What would you put in your garden for poultry?

[twendt]

Curious why the tomatoes are marked not for chickens? Mine go nuts for tomatoes. If they have access, they will mow down the plants too. The plants are supposedly a nightshade and poisonous but nobody told my chickens because they eat them anyway.

My RIR are artists at getting into my tomatoes! They get all the ones they can reach, luckily my plants get very tall!

 

[NatJ]

I guess I could pick slugs that I see

That is what I was thinking.
Although it can also be possible to let chickens into one part of a garden and stand there supervising--I remember doing that with my mother's rhubarb patch. I was standing there holding a long stick, and when any chicken was inclined to wander, I'd reach out with the stick and turn her back. There were 6 or 7 hens, and I'd already done a lot of taking them for "walks," so they were used to being herded that way. (Hand-picking is probably faster.)

 

[rosemarythyme]

I was standing there holding a long stick, and when any chicken was inclined to wander, I'd reach out with the stick and turn her back. There were 6 or 7 hens, and I'd already done a lot of taking them for "walks," so they were used to being herded that way. (Hand-picking is probably faster.)

Ha I do that with my strawberries, the chickens always beeline for them once they start ripening. Though it's pretty hard to turn them away from something they're just dying to get into!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Honestly you have most of my chickens favorites but...
A lot of feeds add marigold to the feed and sometimes yarrow to make the yolks yellower. So consider growing those.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

Im not sure what you have that you call weeds, but in my book, a weed is simply a plant growing where it is not wanted.

Quite a lot of plants commonly considered weeds are actually quite nutritious and can be left in patches to enjoy in your salads and / or supplement your poultry (which will be delighted to mow down for you).

My first spring arrivals include purslane, pepperweed, dandelion and chickweed, all of which my birds are wild about. I also have a hard time kéeping a succulent patio steppable groundcover I forgot the name of from being anihilated by them at the same time my mom in another state is fighting a losing battle with the same plant taking over her gravel driveway (she has no poultry; my starts came from her house, LOL).
Here is some more plants to consider
http://healthyhomegardening.com/Blog.php?pid=68&ptype=blog&ss=360

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

We currently have chickens (8), turkeys (2), ducks (4) and quail (lots!). Although it's the dead of winter here in Illinois this time of year, Spring is not very far off. We will be prepping the garden in late March and starting to plant in mid/late April. We like to grow all sorts of vegetables, leafy greens and herbs. If I can keep the weeds down this year, we could be eating form the garden from late Summer to the start of winter, and possible longer if we have a surplus to can or freeze for the winter months. After all, our garden is ~1000 sqft (and I may decide to move the fence and till over more soil this year...). While the garden will hopefully feed us well, we'd like it to also supplement the feed for our poultry friends this year. What should we plant in the garden that chickens can eat?

So far here's the list of likely plants for the garden this year [and my thoughts on whether or not each is chicken friendly]:

Root vegetables:
- potatoes (2-3 varieties) [not for chickens]
- carrots [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]

Vegetables
- tomatoes (3-4 varieties) [not for chickens] I know they're fruit...
- hot peppers (2-3 varieties) [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- sweet peppers [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- sweet corn [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- pumpkins [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- zucchini [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- yellow squash [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- cucumbers (pickle and salad varieties) [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- winter squash (mixed variety) [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- cauliflower [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]

Leafy Greens and Herbs
- lettuce (2-3 varieties) [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- spinach [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- kale [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- parsley [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- oregano [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- basil [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- thyme [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- rosemary [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]
- dill [CHICKEN FRIENDLY]

Most of what we intend to plant is safe for the chickens to eat. I'm wonder though, what plants are beneficial and should be added? It wouldn't hurt to have healthier, happier chickens. Please share your thoughts and opinions.

That list is long... I hope I have a large garden as you do. I almost plan the same... I need to expand my garden for me to do so.

 

[NatJ]

Ha I do that with my strawberries, the chickens always beeline for them once they start ripening. Though it's pretty hard to turn them away from something they're just dying to get into!

The time I was remembering, the slugs in the rhubarb were the most interesting thing around, so it was fairly easy to keep the chickens there. Yes, it's quite different when you're trying to keep them where they do NOT want to be!

 

[BReeder!]

That list is long... I hope I have a large garden as you do. I almost plan the same... I need to expand my garden for me to do so.

Im not sure what you have that you call weeds, but in my book, a weed is simply a plant growing where it is not wanted.

Quite a lot of plants commonly considered weeds are actually quite nutritious and can be left in patches to enjoy in your salads and / or supplement your poultry (which will be delighted to mow down for you).

My first spring arrivals include purslane, pepperweed, dandelion and chickweed, all of which my birds are wild about. I also have a hard time kéeping a succulent patio steppable groundcover I forgot the name of from being anihilated by them at the same time my mom in another state is fighting a losing battle with the same plant taking over her gravel driveway (she has no poultry; my starts came from her house, LOL).
Here is some more plants to consider
http://healthyhomegardening.com/Blog.php?pid=68&ptype=blog&ss=360

I agree on your definition of weeds. I do through plenty of them to the chickens, turkeys and ducks. What they don't get (nightshade for example) goes into the compost pile. Their runs were originally overgrown in weeds before they moved in. Now there's not a stem. The ducks (except the drake who is too large) manage to squeeze through their pocket fence and get out onto the lawn where they get plenty of grass and "weeds". We avoid herbicides and insecticides in the yard and garden because we are aware the birds eat all sorts of things out there.

 

[BReeder!]

That list is long... I hope I have a large garden as you do. I almost plan the same... I need to expand my garden for me to do so.

It is pretty large... The struggle is mulching and weeding the whole garden regularly to keep plants from being choked. I'm really hoping to find cheap straw bales somewhere in the next few months as it works great as a natural mulch and doesn't usually contain too many seeds that could sprout into something undesirable in the garden (unlike hay bales and grass clippings).
Just to show the size and complexity of teh garden, here's the most recent garden plan for 2020. I was working on it last night. I posted this in another gardening forum, so don't be surprised if some of you already seen it. Everything is garden except the three large areas to the right, which is the duck pen (blue), shed/coop (peach) and chicken/turkey run (orange). The full length of everything is 85ft I believe. It's the length of our back fence. BTW, we do all this on our 1/3 acre suburban lot.

Currently the list contains:
nanking cherries (will be newly planted so may not fruit)
hot peppers (jalapeno and habanero)
sweet peppers (bell and italian horn)
cabbage
cauliflower
eggplant
lettuce (boston bib maybe)
carrots
radishes
zucchini
potatoes (an early and late variety)
yellow crookneck squash
cucumbers (straight 8 and pickle)
tomatoes (roma and beefsteak)
corn
herbs (cilantro, basil, thyme, parsley, mint, dill, oregano and chives)
marigolds - LOTS OF THEM. Should be a good experiment.
pumpkins and winter squash (need to figure out the planting arrangement in the red circled area still)

Outside the fenced garden we also have a very sad flower bed along the fence on one side of the yard. It's 40-50ft long and 3-4ft wide. It's shaded, so flowers don't do very well. I may try planting various grasses/grains there to beautify it and it would serve as a food source for the birds as well as mulch for the garden and bedding for the birds. If I cut it down 2 or 3 times throughout the season, I imagine I could get quite a bit of fresh hay (I wouldn't bother drying it because it would get used right away).

 

[igorsMistress]

I have no experience with ducks, but chickens and quail have similar likes in my experience. They'll sample everything but my birds have always been smart enough to avoid tomato plants and eat the tomatoes. So, in my opinion anything you plant for yourselves can be shared with your birds. It's necessary to know what each shouldn't have, but that's about it. As long as you feed a good quality feed and limit treats they'll love it all.