Grow These 5 Crops For FREE Chicken Feed | Self Sufficient Livestock Grain
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- We're ditching the heavy feed bags & trips to the store, and growing our own chicken feed instead. Click "SHOW MORE" for more below!
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0:00-1:11 - Intro
1:12-3:44 - Sunflowers
3:45-5:50 - Corn
5:51-7:33 - Amaranth
7:34-9:15 - Sorghum
9:16-10:17 - Quinoa, Millet, Buckwheat
10:18-13:02 - Extras + Summary
We're not experts, so we always recommend talking to the pros for the best advice. This post and comments below contain affiliate links, which may lead to a commission if purchased. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
I grow sprouts during the fall and winter for my chickens. It doesn't require electric, just mason jars, soak the sprouting seeds in water in the jars for 24 hours, drain add water and rinsed twice a day and drain, tilt upside down in its side so all the water drains out, until they are sprouted to the size you want. You decide how long/big of sprouts. Anywhere between 4 to 8 days, depending on the type of seed, you will have nutritious food for your chickens. Mine love it and come running when they see me and the jars. Blackoil sunflower seeds, or amaranth seeds, or dried sweet peas, dried mung bean, dried lentils, arugula, quinoa and so many more. I buy them by 25 lb buckets (organic). I usually have 12 quart jars lined up draining. Every 2 days I feed them 2 and start up 2 more so I never run out. We also eat the sprouts as salads or toppers to sandwiches etc....The drained water I use for watering my house plants, or boiking eggs, boiling pasta or rice or potatoes. We don't waste the water.
Do you have a how-to video? I would love to see this in action.
Yes I would love more info. I’m a chicken newbie
@phs2937 No I do not have e a how to video. It's really easy. Just as I explained it above.
The sprouts are 5 times more bulk than seeds too. 5 times more feed.
@@phs2937 just recently saw a tutorial from the chickenlandia lady about sprouting and fermenting your feed. Should be easy to find
I recently found out that sorghum is also called broom corn. You can make those old fashioned brooms after you shake off the seeds for your chickens or goats chickens or goats
I put my compost in the same bucket every day.The chickens followed the bucket to wherever I wanted them to be for the day. In the evening they just followed the bucket back to their roost. (One chicken always jumped into the bucket and ate her way to the new area). While sifting compost I saved all those big white fat grubs for the chickens. I let my chickens scratch around in my compost piles. They eat bugs and weed seeds.
I have a fenced area next to my chicken yard. I just toss some of my organic chicken scratch which is mixed grains and it grows what they like. Also I spread some wild bird seed, we all know how good it grows from the spillage from the feeder. I also throw in older vegetable seeds, what grows grows. It all turns into a jungle of chicken goodness LOL. They love horse radish leaves, sun choke leaves and I use the black oil sunflower because they have more nutrition than the Russia giant sunflower.
Pumpkins/winter squash are another good crop that can be stored through winter. Humans and chickens can eat all parts of the fruit, and they can be grown amongst corn (like 3 sisters style). Obviously, as part of a balanced diet 😉
Just planted our pumpkins and corn back in July, hoping for a good crop come October. First timer here 😅
We freeze ours as pumpkin puree (cooked in slow cooker). Very useful all year round!
@@ryanstreck1518 we did the same thing and all our pumpkins where small, have you had a first frost yet? when ours hit it killed off the pumpkin plant we planted, we took the small underdeveloped pumpkins and broke them all open for our ducks. they loved it and the dogs played with the body of pumpkin that was left.
going to plant much earlier next year.
Pumpkins and butternut are amazing because some can be stored up to a year. Even the bad or damages squash keep for a few months and the chickens won't care if they are disfigured, green or small.
Take heart, you're helping people. I learn as much from your honest appraisal of your failures as well as your successes. And it encourages me to try again when you are doing that very thing. You gave me some ideas today that I might try for my animals. I have chickens, dairy goats, and dogs.
I just watched a guy feed his chickens soaked beans and cooked pasta and had amazing results.
Thank you - we live in a very different area from you (wet, clay soil), but I think I could still grow some of these. Very inspiring video. One thought: we have grown sunflowers for chickens for a while now. One cheap way of getting lots of seeds, and ensuring they're the dark oil rich types that' are good for birds, is to buy seeds intended for garden birds. You get a big pack of the "right sort" - much cheaper than buying from a garden seed producer :)
Love the ideas! Iowa girl here, sprouts are another great "green" that we started growing indoors. No light required and ready in 5 days! We just use a quart jar with a screen lid, it works amazing. I mix it in withe the sourdough discard and the girls love it!
What a great idea! That sounds seriously nutritious!
I gotta share the ultimates treat. I cut seedless dates into tiny pieces. They will do absolutely anything you want for a piece. Anything.
If you have time yet this fall, be sure and plant winter rye grain (2-3bu/ac) and next spring broadcast your main crop seeds through it and when they sprout flatten the rye into a straw mat to be your 'compost in place'. When you scale up from a garden to a real farm you'll "go broke' trying to buy or cart in compost to amend the soil.
Thank you so much. I'm really struggling
Also consider making Elderberry shrubs available to your chickens. they love it and will hang around under it for shade.
I have a group of 6 elderberry bushes in my chicken's pasture. That's one of their favorite places to hang out!
Comfrey is another great feed and helps the soil as well.
I grow lots of amaranth for my cut flower garden. And I can attest to the fact my best plants are the ones where seeds just dropped the previous fall. In other words, simply shake seeds now where you want it next year, or early in the spring snd it will take off. It is a plant that seems to resent transplanting so starting indoors doesn't normally work for me.
I’ve successfully transplanted amaranth in the seedling stage when there are only two leaves. I prefer to sow them in place, and then thin them.
Good ideas. We found common oats real easy to grow as well. They can be planted spring or fall, they need very little care, crowd weeds well and the birds love them!
4:35 totally agree, chickens prefer both grains and weeds, the former for energy, the latter for vitamins. I try to feed them 50/50.
If our rain dries up like it did in WI last year, irrigation will be a necessity. We installed it last July when I couldn’t get all the watering done in time. Best money we ever spent in the garden. Will be adding more to grow some grain crops.
Plants can’t take up nutrients unless they have water.
You are right about sorghum. Sorghum originated in the heart of Africa and was domesticated around 8000 BCE in Ethiopia and Sudan. It later spread to East and South Africa. Wall paintings and archaeological excavations have provided evidence of the cultivation of sorghum in Egypt in the 7th century BCE.
I'm in Southern Arizona, extreme heat and dryness thruout the summer. I'm also first year homesteading . I'm planning on sunflowers, pumpkins,, Sorghum, millet, hemp, amaranth, and green fodder that has a variety of clovers, alfalfa, and lots more . That's my goal, was hoping this year but I've realized I have to take more time preparing the area before planting.
I had great success with Swiss chard this summer. Temps over 100 for weeks with no rain.
My chickens love it, me too picked young.
Blessings!
up north it would be barley, oats, corn, squash/pumpkins...to me it would be pick what historically was grown in your area or is commercially farmed now
Great ideas. I’m in central Alberta and I’m growing sunflowers and winter squash/pumpkins for my chickens in the winter. We are considering adding caragana bushes for a perennial supply of legumes.
I grew Golden Giant Amaranth this past summer and holy moly, they can produce up to a pound of seed on one plant and the chickens love it along with my Super Snack & Mammoth Sunflowers.i mix a lot of herbs in with it as well, such as Thyme, Oregano, Basil, Calendula(pot marigold),Plantain, Dandelion, Wild Violet & Parsley (especially parsley, it's like a super food for chickens)! I'm definitely going to be growing a lot more things for the chickens this coming season and thank you for sharing your video on this, makes me want to do it even more now. Lol!
Do the herbs or weeds change the flavor of the eggs?
Do you have a lot of tall grasses in your area? You could remove the tender inner stalks of the grasses like cat tails - chop it fine and feed it to your chickens...
Sorghum does have it too. Do check if the tender inner stalks of corn can be fed to chickens too.
Sometimes those chickens will eat plain grass - just chop them fine.
🇺🇸🙋♀️🐴🍃 Love the idea of growing your own feed!
Well, I just found out recently that buckwheat is not very shelf stable. It goes rancid very fast. Then I was looking into the different feeds, and it said that the cows can eat the greens of the amaranth so that would be a twofer. Feed your cows, the greens and your chicken and the grains
Thank you!! We grew amaranth last year and wow! It was a delight to see! Our chickens really enjoyed it.
Russian bocking #4 comfrey!!! Easy to propagate, doesn’t reproduce on its own and it’s very nutrient dense with a high percentage of protein. Permapasture Farms sells the cuttings and they’re very easy to grow!!!
If you haven't checked your soil ph yet, you definitely should before throwing a bunch of amendments or compost out. That can get expensive quick. Many skip this important step, especially if uppity are on land that was conventionally farmed.
Proper nutrition is always necessary to get more benefits out of your available resources, love the way you presented your knowledge stay blessed 😊😊😊
Great idea and video. Thanks for letting us know that soil amendments may take more than just a little compost.
Seeds are a natural part of chickens diet.
Cannabis sativa! (0,2 %THC so not the drug!)
The first year we tried it. Birds really like the seeds, because after sowing in the field we lost al LOT of seeds to the local birds. The crop is not ready yet, but it looks great!
It is not prone to pest and is quite drought resistant.
You sow in may - june en for more seeds the plant needs to branch out, so sow 2-3 gram per 11 square feet. (sorry, had to calculate from metric to imperial) seeds no deeper than 1.1 inches.
Thank you for the great ideas! Can't wait to add them to our grow list next year. We are growing sunflowers and barley for the first time and surprisingly it's going well!
Consider raising sheep for your land management. They will rejuvenate your soil.
Ruminants-goats, sheep, cattle-can all self-harvest forages and turn into milk or meat. Rabbits may be a great meat option....
This is an awesome video and something I’ve always thought about doing. Now I definitely will have to grow some of these foods for the chickens next year 👍
What a fabulous idea! Definitely growing grain next season. Thanks!
We grew flax seed and the chickens love the seedheads.
Great video. Thank you for sharing.
The stuff that did not work. Keep trying until comes out the way you want.
Everything on life. Takes time and experimenting until we get the way we want. Never give up!!
people grow bugs i think its yuckbut rickets or soldier flies in a couple tubs or a 3drawer plastic storage thingthey are common.
i planted broclie this year and held up well against the hard frost here in southern Wisconsin this fall and my Babys loved it also
Have you ever considered looking into food forest and swales to get your water? It's interesting
Ideas are spinning. Thanks for the food for thought!
One of the overly common weeds we have is Lambsquarter. There was a 10×10 area in my large garden that had numerous 7' tall lambsquarter plants that went to seed. Before cutting them down, i harvested the seeds & mixed it in with my chickens feed. They loved it and it was FREE!
Made me wonder what other seedy weeds i could harvest for them?
Mine like pigweed which is a wild amaranth. Also, the amaranth that sprouted by my garden kept the bugs off my squash for a while. A trap crop and the chickens liked the bugs too lol
Awesome I have lambsquarter around my yard. I love finding natural growing edibles that I didn’t plant.
Very cool. Thank you. My girls would love it ❤
In trying to cut cost, I am sprouting wheat berries for grass. I cannot free range. The chickens eat the grass, wheat berries, and roots. Also, making expired oatmeal with scraps, herbs, cinnamon too.
We planted some rye grass and they love it and it seems to self seed ✌🏾
This is so helpful. Thank you. My soil is going to be a challenge and will probably take me a while to achieve.
amaranth will sprout in a jar of water that is drained and watered once a day. ; potatoes are easy to grow and feed after boiling .
You’re adorable - good info provided by a somewhat-neglectful farmer! 🤣🤣 (I didnt get my sorghum, buckwheat OR amaranth in the ground this year….oops). I’ve got lots to explore in this “field” as I also want greens and veggies grown for my hens and my meat rabbits. Keep experimenting! 👍🏻
Awesome video! Thanks for the great ideas
Yes so wise I would love to grow our feed❤❤❤
You might want to sprout some of the grain for your girls. They love them and they have higher amounts of nutrients.
The point of breeding dwarf grain varieties was spending less time growing stalk and more on grain, and allowing heavier seed heads without breaking long thin stalks or the extra leverage uprooting the plant.
The original reason to be tall was getting above weeds that would compete for sunlight, and keeping the seeds up away from ground animals trying to eat them. A tended field should have less of either problem.
First year never goes well, second or third after adding compost is usually way better
Thanks! Very helpful!
useatimer to water seedlings twiceaday so you dont forget. also shade it or mulch it thinly
My turkeys love pecans, I imagine chickens do as well. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend buying them because they are so expensive but if you have access to productive pecan trees and can get the nuts for free, all you have to do is smash them and the birds will pick them clean.
I grew up on sorghum molasses, which I believe you were referring to. I think I'm gonna have to plant some sorghum this year.
My girls love millet. 🥰
Great video!!
We farm rice. If I fed them nothing else I would have enough to feed year round, but lucky for them that's not all they get. I bought some mung beans and hemp seed to mix with the rice then soak it for a couple days to sprout before I feed them. This season I planted some corn and cowpeas for seed saving and in a few weeks after we harvest the rice I'll irrigate and plant pigeon pea and corn in in one of the paddocks and plant cowpea and hemp in another. That should be plenty to get me through without having to buy any more. My birds have also taken a liking banana plants. When I harvest bananas or just clear some out I will coarsely chop up the plant in the compost/feed area.
Can I recommend sunchokes & groundnuts? I live in NY where these are native and they produce above & below food sources and are beautiful.
Chickens are omnivores, just like people and pigs. They need grains as well as meat(bugs) to thrive. Not only grass
Red sorghum is high in tannins, and wild birds will generally avoid the seeds. The tannins inhibit absorption of nutrients, and is not suitable as chicken feed. White sorghum is a good source because of the low amount of tannins. You will probably lose part of the white sorghum crop to wild birds.
My girls have eaten every cucumber and tomato within their jumping height range. May bad for sharing with them breakfast veggies
All 5 of those have also been / can be used as cover crops to improve soil.
Im wirh you. Trying amaranth for the first time this year...just a little...more next year. Last year i had inmature beans for drying along with green beans that got too big and i canned them up for the chickens. They loved rhem in January. Working on that again. I store big zucchini for two months or so in the basement..like 30 each year plus squash. Non the butternut i use the meaty part for us and send the seedy area out to the chickens. On very cold days i ,ight bake that along with something Im cooking forthe family. Then send it out warm to warm them up too.
Another African grain that does well in shallow unimproved soil and tolerates drought is teff. Teff has such tiny seeds that it's miserable to harvest - but it's pretty short, and easy to mow down - just throw the seedbeds in to the birds, they'll pick out all the seeds muy pronto. I'm not sure how well this will work; but have you considered perennial alfalfa? The roots are excellent for breaking up hard compacted sub-soil and they're a great nitrogen-fixer to mix in with corn which is a heavy feeder. Also, I've heard that any oversized or underripe or damaged cucurbits (squashes) are great as chicken food. I'm moving to Arizona with giant dreams of re-greening eroded desert land, so these suggestions are not based on experience - only on research. But I am reminded of the "Three Sisters" gardens : corn, beans, and squash grown together. The beans fix nitrogen, the corn provides calories and climbing opportunities for the beans, and the squash shades the soil and prevents weeds. I'll betcha that allowing climbing beans to climb up your sunflowers would work as a "Three Cousins" garden, just as well as the Hopi Three Sisters. Great ideas, love your channel!
There are actually squash varieties that grow wild in Mexico that people grow just for poultry because they don't taste like much for humans. That may be an idea for you. I believe some may be called silver edge. Because the seeds have a grey edge to them. I've also seen them described as wild Mexican squash and melons.
If you shot those sorghum stalks through a chipper into a chicken compost pile, i bet they could get something out of it. I keep a big compost pile out there and the chickens work that thing all day getting crickets and worms and what ever else, i don't know!
AMARANTH - Maybe this is elsewhere on the comments but I’ve heard amaranth needs light to germinate so spreading on top of soil (& of course, like you said, moisture might be the key. Good luck next year!
I grow amaranth for microgreens. I mix my soil with water in an old plastic coffee can so that it's like a damp sponge. I put the soil in a cake type pan and just sprinkle the amaranth seed on top and tap down with my fingers to make sure the seed is firm in the soil. I don't cover them. They will germinate with or without light. However, with light, they'll germinate within a week. You can tell they're going to germinate when it looks like the center of the seed is turning dark (remind me of a donut with a hole in the center.) I do keep the soil moist but usually I don't have to water before they germinate. I grow them in a room between 65-80⁰ .
My soil is horrible. I’ve been amending it for three years and I figure I got another three before is gets to where it can start growing decent crops. I’m adding inoculated bio char into my soil this year. It takes a while for me to make it as I only have a small 5 gallon container to use in my burn barrel.
Have you seen the video by Live on What you Grow about making biochar retorts out of number 10 cans? He puts his in the woodstove but your burn barrel should work too. David the Good said he used that method with gumballs and leaves and it worked for him.
Would love to grow food for my chickens. Grains and different plants.
Berries. Our birds love strawberries and ground cherries.
Good tip, i want to experiment with bird seeds, How about throwing a handful of birds sees in the soil and see what will grow from them. 😊😊😊
Buckwheat will also help break up clay soil
I’m surprised you didn’t address protein. Wouldn’t some of these grains provide more than just calories?
That sunflower you pulled off looks like a black oil sunflower.
Quinoa has a soapy covering the seeds in their natural state.
Have you ever used fermented grains. If there is a brewer around there ask about the brewers yeast
I am also in WI, and have learned SO much from your videos! Thank you for that! I got chicks for the first time in May. And only had the courage by watching you. Lol. I've read that the apple and pear etc seeds are harmful. So you core the fruit before giving it to them? Or do they know enough not to eat them? Sorry..... newbie chicken mama drama. 😄
my chickens forage in my orchard and get quite a few apples and I've never cored them. The chickens do really well but I should add they have alot of variety in their diet.
Worms 🪱🪱🪱
One of my chickens goes crazy to be put in my composting worm bins she goes dinosaur on them. 🦖
tplantsry tree leaves and any other non poisonous green plants. when the season allows it.
I cut the whole sunflower and toss it in the run
Ferment the grains for a few days...it adds probiotics to their diet.
They also love millet.
wheat fodder we were planned but ive noy done it yet
I grew purple hopi my corn started out really well then july hit and corn stopped, but the small ears i got the chickens didnt care for it..
Mustard greens are well liked by chickens. The hens should tear through bushels of mustard greens quickly.
My wife says that amaranth Micro greens are also hard to grow.
Use managed intensive-high density grazing with at least 21 days recovery for each paddock. Check out Gabe Brown, Greg Judy, Steve Kenyon for grazing tips- lots of interviews.
I have volunteer sunflowers EVERYWHERE. Not sure how they made it through the gizzard but the only way it could have happened.
Wheat! It's a cover crop also.
If you don’t feed your chicken greens, what would you feed them? They just be free range on the grass all the time only?
Grains
Grass and seeds
Bugs, worms.
I grew rye for the berries, but wasn't very successful. 😅
Some interesting information, but you used the term, " good germination rate". I am not sure what that meant? Is that compared to the USDA standard of 85%? I test all of my saved seeds using a damp napkin and count them. I get 95% to 99% on most tests. I use heirloom if the are a good producer, but I have never found an heirloom broccoli that compares with Pack Man which is a hybrid. I just make sure I have lots of broccoli seeds and I test them every spring.
Hello from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I am a long time viewer and love your content. I have a chicken ?. I have 6 golden comets hens. I got them as chicks 3/23. With your help, I raised them without a hitch. I got my first egg 7/23.(I was so proud) The count increased 2, 3, 4 a day. From 8/11 to the present, I consistently get 5 eggs per day. Where is the 6th? I don't mind 5, I am just wondering. I am a backyard chicken dude. My girls eat well. Drink well and seem happy. They are beautiful. Any thoughts?
I’m a new chicken mom too so I don’t know how accurate my comment is but I understand not all breeds lay every day. So it may be a rotating situation where one or two take a day off now and then but it’s not always the same one.
also try to eliminate the fact that a hen is eating her eggs.
I'm not sure if you can just boil sorgum stalks. I was watching videos on it and they were running them through a squeeze/ crush juicer like how sugar cane is juiced.
You can just boil sugar cane if it's chopped up so I'm guessing you can sorghum, too.
Probably not as efficient as crushing first.
Comfrey
Where can I get a shirt like yours???
I considered growing amaranth and sorgham for my chickens. However, I was told amaranth was slightly toxic and sorgham they don't like. What has been your experience, and how long have you been feeding them that?
I looked up:
Because of the antinutritional factors in amaranth, the seeds must be treated before they can be included in poultry diets in significant amounts. Raw amaranth cannot be included in broiler diets at proportions above 20%. Heat treated amaranth, however, can comprise up to 40% of a broiler diet. Treated amaranth can also be included in the diets of laying hens at proportions up to 40% without adversely affecting production performance
Curious about the heat treating methods.
Also wondering if sprouting would be sufficient, or maybe better
My chickens only eat sorghum if it's soaked or sprouted.
Which cuts back on the amount of feed.
If you pour the soaking juice with the feed into a pan ( instead of on the ground) they will drink it and cut down on watering, too.