Good evening Permies!
Does anyone plant sunchokes in their chicken run for the chickens to eat as they sprout? I'm considering tough plants that will (hopefully) continue to regrow shoots as they are nibbled by the chooks. In addition, I'm considering a paddock-style division of my two run spaces so that the sunchoke sprouts in area A and B could get a week or so head start while the chickens are using area C. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Jim
I actually blocked my sunchokes off from my ducks because they were eating them faster than they could grow. They also managed to poke their bills into the ground where I planted them, and eat the actual tubers. And, that's with ducks. Chickens are a lot more destructive than ducks. I'm afraid that, depending on your ratio of sunchokes to chickens and how much else they have to eat (and how much they like sunchokes), they might just destroy the whole patch. You might be able to get by if you rotate them through the area so that the plants have a chance to recover.
Now that my sunchokes are grown, my ducks leave them mostly alone (other than eating the lower leaves). Also, my sunchokes don't seem to live up to the reputation of taking over my property, perhaps because it's so wet on my property. They might be more vigorous for you and hold up better against the chickens.
If you do try it, make sure to save some of your sunchoke tubers (or grow them somewhere else on your property) in case the chickens do eat the whole patch!
I have a rather large patch of sunchokes about (30 by 30) and didn't even know if they like em when they are just sprouting, didn't think they did and didn't hurt the patch at all. Sunchokes are now an important part of my chicken operation. They provide cover, I can throw weeds, wood chips, scraps and such in there and with all that shade, they just take over. And don't forget, chickens for me has kept out voles and mice in my patch, very important. I keep about 5 to 7 birds.
William Bronson wrote: Yes, this paddock idea is very cool.
I think you could plant them under mesh and let them grow up through, thus keeping the tuners themselves safe.
Also,I've read about people blanching/ forcing them in darkness and eating the resulting sprouts themselves.
I was thinking about just taking some lower leaves off (having them in a totally separate area) for 'forage' items
Roger Korthase wrote:I see this is an old thread (from 2017 or so).
Looking to find a high yield crop, beneficial to our chickens and rabbits and ourselves.
Wondering if Sunchokes might be an answer
Comfrey may be another possibility. I know rabbits will eat it. Not as sure about chickens.
An annual crop I had good luck with one year is an Italian squash that has prolific vines and can be eaten green like zucchini or hard like winter squash.
Rabbits supposedly eat the vines but I didn't get to the point of getting mine acclimated (rabbits can be like toddlers eating forage).
Rampicante/tromboncino
rampicante squash It's hard for me to grow anything where I live and this plant thrived.
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