Best/Easies Grains to Raise for Chickens

[bj taylor]

hi everyone;
i'm new to this forum. i've been on backyard chickens quite awhile. my garden is limited to raised beds because our soil is so poor. i have three beds (4 x 20). i'm thinking of dedicating one bed to grains for the chickens & goats (which i don't have yet). i'm trying buckwheat, oats, and field peas. it's way too early to know if i'll have any success.
my chickens love dried mealworms & they're expensive. i give them some on really cold days because i think they need the extra protein - but i'm not too crazy about raising the worms.

 

[897tgigvib]

Howdy bj taylor. Your grains will be fine im sure

 

[secuono]

Raise bugs instead.

 

[bobm]

BJ ... The reality is that the 4 x 20 amount of land will not produce enough grain to feed a few chickens for a week or two much less a goat. Think in terms of acres. Simply not worth the time and labor bother when one can get a 50 lb bag of the grain at any feed store .

 

[bj taylor]

i appreciate the input. i have the acreage - but not the physical wherewithal to 'get er done'. i wouldn't realistically expect this bed to do it all - it would be more of an experiment in seeing how grains grow - learning of their nutritional value as a supplement to other feed and used as an addition.
i read how y'all grow so much, are so self-sufficient - it makes me green.
the goats are going to start out as brush wackers. after about a year - we will see if this is something we can enjoy doing. my chickens are dp birds (few in number - but hoping they might get in the mood to have babies). they free range in a big back yard. the garden is fenced off. in fact, i think i have the most fenced/cross-fenced property in Texas. between my dogs & my chickens, nothing is sacred to them.
hope i'm not rambling too much - just enjoy the conversation

 

[897tgigvib]

You aren't rambling too much at all.

Yep, that 4 by 20 will be a great lesson and experience builder, and confidence builder. Not just the grains, but the chicken folks can let you know what chickens do with the rest of the plant parts best. Later, next year maybe you can find a way to get some of that land plowed and broadcast with seed and watered as Bob and some of those who've done acreage can advise. There might could be a way to do maybe 100 by 100 feet, which i think is about a quarter acre.

 

[digitS']

Experimenting makes a good deal of sense, BJ. Welcome to the forums !

I am not self-sufficient even tho' I once came fairly close. After a good number of years messing around with growing things, I've got some ideas of how to do the self-sufficiency thing . I'd have to drag DW kicking and screaming into it, tho'.

Often, I grow wheat - just a little. A good number of years, I've grown millet - just a little. There have been sunflowers in my garden for about 10 years - just a little. A couple of times, I've grown flour corn - just a little. I've had hulless oat in each of the last 2 years - just . . . oh, you know .

DW makes use of some of these things for wreath making. I've actually grown and harvested acres of wheat & oats but that was in another place and another time. And, I wasn't doing that on a garden-scale of size. Still, I mess around with these things in my vegetable garden these days. My chickens appreciate it. My gardens are large so it isn't like I'm wasting any ground that could have been used for fresh veggies. Generally, there is plenty of room for those.

If I felt like I had to gain some real food self-sufficiency, I think it would be very possible. Chickens have and would play a part in that.

Steve

 

[bobm]

You aren't rambling too much at all.

Yep, that 4 by 20 will be a great lesson and experience builder, and confidence builder. Not just the grains, but the chicken folks can let you know what chickens do with the rest of the plant parts best. Later, next year maybe you can find a way to get some of that land plowed and broadcast with seed and watered as Bob and some of those who've done acreage can advise. There might could be a way to do maybe 100 by 100 feet, which i think is about a quarter acre.

After the grain is harvested, the leaves and stems are dead. The stem celuslose has litterally no value as feed. It can be used as a litter or nesting material for the chickens , sheep, goats, etc. . One can plow it under and they will eventually decompose . Or one can incorporate the stems with some mud and make adobe bricks out of it.

 

[April Manier]

I have been reading up on this and found that Cowpeas are popular. I too am growing feed this year. Kale is sooo easy and lasts though the winter here so we always have it.

I just posted an article on fermented chicken feed.
http://heronsnestfarm.blogspot.com/2013/02/fermented-chicken-feed.html

It has made all the difference in cutting chicken feed costs. You can do it on a larger scale with small trash cans and five gallon buckets inside. Check it out. It really does work and I have decreased costs by 40%!!!!!!

 

[baymule]

bj taylor, plant sweet potatoes. The chickens will love leaf trimmings off the vines and in the fall when you dig them, then they get all the vines. I boiled the tiny sweet potatoes and mashed them for the chickens. And they get the peelings and trimmings when I eat the sweet potatoes! I had to keep cutting back the vines last year or they would have taken over, but the chickens sure liked it.