Does any one feed your hens alfalfa?

[inertsoul]

Thanks everyone! They seem to really like the alfalfa barrel I packed in the corner. I do not have the ability to grow anything in my yard. The soil is solid hard and a lot of trees taking up moisture. We have made several attempts before the chickens to grow grass and it always fails. I do give plenty of veggies (Cabbage, Kale, spinach, and lettuce) but I wanted them to have a supply always available to them if they wanted.

 

[inertsoul]

I've been buying the compressed bale of Alfalfa hay and Grass at TSC for two years. Its got tiny leaves, powder and stems. I wouldn't use it in place of pine shavings.
I use pine shavings for bedding and put some Alfalfa on top and I toss Alfalfa under my Golden Comets raised coop.View attachment 2016699.View attachment 2016700.View attachment 2016702.View attachment 2016701.View attachment 2016705. I haven't had crop issues using it this way. They eat the powder and leaves, not the stems. They have access to Crumbles in the coop 24/7. GC

This is what I bought! So far they are loving it.

 

[casportpony]

I tried adding alfalfa pellets to my chickens fermented feed mix so the pellets would soften up during the fermenting process. They hated it and left it behind when they ate.

Next time try giving them a small bowl of soaked alfalfa pellets. Mine love that!

I would be cautious about feeding dried alfalfa hay to chickens as it could impact the crop.

I worry a little about that too, so I avoid feeding them stemmy alfalfa.

Now that I live in town I occasionally buy a bale for them. Second cutting has lots of leaves, few weeds and seems to be what mine like best.

Mine love a good second cutting!

Spinach only blocks absorption of the calcium contained in the spinach itself. It won't affect absorption of calcium from other sources. According to sources in this post. Therefore, spinach is fine as a healthy treat, and treats shouldn't be more than 10% of daily feed.

Mine won't eat spinach. They are very fond of Swiss chard though.

Mine love chard too!