Chickens were not always fed a diet consisting of pellets and crumbles when being raised as pets; often times they would receive table scraps, kitchen waste, weeds, herbs or fresh greens as food sources.
No matter the breed of poultry you raise, fodder produced from homegrown plants will still provide your flock with all of the protein and other necessary nutrients necessary for optimal health and egg quality. By creating your own source of fodder you can reduce feed costs drastically, improve health in the flock, and maximize egg quality all at the same time!
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Leafy Greens
Leafy greens are an easy and tasty treat for the flock to cultivate, providing folate, vitamin C and calcium for healthy feathers and shells as well as providing essential dietary fiber that helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, chard, arugula and silverbeet can all be grown as green leafy vegetables – either on their own or combined with other plants such as carrot tops, bok choy or mustard greens for maximum harvest potential.
Leafy greens can be harvested throughout the season to meet chickens’ nutritional requirements. Experiment with planting different colors such as Space spinach, Redbor kale with its red leaves or Bright Lights Swiss chard mix’s vibrant orange and yellow stems; you could also include herbs like dill, basil, parsley or oregano which can be dried, chopped finely for salads and soups or lightly steamed, sauteed or added into hot dishes such as tomato sauce for your harvest.
Purslane
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) can make an excellent addition to any garden, whether for supplementing hen diets with leafy greens or growing it as a vegetable. Though often considered an unwanted weed in field crops and lawns, purslane offers high concentrations of vitamins A, B complex, C riboflavin niacin and pyridoxine for optimal nutrition – not to mention being one of the richest plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids!
Wild purslane, commonly referred to as pigweed, little hogweed or fatweed, is a delicious addition to salads, soups and stews, or eaten raw. It can also be used as an effective thickener in tomato sauces. With its slightly tart yet salty taste heightened by cooking, its tart and salty flavors come alive when consumed raw or cooked with other foods such as tomatoes. According to Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking,” its tartness comes from malic acid produced when succulent plants convert malic acid back into glucose during photosynthesis throughout the day – its higher concentration gives leaves their tart flavor when harvested early in the day compared with later harvesting days that lack concentrations of malic acid which creates their tart taste when harvested earlier in the day, giving rise to its tart flavors in leaves harvested early in their day!
Mice
Chickens are omnivorous animals that enjoy snacking on meaty treats. Mice provide protein-rich food sources as well as essential calcium, helping build up sturdy eggshells in your flock.
Growing chicken feed at home with fodder is easy if you use fodder made of seeds and sprouted grains; simply do it right in your own backyard!
No tools or special skills required – simply trays and seeds! Once planted in ordinary potting soil with liquid fertilizer added when they germinate, transfer the tray to your chicken run after about one week and watch them feast! When mature seed heads emerge be sure to protect them using chicken wire to prevent your flock from eating them all at once! This method works especially well if limited space is available, offering an economical way of providing supplemental feeding during winter. Especially for chicks and pullets fodder is an important factor in their growth and development – fodder is an essential element in their development as part of their development as part of their growth and development needs!
Potatoes
Potatoes provide a wealth of essential vitamins and nutrients, but should only be eaten as supplements. White, yellow, and red potatoes belong to the nightshade family and contain solanine; an ingredient toxic to chickens in large doses which may lead to respiratory illness or paralysis in humans. Cooking the potatoes before peeling can reduce solanine levels significantly.
Sweet potatoes are safe for most flocks, and make an excellent addition to most laying hen diets. Sweet potatoes contain vitamin C, B6 and an array of other vital vitamins and minerals – essential components for optimal egg production!
Your first step when growing potatoes should be making sure your soil is free from weeds and competition, protecting from frost with tunnel or cloche protection, and only growing enough potatoes to feed to chickens a few times every week without providing too many calories in starches.
