What weeds for chickens will save you money on feed and top dressing

Learning, remembering and using beneficial weeds for chickens is quite simple. The main thing is to collect organic weeds that have not been treated with pesticides and have not been contaminated with other substances hazardous to bird HEALTH, such as lead or heavy metal salts when growing along busy roadsides.

it is easier to create your own weed-chicken garden, collect seeds for harvesting and mow in time. Mowing is carried out sequentially by squares to create a green conveyor of delicate greenery. Most weeds are fed to chickens in the young plant stage and fresh - this makes it easier for the birds to digest. With a margin, you can mow as much as is enough for two or three days to add to the diet.

Dandelions for chickens

Many scientific works have been written about the benefits of dandelions for chickens, of which the following can be briefly noted.

Dandelion greens are rich in nutrients such as vitamins A, C, and K, as well as calcium, iron, and potassium. The bitter properties of dandelion greens can stimulate the production of digestive juices, making other foods more digestible. Moreover, it is one of the first weeds to appear in early spring and one of the last to end the season.

Chickens love the whole plant: leaves, stem, flowers and roots. In spring and summer, they give the aerial part, in the fall they dig up protein-rich roots, they are useful to chickens during molting by winter.

Collecting dandelion seeds will allow you to drive out greens in winter. Collect seeds from the heads of existing plants after they turn into a fluffy ball. Then the seed bag should be hung in a cool place in the barn, and forcing is done in a long container chute placed under the window and filled with simple soil. Considering that dandelion seeds need light to germinate, you do not need to completely immerse the seeds in the soil - scatter in a row and lightly press in without deepening. With constant humidity, seedlings will appear in two weeks. Let them grow a little more, and then the plants can be dug up, simply by turning the chute over, and given to the chickens whole.

Nettle for chickens

Everyone knows the common stinging nettle. This is another hardy perennial that emerges in early spring and ranks among the top "chicken weeds". Nettle is a supplier of protein, vitamins and minerals. Leaves, stalks of nettles are given to chickens fresh, dried, boiled or fermented in moderation, as overfeeding can cause indigestion. Mix nettle in a ratio of no more than 10% of the diet.

As the summer heat approaches, nettles begin to bloom. The plants open their tiny, tassel-like flowers, and then the nettles, as long as you haven't cut them, become dotted with clusters of seeds.

Nettle Seeds are a nutritional, energy and vitality booster, a real chicken superfood. The seeds contain the same nutrients as spring shoots, they are rich in minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and silicon, plus they contain fatty acids and vitamin E, which are not found in the leaves. For fun, you can try it yourself, they are delicious!

For feeding chickens, it is advisable to harvest nettle seeds in the immature green stage by cutting the plants and hanging them on a crossbar over an old sheet. After drying, rub the seed clusters through a sieve, separate the seeds and store in an airtight container away from direct light.

woodlouse hens

In this case, we are not talking about an ancient crustacean, but about a garden weed - common chickweed. Chickens love this plant, especially chickens. Chickweed, true to its nickname, loves damp and damp soil, and is easily recognizable by its plentiful small, heart-shaped leaves, which are more numerous at the top than at the bottom of the plant.

In the spring, the chickweeds develop tiny white rosettes of five petals, just in time to give them to the smallest chicks. The flowers of woodlice have a high concentration of potassium, a mineral without which chickens cannot develop well. There is potassium in the leaves, and in addition to it - vitamins A and C, a large amount of gamma-linoleic acid, better known as omega-6.

Omega-6, along with omega-3, not only provides essential fatty acids for the health of chickens, but also enhances the nutritional value of their eggs.

Tender chickweed, unlike nettles, does not need to be cut, boiled or fermented.

Quinoa for chickens

Quinoa (Chenopodium album) is a legendary plant in terms of nutritional qualities, although agronomists classify white gauze as a malicious weed. Therefore, if you went to the field for a quinoa, then there is a high risk that pesticides were used there, keep this in mind.

Quinoa is an upright annual plant with dull blue-green leaves tinged with white underneath. The margins of the young leaf are serrated or "toothed", but not as sharply defined as those of nettles. As the leaf ages, the serration disappears and the edge of the leaf becomes smooth.

If you look closely at the leaves, you will see a waxy substance that makes the leaves appear silvery.

Quinoa belongs to amaranth, leaves and seeds are edible. It has long been used in agriculture for feeding various animals, including chickens. This plant has a lot of vitamin A and phosphorus, which is crucial for the egg-laying process, there is potassium, protein, iron, trace elements and fiber, omega-3.

Quinoa leaves, if you are going to give on an ongoing basis, it is better to steam, as they contain oxalic acid. Quinoa seeds are harvested both for nutritional feeding and for forcing greens.

Is it possible to give chickens clover

On the one hand, perennial red or white clover is rich in calcium, niacin, potassium, vitamins A and B, iron, and protein. Clover is a detoxifier and promotes liver and digestive health.

On the other hand, clover is considered an anticoagulant in folk medicine and is used to lower blood pressure in humans. And therein lies the reason why clover often appears on lists of what not to feed chickens.

Clover contains coumarin, which thins the blood. So while it helps improve circulation and lower blood pressure, in stale clover, the presence of certain fungi causes coumarin to be converted into a toxin that can cause internal bleeding. It's more of a problem with cut clover lying in a pile, getting wet and spoiling.

In small quantities, fresh clover will not harm chickens, it is recommended for good egg production, "clover eggs" are nutritious, with a bright yolk.