[SecretGarden]

Can anyone tell me what kind of plants I might grow in and around our chicken pens apart from good old grass? We'd like to provide a crop / crops they could forage through which provide a more natural diet as well as cut down on feed costs.

As chickens diet consists of insects as well as greens, it would be great if some of these plants attracted insects as well.

Ideally it would be something that would not need to be replanted each year, either self-seeding, biannual or perennial.

The hens will of course be moved to our garden for a spell during the winter to clean that up before next springs planting.

We are just beginning to keep bees as well so if the plants could be dual purpose and provide nectar it would be terrific.

I've also been looking for comfrey seeds, if anyone knows of a source please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any info

[dinahdabble]

Ours eat chickweed. Also, any soft, annual weed that isn't poisonous. Scatter pleanty of wheat seeds arround, and rub them into the soil. They will scratch them out as they sprout. You can also give them boiled up vegitable peelings, and we let them scrat arround in the compost heap.

[Guelder]

[sal]

apart from chicken pellets that they get in the morning ,i cook cheap spagetti,add nettles,corn maize,rye flakes,oats,chopped bannana skins,anything thats getting near out of date from my cerials,and boil up and they get half of that around lunchtime,i also give them the contents of my kids left over packed lunches,and i go to t*sc* and get cheap bread fron time to time,at present i picked up 2 loaves for 12 cents each,they also get any peelings and waste veg leftover from dinner,sometimes i freeze it in bags as there can be too much,and when cooking beans i add the water from that to the spagetti too,my chicks arn`t dead yet anyway!
and i throw into their pen dock leaves and plantain leaves which they love.