My Chicken Composters at Work!

[baymule]

Today I pulled up some volunteer milo or sorghum (the red round grains in the hen scratch) the sprang up in the garden bed. Evidently the grains escaped the girls attention and they made it through the composting, shoveling, raking and being planted next to squash and a stray okra for neighbors. Actually, I have been pulling it up spaced out over several days, to give the girls fresh greens.

When I saw it growing, what the heck, I let it grow on out. I didn't need the space at that moment and it would give the girls a treat. And what they don't eat, they peck, scratch, poop on and turn it into compost.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

That's the way to go Baymule! Let them do the work and get you some nice compost eventually. That's what we do too. It keeps them busy and no waste.

 

[vfem]

That happened to us last year! What a great unexpected treat for the girls.

I always called that stuff millet? Is it really called milo? I'd love to plant more. It's growing this year in most of the farm acreage around our house. They switch between that, corn, tobacco, sweet potatoes, soy beans and such each year. That must be this year's choice crop in NC! hahaha

 

[catjac1975]

I have always referred to my chickens as instant composters. All edibles go to the chickens and are collected at the bottom of the coup mixed in with the bedding. We spread it in the garden raw in early spring where the corn is going to be planted and till it in. We have not had any trouble with it burning plants. I do compost weeds, dry leaves and manure in a couple of compost tumblers.

 

[897tgigvib]

Those look great too!

The things ya get in bird food!

I like that, I like it a lot.

 

[desertlady]

Yay! thats what I like to do with my chickies all winter ! My garden is still growing and not ready for them to wreck it ! Today is first day of Fall and its going to be 100 degress here !

 

[baymule]

VFem, the grain is called sorghum or milo. Millet is a small white seed that chickens love, but it's not in any hen scratch I ever found.

desertlady, I just pull up selected plants in the garden when they are done. In the spring, when broccoli is bolting, I toss them a few plants a day. It stretches out the greens for them and they don't waste much. I can't turn them in the garden, we live on a lot in town and the girls are in the back yard, garden is in the front yard. I hope you get some relief from the heat soon, we got a cold front and it was 92 degrees today.

I did find out the girls don't care for basil. In the second picture you can see basil I pulled up and put in the coop for them. I guess they like their spaghetti plain. In the third picture you can see the remains of a big pile of corn shucks from several weeks ago. Composters at work!

 

[baymule]

I dug 2 small beds of sweet potatoes this week and the girls got the vines! Piles and piles of vines! They ripped through the first batch and ate all the leaves off. I waited a few days before digging the second bed, then I tossed them more vines. They always act like anything new is going to eat them, but it doesn't take long before they swarm in and start pecking!

 

[baymule]

I have been building a hoop run attached to the coop. It is 12'x8' and I let the girls in it yesterday. They loved the extra room. Today we got all the leaves from the neighbor's yard and put 4 big trash can wheeled carts full of leaves in the run. The chickens swarmed all over them, the leaves are about 1 1/2 feet deep. In the spring, it will make lovely compost!

I also made 2 big piles in the front yard, 1 under a big bush and 1 at the end of the house. DH went to the horse pasture with me and helped me scoop 1/2 pickup full of horse poop and filled 6 big tubs. We mixed the leaves with horse poop and wet the piles down. More compost on the way!

 

[vfem]

We're moving a few of the girls out into our tractor run to start working the garden that has over grown with weeds. I still have greens growing and carrots, so I need to keep them out of those beds. Even my little bantams do a number on the old rows in a matter of hours!