Best Plants for Chickens to Forage On

[ravenvalor]

Hello,

Can someone recommend a spring crop that my chickens here in North Carolina can forage on? I would like to grow a 50' X 50' garden and then move the coop and run over the garden in the spring when the crop is ready. Thanks for the great help.

Jim

 

[matt44644]

http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

 

[ravenvalor]

http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

Looks good. Thanks for the help.

 

[ravenvalor]

I think I am going to try to find a prepackaged variety of legumes (clover, vetch, lespedeza, etc.).

 

[Soylent Chick]

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is rich in omega 3 and chicken friendly too from what I've gathered from BYC.

 

[glib]

Purslane is good, but not enough mass. The blends are annual. The best forage is alfalfa, high in bio-mass and because it lasts 5 years. If you really want the most bio-mass, plant a fava cover crop in the Fall, for spring consumption. At 5 ft tall, a little scything may be needed.

 

[ravenvalor]

You guys are awesome. I will look these two up and try to mix in all of the seeds discussed on this thread. The prepackaged mixes are more expensive than I had budgeted.

I found an interesting site that has a page dedicated to explaining mob grazing. Here is the link if you are interested. http://smithmeadows.com/farm/mob-grazing-with-chickens/

Last but not least a pioneer so to speak in 'paddock rotation'

http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savo...eserts_and_reverse_climate_change?language=en

 

[ravenvalor]

Purslane is good, but not enough mass. The blends are annual. The best forage is alfalfa, high in bio-mass and because it lasts 5 years. If you really want the most bio-mass, plant a fava cover crop in the Fall, for spring consumption. At 5 ft tall, a little scything may be needed.

Thank you so much for the good advice. Will you please recommend something that I can plant now here in Central NC? I have already turned over some of the dirt in the 50 x 50 run. The chickens are in the run helping me get it ready for seed planting. They have been enjoying the worms that I have been uncovering. Of course I will move the run before planting the seed.
Thanks again,

 

[Sonya9]

Great thread. Just last night I was googling this topic and the best plants suggested were white clover and rye grass. Getting a packaged mix seems like a good option. The run is only 40' x 40' and always has some wild grass but I would like to add a bit more nutrition if I can.

 

[Sonya9]

http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

Thanks for the link, just ordered 2 lbs. I found a similar mixture on another site for TWICE the price so this seems like a fair deal.