10 Vegetables we plan to grow to feed our Chickens 

Comfrey, borage, parsley, coriander, nasturtium, lemon balm, mint, calendula, forget-me-not, rocket, millet, kale, sunflower, nigella, clover, pak Choy, duckweed, radish, fennel, lucerne, cow-pea, lettuce, mustard greens,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!! My great grandpa, (I am now a grandma, so I am talking many moons ago) he was a poultry farmer. But was retired by the time I came along. But he still had 100 chickens!! I guess to him that was retirement. Lol anyway, he had a "chicken garden". That he grew strictly to feed his chickens. But I have no idea what he grew in it. But I have decided to do the same for my chickens. My 100! Lol just like Pappaw. So thank you, and some of your viewers, for a list of things to grow!

Love that idea of chickens finding their own food with minimal supplements - that's how chickens were kept when I was a child decades ago

Check out Edible Acres from Washington State, US. He integrates great ideas to feed his chicken. When I move I will be using a lot of his idea. He grow a lot of food in a protective manner while still allowing his chickens access to benefit from the plants. I am from Canada and would suggest checking out northern wheat / grains / berries that grow in northern climates. Many of my suggestions are already in the comments. I would also suggest millet. So happy I found your channel. Thank you! After thought, one RU-vidr suggested a system to raise worms in a contained spot within your garden. However, Edible Acres seems to create the opportunity of worms and bugs in his chicken area without a lot of picky work. Have fun in your new place!

Jerusalem artichokes grow like weeds and are perennial, even in freezing temps-they should come back if mulched. All part are edible

Kale, potatoes, peas, corn, carrots, squash, pumpkin ( I have to guerrilla garden as I am in zone 3 short season) beans When I get my big hoop house I will grow sunflowers, amaranth

My garden is planned to accommodate my chickens, as well as to supplement the pigs. You have given me some excellent ideas!

Winter wheat can grow in Montana... should have no problem growing this wheat in cooler climate

Marigolds, calendula, rose of sharon (the leaves and the flowers are edible for the chickens), spinach, mint, oregano, lemon balm, rose petals, Romaine lettuce, collards, kale, beet tops, swiss chard, pumpkins, butternut squash, watermelons, amaranth (leaves and the seed heads), quinoa, barley, oats, wheat grass, black oil sunflowers (seeds), Grey stripe mammoth sunflowers (seeds), millet (seed heads), flax seeds (but you need to grind it a bit, because if it's whole it will just pass through them). I also grow sprouts in a jar during the cold months so they have fresh greens daily. I have about 12 jars going daily. Quart mason jars and I put 2 teaspoons of seed in it. Soak for a day, rinse and drain there after daily, twice a day. That doesn't require soil or grow lights. When they see me with the jar, they come running. Very nutritious for them. I sprout alfalfa, sorghum, quinoa, amaranth, barley, oats, blackoil sun flower seeds, chia, flax, lentils, wheat grass, arugula, mung bean. They each take different days to sprout. Thats why I have 12 jars going, so I always have something to give them daily as a supplement to their daily feed and scratch. I also grow mealworms for them. I have 14 hens. Since I have been feeding them sprouts, mealworms, greens, fruit and flowers from the garden, the feed costs have been cut in half. I also rinse off and dry the egg shells, crush them and give it back to the chickens for calcium. If you grow the grains like quinoa and amaranth, barley etc....save some seeds to plant again the next year so you aren't buying more seeds. One giant amaranth flower head can give you about 1 pound if seed. They will self seed, just shake the plant when the flower heads are mature, the seeds will fall and will grow for next year. Same goes for quinoa and millet.

My tips and plans... take your feed and for each of 3 days, put each day in a bucket and pour it into a trough and feed them slightly fermented grain.. ends up being half of feedibg them dry feed. My plan is to make pecking gardens for them to feast on, would like 4 so they can be in one for a 2 week rotation to give it time to recover and grow,, to extend the growing season find some cheap or free plastic for making the gardens semi green houses to grow through the winter as much as possible.

The little ones love Kale, lots of volunteer plants from last year that went to seed. Duckweed (Lemna minor) from the pond

I also grow lots of plants for the chickens. Jerusalem Artichokes is a wonderful perennial plant and our chickens love to dig for the tubers. They are a great survival food for us as well.

I'm also on about my 4th generation of backyard birds, and they've turned in to great little foragers! It's quite a mix - they started with an Egyptian fayoumi hen and a serama rooster, then along the way there's been Russian orloff, Easter egger, blue rock, and Brahma mixed in.True, quite a few of the hens are very small bantams, but they still lay fantastic eggs, and I've got some really gorgeous mixes in there. Plus, they eat less food! I'm expanding my garden for them this year as well, going to give Malabar spinach, Jerusalem artichoke, and goji berries a go as far as new crops. Plus tree collards like you mentioned, extra summer squash, Armenian cucumber, lots of kale and chard, and winter squash. Here's hoping we can cut down on that feed cost, it's CRAZY!

I am lucky in that I live in a warm climate and can grow year round, it's not as easy as it seems though. In the rainy season it's tough to grow many things, although the rice obviously does well and some things like cowpeas, mung beans, and seminole pumpkin. Fruit trees do well, the birds seem to really like mango and mulberry. Moringa is a very nutritious tree, similar to leafy greens. Azolla does well and there are some guppies in the water to control mosquito larvae, sometimes they get scooped up too as a little bonus. Hemp is really good too. Things with large seeds heads like amaranth, corn, sunflower... don't do so well in the rainy season so I save that for the cool dry season. Also the cool season is better for some varieties of pumpkin, watermelon and brassicas. All the seeds and beans are soaked a couple days then put it out in the run with a little compost and cover for a couple more days to let it sprout and maybe green up a little. The run is about 1000 m², I want to put a few more fruit trees in the run so they can just eat the fruit as it falls.

Radishes are good for cold weather

I'm in Florida but growing pigeon peas and moringa and swiss chard and comfrey and weeds around the yard mint leaves are great for chickens ✌️

We raise buckeye chickens and this year I'm growing an heirloom dent corn from seeds saved from last year plus black oil sunflowers to supplement their feed. They also love to forage. I strategically placed my composting operation within their domain so all the bugs and mice that are attracted also become food for the chickens.

My chickens eat lots of grass and clover. They LOVE lettuce and all brassicas so I'm planting more this year and will look for the perennial kale you described. My girls don't touch herbs or comfrey!

I grow all sorts of herbs, lettuce, greens, comfrey, barley fodder and I raise mealworms for protein for mine.

Cucumbers, acorn squash, corn, cantaloupe, watermelon might try growing in straw bales, alfalfa clover,

Thank you for this I’m a new chicken owner and love advice ❤

Parsley is a good one.I grow it all year round.

When weather gets a little warmer, I plan on soaking thewhole grains: millet, sunflower,corn, oats for a single day and scatter it in their run. The stuff they miss will turn to fodder

Spinach is so strong in cold places

Buckwheat,oats or wheat cant remember whats coming up there.(chicken scratch and i add extra oats) Yes greens to share...i have a weedy sorrow im growing out the flowers/seeds to feed the chickens or for me to try...any weed seeds are usually good for them so if they pop up and grow anyway the ones you don't weed out they will eat just look the weed up dont use toxic weeds Pumpkin squash seeds

Sunflowers love crappy soil. I have never planted them on purpose. Let overs from my chicken feed sprouted.

I see a seed order in my future, thanks for the tips

I live in the desert (yick) and my sunflowers are growing slowly, but they really prefer pur natural concrete-like clay, fertilized with rabbit manure. They die SO fast if I treat them like my other plants and give them good dark soil

Grow Moringa, grow mango leaf, grow papaya, grow guava, grow avocado, grow soursop

Chia,kale, broad beans,alfalfa,nastur sium

Water celery and fish mints are a couple of plants that grows extremely fast that my chickens love to eat. Beware that they are extremely invasive plants.

Use herbs in the nest boxes ;) I have corn to share with them too

What zone are you in? Here in zone 10a of SE FL gardening is not quite the same due to soil, heat, and humidity. Great video, thank you!

Can you put the list in your description?

perrenial alphalfa

One resource that is often over looked for chickens, mainly because of the so called yuk factor, is the results of pest management. These do need to be thoroughly cooked. I have seen people use solar powered pressure cookers dedicated to the task. Just place the whole carcass in the vessel and set to cook. You can also use rocket stoves. Set it to cook bring it to boil and then leave until later. All animals do better on warm food. When cooked turn it out in the chicken enclosure and stand back. A pest management program is a must for any block and you may as well use the results. IMHO. Another thing to consider is soldier fly farming and maggot farming. There are a number of other insects that you can farm. Compost is also a great method and if you set it up correctly the chickens will do a lot of the work. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tbE4HEnSkC0.html I am watching your forest project with great interest.

make a meal worm farm for the chicks out of two tubs and a bag of oats thank me later

And chance I could swap some perennial kale cuttings for some comfrey roots?

What about tree lucerne? I've been looking into keeping meat rabbits and I read that tree lucerne is high in protein. It a legume. Would that feed chook too?

How do you harvest your greens for the chickens? And I forgot all about chickweed (we have that) and ideas on how to isolate chickweek and dandelions so I can feed my chickens it?

Yesterday, I saw a video on Black Soldier Larvae for feeding chickens. It’s a protein supplement for them and it uses common kitchen waste products. I will be getting chickens in the near future. Good luck. And you answered my questions about Quinoa. Thanks again. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dKEDnLxB3yU.html

What type of Kale is this one? Do you know the Name?

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