Japenese Millet?

[SamG347]

Im thinking about planting my whole chicken yard in this plant. Anyone have any expirence with it? The seeds descritption is.....

Japanese millet is a great planting for game birds. It is well known for it's utilization by ducks, but it is also one of the best for dove, turkey, quail, pheasants, and songbirds. Japanese millet out produces all other millet producing tons of seed per acre. This crop will thrive in a wet area but will also do well on well drained uplands with regular rainfall. It also handles acidic soils fairly well.

Sounds like a good plant to me. To cut back on this high rising feed costs!

 

[silkiechicken]

You can try, might have to fence off anywhere you want it to grow as chickies will scratch it all up before it grows up enough to produce millet.

 

[digitS']

Sam, don't feel that you are necessarily restricted to Japanese millet. A few states consider this plant an invasive weed. And, it isn't widely used as livestock forage and probably not at all for grain. Japanese millet is related to barnyard grass which lives throughout the US and Canada so it probably will grow well for you but there are other choices you could consider. I'm certainly NOT saying that planting it is a bad idea, however.

Proso, Pearl, and Foxtail millets are commonly grown for birdseed. All of them have been used for human food. I have grown Foxtail millet in my garden for several years. It grows and matures quickly and the wild birds will move in on it with a vengeance if I don't pay attention. When it is ready to harvest - I need to get it out of there or the house finches will carry it off for me.

A wild birdseed may be a mix of all 3 of these millets. I bought the Foxtail as an ornamental from a garden seed company about 7 or 8 years ago and just saved some seed every year since

. According to the information from Purdue - Proso millet is what is usually found in feed for caged birds. I believe that Foxtail is the type bagged and sold as a "spray."

Best of Luck!

Steve

 

[d.k]

*I got some kind of birdseed years ago and something in it spouted and bout took over my whole backyard. Not sure but I think it's canary seed. Looks like a huge bunch grass bout 4 ft. tall. VERY prolific seed-heads, whatever it is, but shallow roots, fortunately.