Naturally feeding a herd: poultry food with fresh green
Covering the cover
I love cover cultivation. If you like puzzles or chess, you too: Despite the challenges related to the withdrawal of Go-Gorning in space (a garden, which is simultaneously used to grow food), and sometimes (for all four seasons)-the maximization of covering the crop cultivation throughout the year provides so much improvement of soil fertility and invoice that you should not miss any opportunity in the covering.
Fortunately, ground cover crops can perform double duties because green feed for the herd. We can cut the greenery to move to the herd – quickly grows back – or let the chicken to plants when they eat.
Note that I no longer turn back to the cultivation of crops – Mustards, Lust, Raab, kale, rape, Velcro – as separate garden crops: I just get them as autumn falls, and for everyone there is a lot of gracious – a nutritional network of soil, our poultry and us.
Weeds
A collection of covers, haute kitchen dishes for a mixed herd. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Long.
Weeds can annoy gardeners and landscapes, they determined that nothing was growing in their place, but they did not plant, but Many wild plants with their own mind make a valuable contribution to a flock of nutrition; And some (dandelion flies, lamb’s quarter, nettle, brawl, yellow doka) are higher in protein than alfalfa. Poultry is pleased with everyone.
Let’s take a dandelion, whose deaths of millions of dollars are dedicated every year, but as nutritious as cooked or salad that granulomas capture him as lintel and healing.
In addition, it is a vigorous battery: His taproot grows into a deep sub -circuit and mineral mines, especially calcium, which provides more shallow plants. (Both fertility plants discussed on the previous page – Comfrey and Nettle – are also vigorous batteries.)
Things to be considered with weeds
Of course, such friends may not be also welcome in all parts of the garden, orchard and landscape, so remember that weed duties can provide valuable green feed for the herd. The most useful weeds you live in will be different. Few, which are toxic, also differ, so read those that can be threats to poultry where you live.
Examples of toxic plants are castor beans (ricinees communis), milkweed (asclepias spp.), Immature Beris Shade (Solanum Nigrum), Oleander (Nerum Oleander), Jimsonweed (Datura Stramoniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumniumiumniumiumniumiumnotiumniumniumniumn,, Such plants rarely pose a real threat to chickens – most avoid instinctively.
Note that in some cases the plant is not a threat, but mature seeds. For example, Hairy Vetch (Vicia Villosa) is an excellent ground ground cover and its leaves are edible for poultry, Remember, however, that its seeds are toxic. Chickens are unlikely to eat jimsonweed, but they can eat their seeds. The seeds of both plants are involved in real poultry poisoning.
Feeding the herd with dining weeds
After identifying toxic plants to pay attention to, you can experiment with non -toxic species. Weeds differ in terms of mineral content, so the wider the weed range available to birds, the more likely it is that their mineral consumption will be in balance.
In most moderate areas, the following tasty weeds should be common. Many of them also make good food.
- Prickly lettuce (Lactuca Serriola), will probably appear in shady areas.
- Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea), prosperous in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
- Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Superfood also for Chooks.
- KWCT LAMB (Chenopodium album), one of the ordinary names, “Fat Hen”, indicates its usefulness as poultry feed.
- Yellow dock (Rumex Crispus), prosperous in vitamin A, protein, iron and potassium, although it should not be filled because of the content of oxalic acid.
- Chickweed (Stellaria Media), what do you think it has its name? Common and fertile, both the plant and its seeds are highly nutritious.
Grass clippings
If your situation prohibits bringing the flock to the pasture, bring them the pasture: Lawn felling – from lawns that were not treated with toxic chemicals – are excellent fresh feed. Miniature, quick -growing grass gives the highest level of eating. Do not feed too much volume at the same time- clippings, slow in anaerobic, slippery mess. However, if you utilize your birds to work compost, you don’t have to worry about feeding too many cuttings – chickens will work, which will not eat in the stack.