Flock Food from Garden Weeds

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has experimented in using common weeds for supplementing bird food in the winter months (e.g. gather in fall and mix into other kinds of seed blends).  For example, I noticed that my ducks and guineas really like Smartweed Seeds, and snag them as they leave the coop (but my geese do not like them).  Other things I'm looking at as possibilities: lambs quarters (we eat the seeds, so why not for the birds).  What about wild lettuce seed? Others>

Any insight is appreciated.  We are looking for ways to start raising more of our own feed and looking to what we already have growing seems like a great first step.  I am not really looking to replace something like a layer crumble but rather supplement (like what the role of scratch would be).

Thanks,
Dana

Personally, I just turn mine out, and let them forage whatever they want, year round, unless the weather is really bad. It's easier for me, and lets them be chickens.

What climate are you each in?

I'm in the Ozarks, in 6b - so we get all 4 seasons, normally ranging from about -5°F to about 105°F.

Carla Burke wrote:I'm in the Ozarks, in 6b - so we get all 4 seasons, normally ranging from about -5°F to about 105°F.

I can see that working.  I live in 4b, so we have 4 or 5 months with little to no food available for the birds.  I'm making a concentrated effort to try out some new things to see if I can offset buying food all that time.  I don't really care about the cost because I don't have that many birds, but I would love to be able to offer them more variety throughout the winter months.

Trace, I should probably factor in the fact that we basically live in the woods, too. There is a great abundance of foliage and all the little critters that inhabit that foliage. My birds seem very adept at tracking them down, wherever they're hibernating, and the snow here rarely lasts more than two or three weeks at a time, before melting - and then coming back for another two to three week cycle(lather, rinse, repeat), until spring. But, our spring has been long (all the way through May) and fairly cold, the last couple years, too.

I'll bet you can grow chickweed in a plant pot on the windowsill. Plant in sequence, and the chooks will have greens all winter. The trick is to harvest seed in the fall.