The question I have for you, is are you talking urban or rural? I'm in Perth, Australia but I think we have similar desert climate. What is your soil like, ours is very alkaline sand. I'm very urban, so have little space for dedicated chook fodder, but generally speaking, whatever is good for you, is good for them too. Hence, I'm starting up paddock shift. The
chicken will be moving in to each (irrigated) paddock after we've finished growing veggies in an area. Apart from standard annual veggies we are introducing weeds, for us, them and the soil too. English dandelion, thistles, plantains (plantago) are all edible and survive here with varying degrees of
shelter and supplementary
water.
If I were you I'd look well into your own natives/local plants, but as a thought starter, this is some of what we're using right now...
Wormwood - good for chicken to self medicate, will survive with little water
Tansy - brushing against it reduces flea/mite problems.
Azola - nitrogen fixing
pond plant.
Tagasaste/Acacias/Leucaena - all
nitrogen fixing trees, I'm not yet sure if the chicken will go for the leaves, but they will the seeds.
Mulberry
Yacon
Sunflowers (pretty, insect attracting and the chicken may get any seeds the parrots drop!
Poultry mix. We're feeding the chooks soaked grains, meat and veggie scraps, on top of whatever they find (the occasional
mouse), the grains are a mix of wheat, linseed, sunflower, I forget what else. Fairly regularly I sow some excess grains for them.
Touch
wood, since we have stopped commercial
feed mixes and given them the variety of food, we haven't had any illness/infestations, it must be at least 3 years now. Note though, they have always had lots of space, normally about 50sq ft per bird. Soldier fly is something I'd like to do, if I can persuade my wife that it's hygenic/not smelly...
1
