lwheelr
Lovin' The Homestead
My chickens are currently in cages (noplace else to put them out here), and our ducks are in a 30 X 50 pen that they keep pretty well eaten down. So we have to provide all of the greens for the chickens, and extra for the ducks.
The garden is right next to that though. We planted lots of radishes and turnips this year, neither of which I can stand, but which the ducks and chickens will eat. We sow them thick, and thin them as we go, tossing the thinnings to the animals. When they start to thin out too much, we re-sow in the same beds. There's always something coming up which we can toss over the fence or tote around to the chickens.
We also toss them thinnings from the beans, squash, and other stuff that we can't eat.
We use thinnings from lettuce ourselves, and give the chickens the bottoms from them.
I also plant wheatgrass and alfalfa in trays. The wheatgrass is cut, and then snipped into small pieces. The alfalfa is sown thick, and then pulled to thin it - we give them about half a cup to a cup of those shoots per 2-3 chickens. Every couple of days, we sprinkle a little more seed into the tray and wet it down. The alfalfa keeps right on going that way.
Any household produce scraps go to one animal or another as well.
You can cut weeds for them - chickweed, clover, dandelion, plantain, lambs quarter, etc.
Takes me literally 10 minutes a day to maintain a steady supply of greens for the chickens. Worth it to save on the feed bill, because the more greens they get, the less feed they need.
Even sprouting the wheat helps, because it goes much further - it is bulkier and more nutrient dense. You can also boil any grains, which helps them digest it better, and you will use less of it.
We've boiled up large batches of grain in our roaster oven, and set the tray in the fridge down by the barns. One tray will last about 5-6 days.
The key for us was finding cheap things we could grow or get easily, and then finding ways to prepare them that was manageable. I do large batches of most things, so I don't have to do it every day. Keeping the trays of alfalfa and wheatgrass going isn't hard either.
I sprouted buckets of grain for a while, but found it was harder to manage because I could not store them where I remembered to check them regularly. I suppose if I lived in different circumstances, that the trays of sprouts would be less manageable than they are here.
The garden is right next to that though. We planted lots of radishes and turnips this year, neither of which I can stand, but which the ducks and chickens will eat. We sow them thick, and thin them as we go, tossing the thinnings to the animals. When they start to thin out too much, we re-sow in the same beds. There's always something coming up which we can toss over the fence or tote around to the chickens.
We also toss them thinnings from the beans, squash, and other stuff that we can't eat.
We use thinnings from lettuce ourselves, and give the chickens the bottoms from them.
I also plant wheatgrass and alfalfa in trays. The wheatgrass is cut, and then snipped into small pieces. The alfalfa is sown thick, and then pulled to thin it - we give them about half a cup to a cup of those shoots per 2-3 chickens. Every couple of days, we sprinkle a little more seed into the tray and wet it down. The alfalfa keeps right on going that way.
Any household produce scraps go to one animal or another as well.
You can cut weeds for them - chickweed, clover, dandelion, plantain, lambs quarter, etc.
Takes me literally 10 minutes a day to maintain a steady supply of greens for the chickens. Worth it to save on the feed bill, because the more greens they get, the less feed they need.
Even sprouting the wheat helps, because it goes much further - it is bulkier and more nutrient dense. You can also boil any grains, which helps them digest it better, and you will use less of it.
We've boiled up large batches of grain in our roaster oven, and set the tray in the fridge down by the barns. One tray will last about 5-6 days.
The key for us was finding cheap things we could grow or get easily, and then finding ways to prepare them that was manageable. I do large batches of most things, so I don't have to do it every day. Keeping the trays of alfalfa and wheatgrass going isn't hard either.
I sprouted buckets of grain for a while, but found it was harder to manage because I could not store them where I remembered to check them regularly. I suppose if I lived in different circumstances, that the trays of sprouts would be less manageable than they are here.
