Zero Waste. Free Food! One of the things I like best about my garden is growing chicken feeds. The February planting of kale and Swiss chard are growing huge leaves that are perfect for the girls. I hang baler twine lines in the aviary so that the feast is kept clean. How they love the fresh greens!
String up the broccoli and cabbage stalks as hidden green cabbage worms are an excellent source of protein. After-harvest veggies are a great supplement to my flock diet as vitamin deficiencies are a cause of disease for poultry. They love foot-long cukes and giant zucchinis that I’ve missed while harvesting.
I don’t eat beets but I grow this super-food as a winter root crop for my chickens. This Mammoth Red Mangel beet will grow to 40 pounds but as with all beets, they must be thinned. I feed the thinning to the flock.
My friends grow dent corn which can be dried and taken off the cob for winter feeding. Mammoth Grey sunflowers, that can reach over 8 feet, are a protein supplement for both poultry and rabbits. Waste not; want not is an old proverb, but it’s still true. I love knowing that I am being a good steward of our homestead as we feed our flocks naturally. Stay cool!
Annie May
