[karlooben]

guys my girls dont get grass as much as i would like them to so is there something out there that i could use as a replacement for natural grass ? i know i can get alfaha etc for horses but i dont know if that will be any good .

[snowflake]

any of the Brassica family like cabbage, kale, broc and brussles the leaves the girls will love also weeds they will sort out which they like.
if you know someone with a alotment or a local vedge shop they will give you the spare leaves. mine love lettuce but it does give them the runs and very black so not too often.

[mjd]

Sprouted grains are said to be good, high in protein and enzymes.

[8doubles]

If you have got a veg patch put in a row of spinach beet , dead easy to grow and the chooks like it. They prefer chickweed which i always have a supply of .

[Foxy]

I was thinking looby, maybe you could construct a folding pen which fits over one of your veggie beds, then you could pop a few birds in during the day when you are actually working on the plot. Maybe they could wear colour coded leg rings so that you could pop 5 or 6 in at anyone time, then they all get a go once a week to graze? You could  then rent your pen and a few chooks out to other lotty members as mini JCBs!

[chickenlady]

Sprouted grains are said to be good, high in protein and enzymes.

Oooo! yes mine get sprouted corn, really simple to do! you just pop corn in a bucket and fill up with water. leave for 12 hours then tip out the water and rinse the corn well and drain again. then just pop a tea towel or something over the top of the bucket. leave for a few days to sprout  BUT and this is very important!! you must rinse and drain the corn EVERY day as germinating seeds produce a bitter substance which isnt very nice and they will get smelly if not rinsed every day! feed to the chookies after 1 last rinse when the corn is soft and twice the size and has ess than a cm of root on!(more goodness that way) stand back and watch them fight over it 
Debbie

[kitkat]

Thats good idea, i'll give that a go
  Looby couldn't you ask other allotment peeps for some of their grass cuttings?

[Foxy]

Sprouted grains are said to be good, high in protein and enzymes.

Oooo! yes mine get sprouted corn, really simple to do! you just pop corn in a bucket and fill up with water. leave for 12 hours then tip out the water and rinse the corn well and drain again. then just pop a tea towel or something over the top of the bucket. leave for a few days to sprout  BUT and this is very important!! you must rinse and drain the corn EVERY day as germinating seeds produce a bitter substance which isnt very nice and they will get smelly if not rinsed every day! feed to the chookies after 1 last rinse when the corn is soft and twice the size and has ess than a cm of root on!(more goodness that way) stand back and watch them fight over it 
Debbie

I tried to sprout wheat last winter after hearing how nutritional they were, and particulary useful in the winter, well I cant seem to grow anything and mine just turned into green mouldy grain But a really good idea if you can!!!

[karlooben]

at the mo ppl dont seem to be going over there like they used to which is annoying  , they are getting all veg i can grow for them its just the grass i wish they could get more of . foxy has seen my plot an run so she will know and picture this  , next to the run is the other side of my plot which if i can do it i  want to join another 2 metres of space to the runs main fencing  add a little pop hole in the main fence which can then be secured an in time grass of 2 m by 10 m bit of ground which i will let the girls on each sat an sun then for 5 days it can get rested { dont know how long it will last  } but that may not happen for a few months yet also i need to let the grass grow .

i could easily add on a lower run which wont cost much but if i did that the fox would be able to jump onto the other run { netting roofing } which i dont want to do .

as for the coloured rings idea i already had that just havent got round to getting them .

[Sassy]

Beware if you feed grass cuttings. Grass starts to break down very quickly and heats up, could make them poorly. It is easy to kill a horse by feeding grass cuttings but maybe hens are different, I know I wouldn't risk it.

[karlooben]

i know all about it with feeding it to horses , but my girls get it the monent its cut so its still very fresh i'm so cautious about what they get fed .

[animartco]

guys my girls dont get grass as much as i would like them to so is there something out there that i could use as a replacement for natural grass ? i know i can get alfaha etc for horses but i dont know if that will be any good .

Grass has vitamins etc that no other vegetables have, although a mixture is desirable, Why don't you leave a little bit of lawn unmowed and cut it with shears, while it is still short, a few cuts a day, and simply feed it to them. That's what I do.

[joyfull]

Karloobens post was from last August so I think she may have sorted it out by now