Winter Feed

A question for all you closed-loop permaculturists: when it comes to the snowy winters of the Northeast, how do you keep your poultry fed? Do you grow bulk amounts of grains and sunflowers and legumes to tide you over? Or are there any specific crops that you have integrated into your paddocks that will overwinter and allow your chickens to forage all through the year?

Do you let your chickens tear up the ground cover in their paddocks enough to sow winter rye and barley? Are there any cultivars of apple or other fruit that keep on the branches and avoid rotting until after the first snows? What do you do?

Winter squash/pumpkin are dense foods that the chickens love.
great way to utilize those that are not storing well.

Cool! I'd always known they were a favorite of pigs. In terms of planning ahead and knowing how many to grow for the winter, how fast could 5 or so adult chickens go through a pie pumpkin or an acorn squash? A day? 2-3 days?