Creating more nutritious free range for your flocks

[Beekissed]

My clover stays all year round under the snow and under places that are sheltered from the snow. It's very cold hardy and does excellent in a fall sowing over the garden.

 

[Beekissed]

Our place is three acres of lawn, ponds and surrounded by woods. We have happy yard-birds too! A lot of wild fruits like blackberry, passion fruit, berries off poke plants, mulberries, elderberries and off thorn bushes and hickory nuts if any get crushed. They spend most their days scratching up leaves and pine needles for bugs and of course the caught off guard lizards, frogs, toads, snails and small snakes. They eat the grass and seed off the grass and weeds. Thank goodness most of the year they can find something to eat. I too will turn over boards for them to grab all the wiggly goodies. Bee I think this is the way God intended birds to eat.

By the way @Beekissed are you the one that did the video on free-ranging Cornish Crosses on BYC? Whoever posted it, I found it so very entertaining. If it was you it would be good on SS. To anyone that thinks meat birds can't free range the video proves they can.

I don't know if you saw mine or not, but I've done a couple. Apparently that video has traveled far and wide, for some reason....maybe up until then folks thought they wouldn't range?

 

[Beekissed]

This winter just may be a great winter to frost seed some more nutritious grasses and legumes in the yard and meadow. There are areas I'd like to replant to white dutch clover again.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Awesome! I like to turn mine loose after I mow. They aren't real good at catching all the bugs yet but they will get better

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I had to go look up frost seeding... We have a lot of white clover already in our yard. Someone did a great job prepping this yard for chickens long before we got here.

I'm wondering what others chickens favorite yard plants are beside clover? I've got a whole section out back that can be left to overgrow for bees and chickens, but I don't want to invite too many snakes to the area.

@Beekissed, @lcertuche , @Hinotori, @sumi and others... do you have a list of favorite yard foods planted for the chickens?

 

[Beekissed]

Mine also love tall fescue, particularly in the fall when it's went to seed...I always keep Mom from mowing it then, as the chickens graze that seed like crazy.

They also make good use of what I always called saw grass, but any grass type that has a sharp, serrated edge and a tough leaf. They seem to use this for a natural dewormer, much like people attempt to use DE. I've opened up many a gizzard that has pieces of this tough saw grass in it...low in nutrients, high in cellulose fiber, it's not being chosen for it's tender tastiness, I'm thinking. You probably don't have to plant that, I've never seen a lawn that doesn't have it.

 

[treerooted]

I miss my orange yolks too.
Will be awhile before the bugs come back, so it's just a waiting game.
As for their free range area, it's just an overgrown paddock. If I get a lot of chickens though, I may need to consider adding something like clover, but it's a large area so I don't know if I'll ever have so many I'll need to do that.