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killerflies · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Galway

Hi all,

The outlaws have had a few chicken for the last few decades and are finding it increasingly less value for money with the cost of feeds etc. They are layers only, none go to the pot.

Putting on the thinking cap, and using the knowledge gained from (my recent) interest in permaculture, I was reviewing some of the literature out there. Some mention planting crops in the run that will produce fruit (that drops to the ground) and also attract insects for the chickens to feed on.

Can anyone suggest such a crop that you know chickens like? The run is good and big, and can take a good few plants, but I dont want to take it over.

I was thinking of planting a few apple trees in there and perhaps a few berry plants.

They are well fed on kitchen scraps and feed but something that can take the sting out of the cost would certainly be of use. (all that said, I cant give you a daily menu of what they get).

I was thinking of planting some slug attractors close to the fence and get the slugs into the run from outside!

Thanks for any advice!

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patmk · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:06 pm Post subject:

Hi I planted apple trees in both my chicken runs. they are growing well and gave a good crop last year.
I also put in at compost bin to clean out the chicken houses and these attract a lot of insects which their hens love.
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blowin

killerflies · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Galway

Excellent!

Thanks for that indeed.

I have found a few other options too, like........

1) Growing Sunflowers (letting seeds dry out/be pecked)

2) Growing Squash/pumpkins for flesh and seeds. Also when cut open, they can attract egg laying insects

3) Growing extra Tomatoes

4) Below are a few links on which others have discussed the same topic.......

But first, this is a viable one methinks.....if we have a suitable insect

http://www.catawbacoops.com/soldi...eap-food-source-for-chickens.html

http://www.homesteadgarden.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3851.html

http://www.lionsgrip.com/intro.html

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/2006-July/024625.html

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1947996

Anyone have any more thoughts?

Id like to give this a serious go.

Beir bua!
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killerflies · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Galway

And one more...........

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

Very comprehensive list.
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patmk · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:58 pm Post subject:

my hens have to pens as soon as I move them I sprinkle whole oats which will have started to grow before the hens move back in. either like beansprouts or like graphs
whole oats can be got in places that have horrors feed.
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patmk · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject:

even Horse feed
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chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

Most has already been said. I have pondered this a lot and tried a few things so here are some random thoughts:
* If you can divide the run and alternate occupation by the chucks you can sow or plant stuff in the unoccupied part, such as sunflowers, maize, pumpkins, brassicas, buckwheat etc. or a wildbird seed mix. So you can utilize the nitrogen left behind the birds and grow food for them at the same time. I have seen intensive systems where areas were fenced out and maize was grown. Once it was well up, the hens were left back in and found shade, shelter, and ultimately feed as well.
* Yes they do love fallen fruit - ours get apples and pears damaged by crows or fallen, medlars, blackcurrants, Jostas, Worcesterberries and perhaps one day also plums if they ever bear fruit - and they also pick fruit that is hanging low. It's a nice vitamin-rich treat but I would not say it makes a real dent in the feed bill and the season is short for fruit. On the other hand, the chooks' 'deposits' have clearly boosted our top and soft-fruit crops.
* They also love extra greens such as cleavers, chickweed, dandelion. I also feed nettles which are very nutritious: Collect a good amount in a pot (whilst wearing gloves!), pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for a bit, then go in with a stick blender and turn it into nettle spinach. I mix that into their morning mash. Throughout the season I go through quite a large amount of nettles that way and it only takes a few minutes. I know other folks who just hang bundles of nettles in the houses or runs and once they have wilted sufficiently to have lost their sting the birds will eat them.
* A lot of the permacultural 'chook self-feeding' ideas were devised in a climate where stuff grows year round in abundance. There ain't much happening on that front here between November and March inclusive.
* If you have a worm bin you can harvest some of the worms for the chooks.
* We have a small pond that is covered in duckweed (Lemna) which is a high-protein plant often harvested in sub-tropical/tropical climates to feed guess what. Chickens love it too. I attached a strainer to an old fishing rod and just scoop out some once a week or so (it multiplies like mad in the summer) and dump it in their feed bowls as an extra 'snack'. Even wee chicks can eat the tiny plants. When you fish it out you invariably also get a bunch of water bugs - another treat for the birds. So if you have or can make a pond, seed it with duckweed and you get lots of free feed between now and early autumn.
* All these things are just nice 'extras' that no doubt are healthy treats for the birds and help in producing tasty and nutritious eggs but at the end of the day chickens are primarily granivores. No matter what, I still need about 3 tonnes of grain and pellets for my birds per year (about 48kg/adult bird/year, the rest for chicks and growers/table birds) and it would be darn hard to produce that somehow without engaging in some form of mechanized tillage farming. I like the idea of the Fukuoka-style grain plots and might try that one day. So far I've found that some wheat, oats and barley grains left behind in runs when the birds were moved did grow well but were always nicked by wild birds before they were fully ripe.

My 2 cents worth.
chook

chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

ps.
Forgot: I have found that slugs LOVE bran (my feed mix contains some bran and the slugs always congregate on the empty feed bowls at night - yuck) so Blowin's advise on laying down cardboard or some other cover in the chicken run could be modified with a little bran sprinkled on the ground and then covered up. Turned over in the morning it should yield a bunch of slugs.

killerflies · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Galway

Excellent!

WEll this was intended to be a trial for the outlaws and in order to see how we got on, and man do I have a list of things to try now.

Growing grains is not really an option for now, but perhaps I could grab a corner of one of the fields and give it a go next year.

Thesunflower seeds have been set to germinate last night and Ive flattened a large cardboard box in order to attract some unsuspecting slugs.

PLEASE if anyone has anymore ideas, POST THEM!

Il keep you up to date with all these mini projects.

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