seeds for the pretty coloured type I will buy some and scatter it around.

The amaranth is also gladly consumed by my pigeons 'snap and carry' and my sheep when they get around the chookpen.

Cheers,

[wormwood scrubs]

i was thinking now that i would turn the hen house roof in to a garden bed, its high enough that they couldn't get to it, and grow some of their food right there with them.
i planned to put in amaranth and silver beet,maybe nasturtiums to grow over the edge for self picking. i cn put rocket in as well - is there anything else as rampant and horizontal as nasturtium that could work?

[Greenmama]

I can 2nd the silverbeet. My chickens just got out of their run the oteher day and ate all of the green off the silver beet - the leaves that have been eaten don't grow back, but the silver beet will shoot new leaves as long as it is in the ground. This takes time though, so no use planting it in their run, they will eat it all in a day.

I think that chickens will down and destroy pretty much any greenery in their actual run - your best bet is to plant fruit trees in the actual run (we have figs, apples, peaches and a lemon/lime in ours) and then line the outside of the run with a vege garden that you can open up occasionally. My chickens favourite greens are broad leafed lawn/grass (which I hand pick each morning from a corner of the yard) and brocolli or cauliflower leaves. We had some fully grown banana plants in our chicken run once (that we had protected with chicken wire) and one day the chickens got through and lopped and destroyed the whole thing, it was amazing, those trees came a tumblin' down!

[Greenmama]

Love the hen house roof idea :)
How about some tomatoes or cucumbers, they love to trail down from a height. Watermelons can be grown on a trellis too, so a roof top water melon vine could work (and would be impressive but my chickens absolutely love them and would peck at the watermelons and vines if they got a chance.

[Terra]

If you run short on greens sprout some grain excellent for filling in gaps while feed plants grow.

[Joey]

plant some rosemary!
it is very hardy, easy to grow, smells good, and is a natural insect repellent!!
the only problem is that they wouldn't eat it... but you could plant it anyway just for all the other bonuses :)

[martyn]

Make as tunnel of chiken wire and plant your herbs and leafy greens inside the tunnel as they grow out of the tunnel the chickens can graze the plants down with out destroying the plant, as well as those try some millet and sunflowers. They'll grow through the top of hte tunnel and by the time they are tall enought ot seed will be to tall for the chooks to reach.